The Dangers of Lying About Science

So most people by now know that right-wing conservative Christians argue against evolution and instead for Creationism/Intelligent Design. Also filed under the category “If we ignore scientific fact and lie to the American people, our interests are better served”: global warming.

You’d be hard pressed to find a non-political scientist who can deny that the Earth is getting warmer by degrees, which can and will lead to atrocious environmental changes.

If you, like me, cared but felt pretty sure that the repercussions probably wouldn’t be felt during your lifetime, it turns out we’re wrong.

Scientists have concluded that due to the increased warming of the waters in the tropics, hurricanes are becoming increasingly more powerful. While it’s impossible to accurately blame Katrina on global warming (history has shown that powerful storms do hit occasionally, even without rising water temperatures), it’s clear that as an aggregate, natural disasters like hurricanes, wind storms and typhoons are getting worse.

“Wind speed measurements made by planes flying through tropical storms showed that the ‘potential destructiveness’ of such storms had ‘increased markedly’ since the 1970s, right in line with rising sea surface temperatures.” (New Yorker quoting Nature)

Scared yet? Write to your congressperson to demand the United States ratify and follow the Kyoto protocols. The United States produces almost 25 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We owe it to ourselves and the world to stop.