Global Warming Deniers
by Ratih Asthary on 22/12/07 at 3:57 pm | 8 Comments | |
Commentary by Mike Adams, the creator of this cartoon:
No matter how much scientific consensus emerges linking human activity to global warming, there always seems to be a bunch of kooky deniers who insist that polluting the atmosphere has absolutely no effect on the planet. In the United States, these kooky deniers happen to be Republican politicians and the businessmen who fund their reelection campaigns.
Their statements about global warming remind me of the Flat Earth Society (people who still insist the Earth is flat), or Holocaust deniers. They just won’t acknowledge what’s happening right in front of them — the climate changes, crazy weather patterns, melting ice caps and rising oceans.
In this cartoon, I decided to show a typical Republican global warming denier altering his statements as the water rises around him. First, it’s the blatant denial, “There’s no such thing as global warming.” Then, as the water level reaches his waist, he proclaims, “Global warming was invented by the media!” As the water level reaches his neck, he shouts, “Global warming exists, but it’s not our fault!” (Which means global warming isn’t caused by human activity. This is the current defense of the Republican kooks.) And finally, in a mad rage, “We have to save the economy, not the planet!”
It takes a special set of skills to be a Republican these days. You have to close your heart, install blinders on your head and have a special knack for denying reality, even as the evidence against your position is obvious to everyone else. These skills have been mastered by many politicians in the United States today, who think that saving the Earth for future generations would be way too expensive to the people living on the planet today. Therefore, they’ve decided to just throw away the future and keep on polluting beyond all reason, letting future populations deal with the consequences.
We do the same thing with the national debt, chemical pollutants, groundwater supplies and fossil fuels: let our grandchildren worry about it! It’s the ultimate bucking of responsibility by a political leadership that demonstrates absolutely no stewardship of natural resources.
There will be a dear price to pay for what we’ve done to the environment of this planet. It will be a thousand years before the climate stabilizes, and that’s if we slash emissions starting right now. Truly, future generations who manage to scratch out a living amid water scarcity, food shortages and devastating weather patterns will curse the modern-day United States and China for blatantly increasing global pollution in a time when the evidence linking CO2 emissions to global warming was undeniable by any sane person.
8 Comments
Grace
Dec 23rd, 2007
untung aja di Indonesia gak gini.. ya, Amerika emang susah sih secara mereka emang negara industri terbesar di dunia dan sekaligus sebagai emiten CO2 terbesar di dunia. jelaslah mereka bakal kebakaran jenggot kalo harus modifikasi semua proses supaya CO2 nya turun.. pabriknya aja ada berapa banyak?? hehe.. semoga issue ini tuh bener2 ada solusinya dan gak cuma heboh-hebohan saja.
Pandzee
May 1st, 2008
Waspadalah… waspadalah…
Jangan sampai negara kita jadi korban, industri dan teknologi kita dicegah untuk maju dengan alasan lingkungan hidup, padahal negara lain saat ini jor-joran memacu industrinya dan menghasilkan emisi gas rumah kaca yang membesar.
Ingat janji Jepang untuk menurunkan level emisinya sebanyak 6 persen? Saat ini emisi gas rumah kaca Jepang malah naik 6 persen, dan negara ini juga yang secara besar-besaran menyerukan pengurangan emisi gas rumah kaca…
Di masa depan, saat kita masih berantem mau pakai teknologi apa yang ramah lingkungan, negara-negara ini dengan kemajuan teknologi dan ekonominya tinggal kipas-kipas dan menyerukan penggunaan teknologi ramah lingkungan, yang pastinya:
1. lebih mahal
2. patennya dikuasai negara maju
michaeljubel
May 6th, 2008
setuju ama Pandzee pada beberapa poin. tapi menurut saya jangan terlalu skeptik dan berpikir sempit dengan merasa kita dicegah untuk maju. mungkin negara-negara maju itu memang punya kepentingan tertentu, tapi bukan berarti dengan segala penghalang dan penghadang negara kita gak bisa maju lho. Afrika Selatan aja yang dulu diembargo karena politik apartheidnya, bisa men-develop teknologi likuefaksi batubara dengan proses Sasol-nya. Batubara ialah satu-satunya sumber energi yang mereka miliki dan pada waktu itu dunia bener-bener bergantung ama minyak bumi. Likuefaksi bahkan dianggap dunia sebagai proses yang kurang komersil karena waktu itu harga minyak tuh murah bgt. Tapi dengan keadaan sulit seperti itu sekalipun, mereka bisa survive kok.. kalo ngomongin likuefaksi, orang-orang pasti langsung merujuk ama Afrika Selatan.. nahh, sama aja halnya dengan kita.. kenapa gak mungkin kita bisa berkembang dengan segala penghalang itu?? bukannya gak mungkin lho kalo kita bisa men-develop teknologi “global-warming-ready” tapi negara kita tetep bisa maju..
lagian, kalo Jepang emang gak konsisten dengan keputusannya, lalu kita mau ngapain? mau ikut-ikutan juga? gak gt kan.. Yahh, namanya juga negara maju. emang begitu sifatnya! hehehe..
ps. maklum masih mahasiswa. jadi masih berpikir ideal. hahahaha.. mas Pandzee dah kerja kali sih.. jadi dah bener-bener tau keadaan medan peperangan. huehehe..
ririririirri
Jul 18th, 2008
ratih….
OMG beibeh,,,lo keren banget…ajarin gw bahasa inggris sekarang!ayo cepat,,,
hahahahahahah
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