Is global warming a real reason for concern? Sixth District Democratic congressional candidate Andy Schmookler doesn’t pretend to be an expert in climate science. He is smart enough to look at what those who are have to say.
“There are people who have been told that the way science works is that we have essentially a conspiracy of scientists from all over the world who are drumming up this hoax in order to frighten people so that they can get more research grants. That isn’t the world as it operates,” Schmookler said.
Ninety-seven percent of climate scientists agree – and mind you, it’s hard to get 97 percent of any group to agree on anything – that global warming is a fact, that human activity is germane to it, and that the possible consequences to inaction are dire.
The stakes are clear to those who don’t believe the hype from the right.
“We have a crisis that faces us where we could conceivably lose the ability to feed ourselves in the course of the coming decades,” Schmookler said.
To get a sense of how serious the consequences are, Schmookler points to the activities of those who are most on the hook in the event that climate change has the diastrous impacts that have been predicted – for example, insurance companies, the military.
“The people who need to know, know. But there are some people, and I’m talking about a vast industry with the richest corporations of the world that are willing to spend lots of money to keep us addicted to the same ways,” Schmookler said.
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