Getty Images
Rising sea levels in North Carolina matter.
There's just something about the North Carolina sea-levels story I like. Maybe it's because I've been influenced by Chris Mooney's great new book, "The Republican Brain," but this one policy fight seems to capture so much of what's wrong with conservatives' approach to policymaking and appreciation for evidence.
To briefly recap, GOP lawmakers in North Carolina have a new solution to rising sea levels, caused by global warming: scrap the scientific evidence pointing to rising sea levels.
A state-appointed science panel warned officials that sea levels will rise 39 inches over the next century and that North Carolina needs to prepare. Under a GOP plan, officials would be prohibited from relying on the scientific evidence, and would instead have to use a historical model to set expectations. North Carolina would prepare for only 8 inches of sea level increase, since that's what happened over the last century.
Yesterday, the GOP plan advanced.
Rejecting a science panel's warning that the North Carolina coast should prepare for an increasingly rapid rise in sea level later in this century, a Senate committee on Thursday endorsed far-reaching rules that would force planning and regulatory agencies to base sea-level forecasts only on the slower rates recorded in the past.
"If you're going to use science when you really can't validate it ... you're going to be implementing policy and rules and regulations that can have a very, very negative impact on the coastal economy of this state," said Sen. David Rouzer, a Benson Republican who championed the legislation.
Sure, the state-appointed science panel said the sea-level increases will accelerate, but to take that seriously will have a "very, very negative impact" on the coastal economy -- as if 39 inches of additional water wouldn't have a "very, very negative impact" on the coastal economy.
"It's already clear from the data that the rates of sea-level rise are accelerating," professor Rob Jackson, who heads the Duke University Center on Global Change, told the committee. "We know that, and we know why: because of increasing temperatures and thermal expansion of ocean water, and because of ice melting."
Jackson was ignored.
Leave a Comment:
It sounds like they want to ignore Katrina again. There's another state worth abandoning. Some more people left to drown. Another Avenue in which to decrease the surplus population. Another ghost to revisit.
I read a great comment that said "There is no climate change when their heads are up their asses".
"Beliefs" and "Facts" are tricky things. Just go ask Galileo.
In case you're not laughing already: http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/414796/june-04-2012/the-word---sink-or-swim
I'll bet the insurance companies listen to the scientists, not the ignorant Republicans (a redundancy if ever there was one). So we'll all end up bailing out a bunch of anti-government N.C. developers with our federal tax dollars.
The insurance companies knew this 20 years ago, and adjusted their risk pools accordingly.
They'll try to sell people global warming insurance , buy it and it will protect you from melting unless you're The Wicked Witch of the West which means you have a pre-existing condition..
In tribute to North Carolina and it's fight against the tide--
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=leI7sfmipuI&feature=player_embedded
"The continent of Atlantis was an island
Which lay before the great flood
In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.
So great an area of land, that from her western shores
Those beautiful sailors journeyed to the South
And the North Americas with ease
In their ships with painted sails.
To the east, Africa was a neighbor,
Across a short strait of sea milesThe continent of Atlantis was an island
Which lay before the great flood
In the area we now call the Atlantic Ocean.
So great an area of land, that from her western shores
Those beautiful sailors journeyed to the South
And the North Americas with ease
In their ships with painted sails.
To the east, Africa was a neighbor,
Across a short strait of sea miles" --Donovan
Beautiful, Way down below the ocean way below the sea, she may be.
Republicans already think they know better than medical doctors so why not climatologists.
Republicans think they know more than God, who keeps making gay people while Republicans keep saying, "Dude! That is so wrong!"
Yeah, let's also restrict voters from the ballot booth by fighting against voter fraud in a like fraudulent manner - damn reality, legislatively change the rules to benefit the few over the many!
A vote for Republicans is a vote against any sanity still remaining in our world! -Kevo
Maybe we should all travel to the other side of the moon. Paul started it with his rendition of Donovan. See we're already starting to sing.
