22. The Evidence of Global Warming is Overwhelming Yet the U. S. House of Representatives Denies It

The evidence is now overwhelming that our continuing to burn fossil fuels – for heating, electricity production and in transportation – has led to a significant warming of the atmosphere, namely global warming. Yet our U. S. House of Representatives of the U. S. Congress has foolishly – and dangerously – refused to acknowledge global warming is a problem much less acknowledge any awareness that greenhouse gases from fossil fuel burning by humans is causing the warming.

One month after President Obama laid out a bold plan to tackle climate change, the U.S. House of Representatives has passed a bill to say that carbon pollution is not  a problem.  They are wrong, big time.

The burning of fossil fuels and other fuels that  emit carbon dioxide when burned has undeniably led to the following:  a profound melting of the polar ice caps; the receding  of numerous mountain glaciers, worldwide; a significant and accelerating rise in sea level; ocean acidification (by 30%!) and resulting in harm to the lobster and other species living in the oceans; the loss of billions of dollars as a consequences of global warming caused drought  and flooding; and the loss of human life from increasingly more extreme weather events such as hurricanes, more severe storms, heat waves, and fires, plus the increased threat of deadly mosquito and tick transmitted diseases in the U. S., including dengue fever and West Nile virus infection, to name just two.

Scientists the world over predicted all these things could happen, that catastrophic consequences would be inevitable if humankind took no action, and that the number and intensity of such tragedies would worsen over time. Regrettably, especially for the young people of today and future generations – who will have to face the wrath of global warming and its awful consequences their entire life – those predictions are now becoming reality.

Yet today a committee of the U. S. House of Representatives voted to prevent the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency from limiting greenhouse gas emissions, and then the House voted to cut the EPA’s budget by 34 percent!

And now it’s not just the national academy of scientists of the world who are warning others of the global warming threat. Last week, four former EPA administrators under Republican presidents wrote in The New York Times: “The costs of inaction are undeniable. The lines of scientific evidence grow only stronger and more numerous. And the window of time remaining to act is growing smaller: delay could mean that warming becomes ‘locked in.'”

But still there are so many politicians in Congress who are still choosing to ignore the problems that global warming is already causing our U. S. citizens and other populations of the world, by their continued silence about the issue, or even worse, their ridicule of others who have concluded the threat is great enough to speak out about, including the president of the United States himself.;

They should be singled out and openly chastised, as they are undoubtedly doing so because of financial contributions they receive from the fossil fuel industries. And then we should thank those who are standing up for our environment by fight against global warming with their votes. This is a call for action to contact your representatives in the U. S. Congress and tell them to vote for actions that reduce U. S. greenhouse gas emissions, that reward individuals and families in the U. S. who use less fuel burning derived energy in their home, business and in transportation, and that will help us all to better adapt to the changing climate that global warming is now already bringing.

We’ve already heard from our president about the need for swift and major governmental action now to confront global warming enemy.   Below is how he concluded his June 25, 2013 speech at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.:

“THE QUESTION NOW IS WHETHER WE WILL HAVE TIME TO ACT BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE. AS A PRESIDENT AND AS A FATHER AND AS AN AMERICAN, I’M HERE TO SAY:  “WE NEED TO ACT!”‘

 See post #7 “Positive Financial Incentives: An Environmentally Just Approach for Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions” for a proposal to reward using less greenhouse gas emitting energy on an annual basis .