In next month’s elections, incumbent Democrat Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., will face Republican businessman Ron Johnson. As the unwavering impacts of the economic recession continue to afflict many, the upcoming elections understandably revolve around the issue of the economy. As a result, in their campaigns, both candidates are touting their economic policies, whether restoring growth, stimulating job creation or tax cuts. However, this recession obsession has left other pressing issues such as climate change in the cold.
As with many other Republicans, Ron Johnson has joined the rank of other right-leaning climate change deniers, using words such as “crazy” and “lunacy” to describe the conclusions of climate science. This extremely alarming trend has been going on in the Republican Party for the past few years, with senators who used to accept the reality of climate change becoming increasingly anti-scientific. Even Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., one of the few Republicans who once accepted global warming is “such a threat to our planet and our future and our children,” now uses phrases loved dearly by other climate change deniers such as “inexact science” and “flawed by outside influences” to describe anthropogenic global warming.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ron Johnson has also said “there’s a reason Greenland was called Greenland; it was actually green at one point in time. And it’s been, since, it’s a whole lot whiter now.” In addition, greenhouse gases are apparently good, because carbon dioxide emission in the atmosphere “gets sucked down by trees and helps the trees grow.” Now that’s science.
Such ridiculous statements by Ron Johnson suggest, if he is elected, the U.S. government will find it even harder to take any action on climate change, even as temperatures continue to rise and weather gradually becomes more erratic. This year’s push for cap-and-trade legislation has already died, owing to the opposition of all Republican senators; having more Republicans in office – assuming the GOP continues to insist on denying this problem – will make it even harder for action to ever be taken on this issue.
That almost all Republican senators can be so hostile to science and, as Feingold described Johnson’s views, “out of touch with reality,” is a point often forgotten by voters who often care more about how they will be affected financially by voting for certain candidates.
While many European countries, China and Japan continue to push for reduction in carbon emissions by switching to alternative sources of energy, the U.S. is slowing down to a standstill by insisting on the importance of the coal and oil industries. Now, it is obvious that switching to alternative sources of energy is a complex issue that needs to be handled with care. However, the fact that the government is failing to pass any legislation on reducing the impacts of climate change suggests there is something fundamentally wrong here.
Statistical analysis has suggested the recession had already ended last year. This does not mean people are finding jobs and there are no more homeless people. Yes, people are still struggling, and will continue to – that’s what recessions cause, even years after they are over. What this means is that it is time for the government to move on and start handling other issues that were pushed aside during the recession. Climate change was ignored for long enough by the Bush administration; the Obama administration has so far failed to achieve anything beyond reiterating its promises.
What we need now is action on climate change. For that to happen, we need to vote for Senate candidates who realize the dangers of maintaining our current levels of greenhouse gas emissions, and who are willing to tackle the complexity of the issue and take action. Fortunately, we know who won’t take any action against climate change: The man who called trying to fix global warming “a fool’s errand,” Ron Johnson.
On the other hand, Senator Feingold has refused “to take a course in Ron Johnson science any time soon;” he accepts the science of climate change and agrees climate change legislation is needed. While I am disappointed he opposed the cap-and-trade legislation this year for economic reasons, we can only count on him, even if action is only to be taken in the following years.
For as long as Ron Johnson – and the rest of the GOP – continue to deny reality, the responsible citizen should take no part in this “fool’s errand” of persisting in inaction toward climate change.
Albert Budhipramono ([email protected]) is a freshman majoring in biology.
