9.3.09

Not Just a River in Egypt...

In the grand old tradition of Holocaust denial and pro-Iraq War protesters comes an entirely new and exciting brand of united ignoramuses: climate change deniers.

Yes, even despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the Exxon-funded Heartland Institute has organized their yearly convention dedicated to spreading dangerous misinformation regarding the state of our natural world and feeding the woefully mistaken belief that our actions against the environment have no discernible negative effects on the quality of our air, water and ecosystems.

What's worse is this group has actually garnered the support of national leaders, or one national leader at least. Czech president Václav Klaus was a keynote speaker at this year's convention; he received a standing ovation for this quote:

"They [European governments] probably do not want to reveal their true plans and ambitions to stop economic development and return mankind several centuries back..."

He accused major governments lobbying to combat climate change of being "alarmist", and added that the climate change debate has not made any "detectable progress".

People were cheering this man. Seriously. But of course we're talking about a country where only 58% of the population actually believe that humans are having a discernible effect on climate change.

I'm all for free speech, but sticking our heads in the sand isn't going to make this problem disappear, and the more we convince ourselves that nothing is wrong, the more difficult it's going to be to come back from the brink. Thoughts and comments always appreciated, but read the article first: here's your link of the day.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I quite enjoy the deniers, especially the holocaust ones. It's like nobody ever said "Hey, where'd all those Jews go anyway? Are they in the desert again?"

The same thing will happen with the climate deniers. The Czech republic is under a blanket of such horrifying filth that the rain alone is enough to melt their perogies.

If a person who runs a second world hell hole says there's no climate change and some people believe him, it says more about the followers than the ass clown who's giving the speech.

J!