After almost four years of nonstop
verbal diarrhea from the Orange Emperor, the spewer of poo, the prince of
prevarication, I did not think that anything he could say would get a rise out
of me. I stand corrected. He finally said the dumbest thing I have ever heard
any human being say (so far), let alone the President of the United States. When
grilled about the wildfires raging in the Western United States, and in response
to a question wherein the science of climate change was referenced, his
response was that “Science doesn’t know.” Those were his exact words. Disregard
for a moment the fact that this jackass has the communication skills of a
kindergarten student, and that what he likely meant to say was “science is
incorrect”, or “scientists don’t know”, I don’t think I have ever heard even Rump
say something so ignorant. Yes, the science of climate change may be inexact,
but Rump’s ignorance is dangerous. I don’t want a leader who thinks that
gravity is magic. Now that the Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg has
passed on, and may she rest in peace, I fear the repercussions of a Supreme
Court Justice picked by this rocket anti-scientist. Will Roe vs. Wade be
reversed? Will we reinstate public stonings, perhaps bloodletting? The political
climate is changing.
Indeed, climate change is a
polarizing subject. Ever since former VP Al Gore came out with the documentary “An
Inconvenient Truth” that subject has been a little more in the public eye. My
nephew, a meteorologist for NOAA down in Virginia does not like that movie. He believes
that climate change has become far too politicized, and he questions the accuracy
of the scientific predictions made to support Gore’s message. He doesn’t deny
that climate change is taking place; clearly it is. His contention is that
climate change is cyclical and not likely to be changed appreciably by man. We
have only been keeping climate records for a relatively short time, and these
cycles take place over long spans of time. Certainly, our massive generation of
greenhouse gases exacerbates the problem, and absolutely, we should move away
from fossil fuels. Still, for our
survival, perhaps there are more effective and economical ways to adapt to the coming
changes. A few years ago, my nephew sent
me a very interesting book entitled “Cool It”, written by a Danish statistician
names Bjorn Lomborg. In the book Lomborg suggests that, among other things,
adjusting to the inevitable changes might be a more productive use of our energies.
Lomborg believes that it is economically unfeasible and simply unrealistic to
think that newly industrialized countries will jump on board to make a
significant changes in the global warming trend, at least in time to make any
difference. Population control and better land management might be more
productive solutions. Rump would probably love this guy, but he likely hasn’t
even read the Constitution, so I doubt he will read “Cool It”. He probably
doesn’t even know where Denmark is.
As I mentioned in a previous
report, with the help of Hidden Habitat Ecological Landscapes, we put in a
proper raised garden bed and planted a wide variety of vegetables this season. Thanks
again to Laura and Tyler Thomas for making that happen. Tending to a garden has
been good therapy during these strange times, and those fresh vegetables and
tomatoes taste great. Even if it is only a token gesture, the idea of growing
something locally has been a learning experience for us. Regrettably, we did
not plant until early June, but we’ve had a pretty good crop for our first year.
After the recent cold snap, that season may soon be over. I’ve been tarping
every night to save what I can from the nightly dips into the frost zone. Contending
with the weather has been a challenge, and an important reminder of the effects
of climate change on farmers. Up here it’s a short growing season, and when we
have had rain these days, it’s coming in torrents. That is not helpful. My rain
gauge is my little folding boat at the dock, and at least five times in the
past three weeks it has rained so hard that the boat was in danger of sinking.
I think someone should get T-shirts
printed up with Rump’s bloated face on it that read “Science Doesn’t Know”, or
better yet, print it all on red baseball caps.
- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer ©2020 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
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