Several former Nixon, Reagan and Bush cabinet members agreed climate change is going to cause severe damage to the American economy. No really, they did and not only that, they said we need to take action immediately, including (*gasp*) a carbon tax!
“The big ice sheets are melting; something’s happening,” George P. Shultz, who was Treasury secretary under President Richard M. Nixon and secretary of state under President Ronald Reagan, said in an interview. He noted that he had grown concerned enough about global warming to put solar panels on his own California roof and to buy an electric car. “I say we should take out an insurance policy.”
The former Treasury secretaries — including Henry M. Paulson Jr., a Republican who served under President George W. Bush, and Robert E. Rubin, a Democrat in the Clinton administration — promised to help sound the alarm. All endorse putting a price on greenhouse gases, most likely by taxing emissions.
“I actually do believe that we’re at a tipping point with the planet,” Mr. Paulson said in an interview at his home in Chicago. “A lot of things are going to happen that none of us are going to like to see.”
Of course, not one of these former Republican officials has any influence on the policies of their own party, and I imagine they will be called traitors and RINOs for speaking out on this matter, but I salute them nonetheless. All I can say is where were these guys back in 2002 or 2006 or 2008 or … well you get the picture. Can’t give Robert Rubin a pass on this either. He’s been a senior member of the Wall Street Enablers of Big Oil Club for as long as I can remember. But hey, you take what you can get. The fact this issue ever became politicized is a direct result of the influence of the fossil fuel industries on both parties, and the ability of our corporate media to bend over backwards not to alienate some of their biggest ad buyers. A shame so many lies have been allowed to be seen as truth for so many because of – and let’s be honest here – the greed of a few profiteers.
“A shame so many lies have been allowed to be seen as truth for so many because of-now let’s be honest here- the greed of a few profiteers.”
But didn’t Michael Douglas say “greed is good”? And not to quibble with Mr. Paulson but I’m afraid the tipping point was passed a decade or two ago.
Speaking truth to power doesn’t count if one failed to do so when one had power. The old, “if I knew then what I know now,” is only a valid pass card if then the truth wasn’t readily available.
Ronald Reagan could erupt from his grave and say that global warming is a problem and the right-wing would just trot out half a dozen noisemakers to call him names.
A whole segment of the population is now totally gone and will never admit that science isn’t a hoax by libruuls trying to take their money and give it to poors and browns.
The fact that the proto-fascist pieces of human garbage are now coming around to observable reality is going to have absolutely no affect on the fascist-proper trashbags running around now.
They are effectively trying to save face. Fuck ’em.
I’m very encouraged by this. There is a lot to suggest that a substantial portion of the Powers That Be ™ have decided that facts are facts, climate change is real, and Polluter Profits(tm) be damned action must be taken. First, this report has received massive coverage in the US media – contrast that to the previous climate change reports from various sources which got little coverage and what they got was invariably “balanced” by a professional wingnut liar. Second, the tone of news coverage in a number of major US news organizations has suddenly changed significantly over the past 3-4 weeks. Then there was the semi-favorable SCOTUS ruling yesterday, which threw a bone to the GOP Funding Polluters(tm) but otherwise left the EPA policies intact. (and I, for one, have come to believe that the Scalia-Roberts 5 never make business-impacting decisions without consulting the business leaders who fund their lavish lifestyles through various legal loopholes, such as employing their spouses to do nothing for outrageous salaries)
All of this says that there is a real schism amongst the wealthy GOP funders – not party-threatening or anything – but on this one issue the Fossil Fuel CEOs are going to be told to follow their Tobacco CEO brethren into figurative corners and give up their fight for the right to ruin the planet.
We’ll know more shortly. If they can get the GOP house to vote for a carbon tax by 2016 you’ll know that this is what happened.
But the Tobacco execs have not given up. Right now they are pushing for laws allowing e-cigarettes everywhere.
Will we see the energy execs pushing “boutique fuels” or something of the sort?
Of course they haven’t, and all the other CEOs peddling stuff that kills and maims won’t either. But realistically the only chance the species has is if enough of the Powers That B ™ can set aside personal profits long enough to fix the problem.
As a related aside, there are many theories as to why no signs of extraterrestrial intelligent life has been found. One line of thinking is that many of the traits which allow a species to evolve to the point where it can travel in space will also invariably cause the species to either destroy itself or have a society collapse so severe that space travel becomes impossible.
The first test of this theory for homo sapiens was whether we’d blow ourselves up with nuclear weapons. So far, so good, but in that case the MAD doctrine and the immediacy of the negative feedback of launching a nuclear weapon were essential ingredients.
The global warming test is much bigger because the feedback loop is so delayed, the effects so diffuse, and the science so complex. A species that evolved by huddling into groups, fighting most outsiders, and with a planning horizon of no more than the next cycle of seasons really isn’t naturally equipped to deal with this kind of problem.
And if we solve global warming we’ll find there are a huge number of other problems that will follow, all due to the massive overuse of the planet’s resources.