This diary is an extension of yesterdays: SLEEPWALKING TOWARD OBLIVION climate change entry
DIVIDED AMERICA: TEMPERATURES RISE, US SPLITS
The AP points out the political divide along party lines now obstructing any effort to combat the most serious global problem facing our world.
Democrats (and scientists) became more convinced that global warming was a real, man-made threat . But Republicans and Tea Party activists became more convinced that it was - to quote the repeated tweets of presidential nominee Donald Trump - a "hoax." A Republican senator tossed a snowball on the Senate floor for his proof.
Mainstream scientific establishment accepts evolution as a reality, as well as the general safety of vaccinations and genetically modified food. But nothing beats climate change for divisiveness
Tempers are rising in America, along with the temperatures.
Two decades ago, the issue of climate change wasn't as contentious. The leading U.S. Senate proponent of taking action on global warming was Republican John McCain. George W. Bush wasn't as zealous on the issue as his Democratic opponent for president in 2000, Al Gore, but he, too, talked of regulating carbon dioxide.
Then the Earth got even hotter , repeatedly breaking temperature records. But instead of drawing closer together, politicians polarized.
AMERICAN’S MORE POLARIZED OVER CLIMATE CHANGE THAN ABORTION — POLLS
It is not surprising given the overwhelming financial power of the Fossil Fuel industry and their Denier machine led by The Heartland Institute now being led by Republican Denier candidate Trump — that political divisions mimic this divided climate change polling.
Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication,tells AP. "It's more politically polarizing than gay marriage." Citing surveys by Yale and George Mason University, Leiserowitz has some numbers: 17 percent (and growing) of Americans are alarmed by climate change and want action now, 28 percent are concerned and believe it is man-made but don't think the threat is imminent, 27 percent are cautious but on the fence, 11 percent are skeptical, 10 percent are vocally dismissive of the science and its conclusions, and the last 7 percent aren't paying attention.
Even in the face of undeniable scientific evidence that sustains the the report of 2015 records broken:
NEW GREENHOUSE GAS RECORD
NEW GLOBAL AVERAGE TEMPERATURE RECORD
NEW UPPER OCEAN TEMPERATURE RECORD
NEW HOTTEST YEAR ON RECORD
NEW GLOBAL SEA LEVEL RISE RECORD
NEW LOW ARCTIC ICE COVER RECORD
The record California drought and massive increase in wildfires, increasing acidification of the seas, and meticulously detailed reports like the Hansen led March 16, 2016 paper outlining the dangers now posed by the rapidly approaching 1 degree centigrade world average temperature increase are falling on deaf ears and eyes.
We are up against the wealthiest industry in the world that owns the most powerful lawmakers in the world’s leading energy consuming country with “religious leaders” who use “God’s word” like a political battering ram. The only wonder is how only 10% buy into their dismissive view with 11% who indicate skepticism.