North Carolin's new State Anthem...
Octopus's Garden Lyrics
Performed by The Beatles
I'd like to be, under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
in his octupus' garden, in the shade.
I'd ask my friends to come and see
An octopus' garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade.
We would be warm, below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves
Resting our head, on the sea bed
In an octopus' garden near a cave
We would sing and dance around
because we know we can't be found
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade
We would shout(out) and swim about
The coral that lies beneath the waves
(Lies beneath the ocean waves)
Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they're happy and they're safe
(Happy and they're safe)
We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden with you
In an octupus' garden with you
In an octupus' garden with you.
i've noticed that many of the movers and shakers in the southern baptist convention (aka religious division of the g.o.p.) now frequently denounce climate change as a "religion". think of it. its a cute trick and far too subtle for the typical back bencher to catch. one either professes christianity (or the voo-doo the s.b.c.ers adhere to) or acceptance of science. one or the other. black or white. there's no in between. one simply can't be what they define as a true christian and accept generally acknowledged scientific fact at the same time.
Jim -
One of this country's all-time greatest real historians, the late Richard Hofstadter (sorry, Newt, sorry, David Barton, etc. - you should examine work like his to see what the result of actual academic discipline looks like), published a book in 1963, titled Anti-Intellectualism in American Life, a 1964 Pulitzer Prize-winner which remains one of the best works available on this important subject.
http://www.amazon.com/Anti-Intellectualism-American-Life-Richard-Hofstadter/dp/0394703170
Its treatment of the subject is scholarly, thus it's not necessarily a casual read, but it's hardly overwhelming - the intended audience was the serious general public (i.e., not "anti-intellectuals" themselves). While obviously there have been many further developments in the subject of "anti-intellectualism" in the nearly 50 years since its publication, this remains a MUST READ for anyone who seriously wants to understand the source of some of our greatest frustrations (and the nature of the Rape-Public-CON "mind").
Your comment reminded me of this great work, as the passages dealing with the history of Southern Baptists and that sect's long-standing antipathy to education are particularly enlightening.
Let them drown! Their willfully blind ignorance is dooming US all! With less sheeple WE might actually be able to have better policy made!
"If you're going to use science when you really can't validate it ... you're going to be implementing policy and rules and regulations that can have a very, very negative impact on the coastal economy of this state..."
In other word, deny the possibility long enough so I can sell the property I own that would be affected before the prices go down.
Or - calming down somewhat and seeing things from the other side:
The 39 inch rise in sea-level is theoretical and is based on the assumption that nothing is done to change the trajectory of global climate change.
I know, I know!! Big assumption.
These same people need to be pushing for an all-out effort to address the real (OK theoretical) possibility of very, very negative impact of sea-level rise.
We all live in a yellow submarine. Yellow submarine, yellow submarine, and if you're from Arizona you better learn how to swim according to Maynard.
Mother Nature doesn't care if the Republicans believe in climate change, or not.
At a certain point, stupidity forces you to just give up. Who has the energy to think of something snarky or humorous in the face of this sort of immeasurable Republican stupidity. You just give up. There's only one thing to conclude: Republicans suck. They just suck.
Unbelievable. Just frickin' unbelievable.
I, for one, won't miss North Carolina.
Fine.
North Carolina is welcome to pass any and all the legislation it wishes. States' Rights don't ya know.
Surely there is a Democrat somewhere in that legislature who can add one little, teeny, tiny sentence to that bill - "Passage of this legislation as written requires and mandates that FEMA and/or the federal government shall not be allowed, under any circumstance, to provide or assign any financial or other assistance, intervention or funding to the areas referenced in this Bill."
Can pigs swim? Will we finally rid ourselves of pig farms and the waste they dump into the rivers and streams?
Q: what's a hundred drowned North Carolina Republicans (as a result of this policy)?
A: A good start.