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SYFY WIRE Bad Astronomy

What’s the Opposite of Progress?

By Phil Plait
marcott_graph.jpg

Via DeSmogBlog (and, apparently, President Obama on Twitter) I saw this remarkable video simply lambasting Congressional Republicans over their head-in-the-sand climate change attitudes:

I approve. The video was made by Organizing for Action, which is by their own description, âa nonprofit organization established to support President Obama in achieving enactment of the national agenda Americans voted for on Election Day 2012.â Among other things, they âwill advocate forâ¦sensible environmental policies to address climate change.â

They have a page with the video on it and a link for donations. President Obama has been talking more about climate change in recent years, but I havenât seen a lot of movement on it on his part. Hopefully this is a sign heâs getting ready to do something.

Iâll note I heard about this video on the heels of yet another study supporting the reality of the famed âhockey stickâ graphâthe one showing that over the past century or so weâve faced an unprecedented jump in temperatures across the globe. And that study comes after recent research that shows that this rise in temperature is not only real, but the warming weâre experiencing is faster than anything that has occurred on Earth for at least the past 11,000 years.

In fact, this graph more than any other has been viciously attacked by deniers over the years, and yet not only withstands the tests, but more research only supports it further.

The world is warming up. That warming has not paused. We humans are to blame. Itâs that simple, and it doesnât matter how much Rep. Paul âLies straight from the Pits of Hellâ Broun says itâs a hoax (or what will no doubt be in the stream of denialist comments below this post). There is no scientific controversy about this, just a lot of hot air from people ideologically and financially invested in manufacturing one.

Iâm glad the President wants to take action. Iâll be even happier if and when he actually does.

The title of this post comes from the old joke: If "con" is the opposite of "pro"...

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