Let's put a Saddam Mustache on Climate Change

Calling all graphic designers, artists, Banksy, anyone! We need to Photoshop Saddam Hussein's mustache onto climate change. It's the only thing that will motivate people to action on climate change. Most people think climate change is an interesting topic for a seminar or lecture, not an ongoing worldwide emergency, and we need some sort of visual equivalent of yelling "fire" in a crowded theater. But, you know, more tactful. The old photo of a polar bear was effective on the 3% of us who like furry critters, but the other 97% seems to be distracted by American Idol or whatever it is that other Americans do while I sit at my computer worrying about climate change.

See, when it came to invading Iraq in 2003, I just don't recall Bush having to compromise very much. Maybe I'm naïve, but I didn't see him out "buying" votes from budget-conscious Blue Dogs. I don't remember any cost-benefit analysis comparing the pros and cons of invading Iraq or any pesky budget deficits getting in the way. I don't think Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld had to negotiate their war plans, like saying, "OK, we wanted a full invasion, but we'll scale it back so we can get the votes we need." They didn't have to cater to that one grumpy committee chair from some barely populated mid-western state. I do remember being denigrated as unpatriotic and wimpy when I was out at the anti-war protest wearing a Darth Vader helmet with my "No War for Oil" sign. To this day, I don't recall hearing much discussion about reducing the military budget so that we can ensure health care for 40 million Americans, let alone preserve the planet for future generations. I'm not saying we should stop defending our nation, but I find it surprising how different the political discourse was around invading Iraq in 2003 from today's political discourse around climate change.

And why? Perhaps there was something about Saddam Hussein's mustache that stirred the American soul. Maybe it reminded people of Hitler and Stalin, or maybe it was just so foreign looking, so un-American, that it made us want to go over there, and shave it right off! (Somebody will have to confirm this with Sarah Palin, since she seems to be the arbiter of "true" Americanism.)

I admit that the country has gained some awareness of climate change in the 4 years since "An Inconvenient Truth" and Hurricane Katrina, but we've also continued to emit a lot of greenhouse gases. The good folks at 350.org are trying to convince Americans that we don't have 20 years to ponder our options about what to do about climate change. The earth's atmosphere is already at 387 parts per million (ppm) of carbon dioxide equivalent in the atmosphere, and climbing, and the safe level is back at 350 ppm. We don't have the luxury of waiting for China and India to get rich enough to take action before us, and really, that's just a cop out anyway. We're Americans, we're world leaders, we take bold action, right? (Yee haw?) But maybe we need some motivation, like tacking an evil-looking mustache onto a melting glacier.

Comments

[Aaror]

Personnally I have thought it was too late for about a year and a half.
Alaska is melting, as it does, millions of pounds of methane gas will be released from the permafrost. Methane is a greenhouse gas far worse than CO2.
We have assumed that the earth would resist changes and move back towards equilibrium at the temperatures we are used to. Instead there are many signs that in the polar regions there are several imbalancing factors which will accellerate change instead of slowing it. Right now no one knows what the impact of Alaska will be, but scientists are studying it in Fairbanks as we speak.

[Overtone]

The love affair with the automobile seems to be the easiest way to change the energy ballgame!

I've posted a 2 page outline on the website: www.aesopinstitute.org

The article is entitled: 4 Steps to Revive the Auto Industry and the Economy

It outlines revolutionary new technology that opens paths to hybrid cars that need no conventional fuel and electric cars that need no recharge!

At a following stage, parked cars can become power plants, selling power without need for a wire connection to the local utility.

Imagine the impact! And progress can be accelerated with greater support.

The science is new and does not yet appear in textbooks. Almost anyone will be skeptical. However, independent laboratory validation, as well as mass production of these remarkable systems, is now on the horizon.

One of these scientific breakthroughs, fractional Hydrogen, was recently validated by experiments at Rowan University. This would be a good time to urge National Laboratories and distinguished universities to rapidly reproduce the experiments and publish their results.

Once they have proven their potential, these radically new technologies will change most of what is presently believed and projected regarding energy.

This is a direct path to attacking Global Warming. How hard will it be?

On the way, a retrofit program appears capable of modifying existing vehicles to dramatically reduce fuel consumption.

There is more at: www.chavaenergy.com Look under the Heading HOW? for the entries regarding fractional Hydrogen and SPICE.

[jhNY]

"Most people think climate change is an interesting topic for a seminar or lecture, not an ongoing worldwide emergency"­... I respectfully disagree. Most people, I believe, think climate change is real, but unstoppable because of the intransigence of the powerful in business and government to address the issue, and because in a thousand private selfish little ways, ordinary people will continue to do what they like-- running the a/c all day and night, driving aimlessly from mall to mall, etc-- without considering the consequences And most people are correct.