"Our greatest responsibility is to be good ancestors."

-Jonas Salk

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Talking to a Brick Wall Street

Jeffrey Sachs in Scientific American:
Let me make the invitation once again. Many of the world's leading climate scientists are prepared to meet with the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal, and to include in that meeting any climate-skeptic scientists that that the Journal editorial board would like to invite. The board owes it to the rest of us to make the effort to their own "open-minded search for scientific knowledge."

6 comments:

Dan Satterfield said...

I saw that last night. Well said and perhaps a response to what seems to be an increase in the propaganda level this summer??

Is it me or has it reached the shrill level.

King of the Road said...

Judging from Michael's link to "insanity at town hall meeting" and other similar articles I've seen, "shrill" is a huge understatement for the state of public discourse. It's seriously close to psychotic, and I don't bandy that term about. It really gives me a hopeless feeling.

And, unlike Michael (self-avowed), I'm no "tax and spend liberal."

Michael Tobis said...

I can only hope non-lunatic conservatives split off and make a new party. I'll take a smart and decent conservative over a lunatic of any stripe, liberal though I may be.

Anyway, for future reference, here is the "insanity" link KotR refers to.

William T said...

Yes it is time for the 'Blue-green' (or in the US 'Red-green') conservatives to step away from the psychotics and meaningfully engage with the problem and its solutions. Unfortunately, until there is a visible group of influential conservatives who are standing up and saying 'yes the science is right, this is an emergency, the time for action is now', the denialist fringe will continue to spread their malign influence over the political debate.

King of the Road said...

Such people do exist. I may be one, Dr. Dutch at UWGB is another. Of course our voices are minuscule in comparison to the hordes of nut cases who call themselves conservatives but really aren't in any meaningful sense.

There are one or two who have platforms and, though they are currently on the "it isn't happening, and if it is, it's not us, and if it's us it's not harmful" side but seem as if they are capable of rational thought.

I'm trying to engage such a person. If I'm successful, it will increase my dismally low level of hope.

King of the Road said...

Here's another take on the insanity from the Wall Street Journal. Ironically, I saw the headline, "You Are Terrifying Us" and a brief reference to health care; and for a moment I actually thought the reference was to the nutcases at the town hall meetings. Ha. Perhaps I really am losing my grip.