Could some ask Excitable Paul Krugman if he will demand that the NY Times stop using fossil fueled vehicles to distribute all its dead tree editions around the world, as well as forgo using fossil fuels to gather their version of the news?
Apocalypse Becomes the New Normal
The past week’s images from Australia have been nightmarish: walls of flame, blood-red skies, residents huddled on beaches as they try to escape the inferno. The bush fires have been so intense that they have generated “fire tornadoes†powerful enough to flip over heavy trucks.
The thing is, Australia’s summer of fire is only the latest in a string of catastrophic weather events over the past year: unprecedented flooding in the Midwest, a heat wave in India that sent temperatures to 123 degrees, another heat wave that brought unheard-of temperatures to much of Europe.
And all of these catastrophes were related to climate change.
Still not proof of anthropogenic causation.
Notice that I said “related to†rather than “caused by†climate change. This is a distinction that has flummoxed many people over the years. Any individual weather event has multiple causes, which was one reason news reports used to avoid mentioning the possible role of climate change in natural disasters.
So, weasel words
Put it this way: While it will take generations for the full consequences of climate change to play out, there will be many localized, temporary disasters along the way. Apocalypse will become the new normal — and that’s happening right in front of our eyes.
Better yet, could someone ask Paul Krugman about his time at Enron and how he avoided going to prison.
In 1999, Dr. Krugman was paid $50,000 to attend one meeting to advise on the then Asian financial crisis, a topic of which he was/is a recognized expert. The market set his pay, certainly not out of line for “celebrity” professors. Nothing illegal or even improper.
One might ask Don Trump Sr. how he has avoided prison for his financial shenanigans.
Teach calls reasoned discourse “weasel words”, but as a far-right propagandist he has no use for reasoned discourse.
The Earth is warming, a result of humans burning fossil fuels releasing gigatons of CO2 into the atmosphere, CO2 that had been locked away under the surface for hundreds of millions of years.
And one might have asked George W. Bush and his administration why they accepted campaign money from Lay and Enron and also were proponents of energy industry deregulation. Rove was a big stockholder; other admin officials were former execs; Bush economic advisors were former board members; Bush Campaign manager was a lobbyist for Enron.
“I predict that in the years ahead Enron, not Sept. 11, will come to be seen as the greater turning point in U.S. society.”
Paul Krugman – 2002
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