For a point of reference, I've decided to Repost the op/ed that started my current debate with EM over the Republican Disconnect from our Planet's Physical Reality. EM made comments to this piece that I took prime time with two blog posts, along with an invitation which EM accepted and on January 1st I posted "#3 E.M. has his say. Debating the Republican Disconnect from Earth's realities" where he makes his arguments. I've followed with three responses and there are more to come.
Still for argument sake I thought it would be good to slip this in here.
______________________________________________________Still for argument sake I thought it would be good to slip this in here.
The following started as a response over at Center For Inquiry forum. But it took on a life of its own and I'd like to share it over here, the quote that got me going:
“I agree that there are lots of justifications to have a negative outlook for our future. But I do think that although our ability to destroy ourselves is increasing all the time, we are also, on average, getting better at treating each other better. (I wish I could say the same for how we treat our planet, but with our population and growth rate and 'improving standard of living', we have a long loooong way to go.”)
(for the record this was written several months before the election.)
CC: I wonder how you feel after this election "campaign" and its result?
As for our planet, we are her guests. Earth has only so much to offer us and after a few hundred years of sucking out and consuming everything as fast as possible, all the while getting ever more contemptuous and disconnected from our Earth’s physical realities, she's running out of what we need to survive. Our slow learning curve doesn’t mean a thing to how Earth reacts to what we have done to her. What we don’t know is certainly going to harm us.
Science tells us about Earth’s simple physical reality. No matter how much bullshit Republican delusionals have hurled at this edifice of knowledge and understanding, the overwhelming observational evidence supports what the scientists are tellings us.
Misrepresenting what scientists say likewise doesn’t change the facts. Choosing to ignore it doesn’t mean the changes aren’t continuing underfoot. Here I’m reminded of an excellent song worth sharing at this point. I’ve wanted to share it since first hearing it downtown Denver during the 2008 Democratic Convention. Their poetry does a pretty job of conveying a certain ugly reality about how things work in Washington DC and how oblivious most people are to it.
Misrepresenting what scientists say likewise doesn’t change the facts. Choosing to ignore it doesn’t mean the changes aren’t continuing underfoot. Here I’m reminded of an excellent song worth sharing at this point. I’ve wanted to share it since first hearing it downtown Denver during the 2008 Democratic Convention. Their poetry does a pretty job of conveying a certain ugly reality about how things work in Washington DC and how oblivious most people are to it.
Oakhurst - Moonshine Still
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Bringing it back down to Earth and appreciating her realities.
