Despite public opinion, the House Republicans recently charged in and passed a bill that would eliminate $3 billion, or about 29%, from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) budget while the polar ice caps keep melting at an alarming and dangerous rate.
Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan, claims "The American people have spoken. they demand that Washington stop its out-of-control spending now, not some time in the future." Yet, the Pew Research Center recently released a poll finding that 72% of Americans think federal spending on environmental protections should be either kept the same or increased. People want the out-of-control spending to be cut from the government high dollar spending, not from programs that insure protection for the people.
According to RepowerAmerica.Org, not only will the EPA no longer have the authority to set limits on pollution from power plants, factories and refineries (the most significant sources of greenhouse gas pollution in the United States,) it will inhibit investments that could create millions of new clean energy jobs.
In an effort to avoid all climate change responsibility, the bill specifically prohibits the EPA from researching pollution and the effects it has on climate change or developing technology toward a greener future. Also, totally against the freedom of speech law, it would even be illegal for the EPA to provide the public with information about global warming.
The bill also prevents the United States from contributing to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel and to the development of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Service -programs that supply scientific data, technology and information to improve climate change. Since the U.S. is the third largest producer of pollution in the world (per capita, following China and Australia) this makes for not very friendly relations with the international groups working so hard to find solutions for the problem. This is a blatant refusal of the U.S. to honor its international responsibilities.
There are skeptics who argue that climate change has nothing to do with human activity, but is a normal cycle of nature. 16% of the scientists who back up this global minority are being funded by industries, such as automotive and oil, that stand to lose a LOT of money if government actions regulate greenhouse emissions. According to the Pew Research Center, however, the other 84% of scientists agree that the earth is getting warmer because of human activity such as burning fossil fuels.
Although climate change is a normal cycle of nature, the carbon emissions humans generate are accelerating the process by several hundreds of years. So, without a normal evolutionary time span to adjust to the climate changes, the world will be abruptly and brutally forced to endure the effects. We have already seen much of that in the increase in tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, fires, flooding, etc. Still, not understanding how all this weird weather is part of the climate changing problem, only 9% of the American population feel that climate change will affect them directly.
This bill, basically, involves several effective measures for shoving the climate change problem under big corporate rugs and pretending that it does not exist at all. It would be a sad legacy we leave for our decedents.
If you are interested in learning more about climate change or you would like to take action now in helping others stand firm against this bill as it goes through the Senate on March 4, go to repoweramerica.org
