Climate change has never been a headline story. But it’s always just below the surface… or maybe it’s better to say, it’s always been right up there. New York’s Jeri Fink is a climate activist and wants to take action against those who deny climate change. She says in this Boomer Opinion piece, she wants to make them extinct.
Ah, the good old days.
A few times a week, a white truck with blue writing ambled down our street in Bayside, New York. The Dugan’s Man, smiling at the kids, would leave a pile of baked goodies at our doorstop. That was after The Milk Man left glass bottles of cold milk and The Seltzer Man heaved ancient wood cases of thick, faintly-colored bottles of seltzer that we drank instead of sweet soda.
The cupcakes grabbed me. They were topped with dollops of sweet, colored frosting that had the awful habit of jumping into my mouth undetected, leaving naked cake behind.
Climate activist Dr. Jeri Fink in Antarctica.
Every week I would deny I had anything to do with it.
Not me. Never me.
Everyone knew. But denial can be a beautiful thing. If you do it long and hard enough you might convince yourself it’s truth.
Psychologists see denial as a way to handle reality-– if it doesn’t exist, then it doesn’t matter. Denial gets dangerous when people use it to eliminate reality— like climate change deniers. That’s big trouble for all of us.
Climate change deniers dismiss increasingly severe storms, floods, droughts, and fires. They ridicule science. The Guardian calls the U.S. a “hotbed of climate change denial,” reporting that America has more deniers than any other country except Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Think of infamous climate change deniers like Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who burned the “lungs of the planet”—– the Amazon Rainforest— to raise cattle. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s denial arguably contributed to 2.5 million acres destroyed by fire, dozens of people dead, and the loss of nearly a billion animals, including beloved koala bears.
Our climate change Denier-In-Chief is doing his best to keep up with his buddies— putting profit and power before people and planet.
Mr. Trump is famous for his claim that climate change is a “Chinese Hoax.” He opens public lands to drilling and mining, supports the fossil fuel industry to the detriment of others, and rolls back critical environmental protections.
When we’re not looking, Trump builds a wall to protect his golf resort in Ireland against rising seas caused by climate change.
The president has refused to spend nearly a billion dollars allocated by Congress for clean energy projects, grants, and financial assistance. According to the website Gizmodo, he not only held back funds but “canceled a $46 million program for solar research and development.” The Orange Man in the White House claims to know more on the subject than 97% of the world’s scientists.
In his State of the Union speech, Mr. Trump announced that he will protect the environment by joining the “One Trillion Trees Initiative… to plant new trees in America and all around the world.” At the same time, he promotes logging in Alaska’s 16.7-million-acre Tongass National Forest, the largest intact temperate rainforest in North America.
Mr. Trump comes to us compliments of the fossil fuel industry. Exxon/Mobile knew for decades that fossil fuels create climate change and gave millions of dollars to denier organizations and lobbyists— along with BP, Shell, and Chevron.
We’re victims of decades of political lobbying, misinformation, and denials of proven scientific evidence. Climate change deniers are the minority who control us, the people who call young hero activists like Greta Thunberg “mentally ill” or, after writing two books and countless blogs about climate change, they call me a “commie left-wing propagandist.”
Your legacy is gloomy as you watch melting icebergs, rising seas, and greenhouse gases increase. Ironically, it costs less money to mitigate climate change now than deal with the inevitable disasters later. Who cares? Deniers have a lot of dough to replace the cupcakes at their doorsteps.
Change is coming from the grassroots. Millions of individuals, organizations, and leaders around the world are defying the deniers.
Elders for Climate Action, Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace, Sierra, and many others are being heard. Savvy politicians are adding climate change to their platforms. Individuals like you and me are eating less meat, rejecting one-use plastics, and driving hybrids.
Join to make sure that your grandchildren will know the purple mountains, blue oceans, and lush forests we love today.
Let’s make climate change deniers extinct!
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Jeri’s book is, “Is Your Wonton Soup Endangered?: The Survivor’s Guide to Food in The Age of Climate Change (Book Web Minis)
Jeri,
Very few are actually “denying climate change.” The point is that the climate has been changing ever since the planet came into existence. It was extremely hot, got colder, then hotter, then colder, etc. And it will continue to. The controversy is mostly about how much humans are responsible. I don’t pretend to be smart enough to know the answer, and the people who are smart enough aren’t in agreement.
If rising seas are such a problem, why did the Obamas buy a beachfront mansion in Martha’s Vinyard?
And logging in National Forests is tightly controlled, Rangers mark the trees that need removed for the overall health of the forest. It’s not willy-nilly clear-cutting.
Greta Thunberg is a victim of her parents and liberal schools indroctination; I wonder if, in 15 years, she will believe the same. Maybe so, maybe not.
In the long run, it’s not us eating less meat, rejecting one-use plastics, and driving hybrids. It’s the large polluters we have no control over; India, China and a few others. Large amounts of plastic trash in the oceans have been traced to Chinese origins, and no amount of online anguish will change that.
Oh, and those groups you mentioned? Most are trying to lock up vast areas of purple mountains and lush forests as designated wilderness. Meaning no one will ever see them unless hiking or on horseback; not even mountain bikes allowed. I can’t hike far, and can’t ride horseback. So I’ll never see them again, or take grandchildren to see them.
You are correct in that the planet has been through the ice age and the warming up period when the glaciers receded. These ages happen no matter what, but the human race has increased how quickly this happens. This has been proven by the brightest minds in the world.
Perhaps the Obamas are planning on building a sea wall, the same as trump’s wall, to protect their investment.
Miss Greta was named person of the year for all the hard work she has done on behalf of her generation. Her parents have been generous to enable her to speak all over the world. Liberal has nothing to do with trying to spread a message. I can probably predict that in 15 years, she will still be speaking on behalf of her generation. And let us not forget, Greta is speaking, literally all over the world to make a difference. She is a brave, not many of us can say that about ourselves.
Wilderness…well as a hiker, I prefer that locking those up forests and having them to cherish forever is a lot better than to have them go extinct.
But who am I? Just a land, ocean, mountain loving human who appreciates the beauty of our land.
Denver,
Are you denying climate change?
Interesting line, “If rising seas are such a problem, why did the Obamas buy a beachfront mansion in Martha’s Vinyard?” Likewise, wonder why Trump sought a permit to build a sea wall designed to protect the his fairways in Ireland from coastal erosion? Must not have anything to do with rising sea levels, right?
Jeri,
Kudos on an excellent article.
As an active member of the all-volunteer author team of SkepticalScience (SkS) , I encourage your readers to peruse the SkS website — SkepticalScience.com.
Thank you Nancy and John for your posts that show both love and understanding of this beautiful planet we inhabit. I checked out SkepticalScience.com and loved it – everyone should add it to their “favorites.” Accepting human responsibility for climate change is critical to preserving Earth.
I used to be a climate change denier, like so many others, until I read an interesting article about an unusual study. No, these weren’t studies about polar bears, ice caps, or dwindling butterflies. This was a study about climate change messages.
When the study authors reviewed the popular media (i.e. news shows, social media, magazines, etc) they found the split for/against at about 50%-50%. But when they reviewed scientific media (journals, academic writings, scientific publications, etc), they found the argument for a man-made climate change at about 95%, with 5% either against the idea or unsure.
In my opinion, I think the mass media has twisted scientific fact to say what they want you to hear, not necessarily what the science says.
Nice point, Keith. The media is both a blessing and a curse; you have to know who and what you’re dealing with. You don’t have to look any further than what is happening today. It’s a tough time and place to live in – I hope we, as a species, learn to love and respect what we have rather than the shallow words of pundits.