The Earth is Flat Award
A celebration of the inane, insipid and asinine...
"I think there is so much scientific evidence that there is global warming created by us and if we don't do something about it, we're facing a disastrous situation. Of course there's always people who doubt it, but there's also people who think the world is flat."
Very rarely is an Earth is Flat Award so deserved than the one we're handing out to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, not merely because he invoked the name of our hallowed virtual trophy to defend his global warming orthodoxy. No, we're handing that most vaunted of awards to Gov. Schwarzenegger for his unquestioning acceptance of that dogma.
California's top dog made the comments last week during a visit by British Prime Minister Tony Blair. Together, they announced a partnership between the state and Great Britain to combat global warming to reduce so-called greenhouse gases. The partnership wasn't merely an advancement of environmentalist dogma, it was also a signal by the governor to the Bush administration.
"We see that there is not great leadership when it comes to the federal government and protecting the environment," Schwarzenegger said. "So this is why we as a state move forward with it because we want to show leadership."
That's politics, however, and to be expected from those in the profession -- certainly not enough to merit the Earth is Flat Award. No, this award goes to Schwarzenegger for the assumptions he's made when it comes to climate change. As reader Jay Hendon of Oregon wrote a few days ago, "The earth may be warming but 1) What is the real rate of warming 2) Is the warming anthropogenic, and 3) if the greenhouse gasses are comprised of 90 per cent water vapor and 8 per cent CO2 – of which about 3.5 per cent is from industrial man-made sources – even cutting our emissions in half will only affect about 1.75 per cent of all the greenhouse gases, and 4) At what cost [do we combat these emissions]?"
Facts, however, are uncomfortable things for men like Schwarzenegger to confront. If we've learned anything in recent years it's that there is hardly an unanimous opinion when it comes to the causes of climate change. Thousands of scientists -- those who have academic backgrounds based in atmospheric and climatogical science -- are on record opposing that which Schwarzenegger unquestioningly accepts as the truth. In fact, unknown to the general public, there is a war that is slowly heating up among scientists over nearly every single facet of the climate change debate.
We don't think the world is flat -- we're conservatives, not environmentalists -- but we must hand it to Arnold Schwarzenegger for displaying the same level of intellectual sophistication as the members of the Flat Earth Society. For like them, all the scientific data in the world won't convince him of the obvious: what he thinks he knows isn't the truth.
There is an old Serbian proverb that says vinegar in freedom tastes better than honey in slavery. This award is meant for events and people Enter Stage Right considers to be positive.
Check back soon for a new Vinegar in Freedom Award!
Have someone you want considered for the Earth is Flat Award or the Vinegar in Freedom Award? E-mail ESR with your candidates!