Tom Toles – political cartoons

Friday rant, hot and bothered edition

How long could I go before twisting this hot summer weather into some screed about climate change? Apparently only this long. Deniers never tire of this game: when it’s cold in the winter, that’s “evidence” about climate trends, and when it’s warm in the winter, they say “If this is climate change, I’ll take it!”. So why should I be any different? But there IS a difference. For deniers it’s all a big game of scoring cheap points.

For everyone else, the climate debate has been for decades now about the degree of conclusiveness of the evidence, measured against the practicalities of reducing carbon output. Now, the evidence is massively supportive (the scientists’ e-mail “conspiracy” has been debunked, please be aware). But because the pro-carbon people are still unprepared to reduce carbon in ANY meaningful way, they are cornered into a position where they have to argue that there is NO compelling evidence. And so that is the position they take.

So let me be the first to haul out the heavy artillery of WWII analogies on this issue and call the climate legislation obstructionists the Neville Chamberlains of the planet. We have SUV’s in our time. If there is a current issue on which people are absolutely discrediting themselves, in a way that current science and future calamities will hold them accountable for, this is it. “If this is responsibility, I’ll take it!” Well, you’ve got it. –Tom Toles

via Tom Toles – political cartoons.