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12/14/2004: "How to Talk to a Dittohead about Global Warming and the Environment"

Environmental policy conversational strategy demands massive preemptive action. This is a topic area for which you must borrow from the right wing playbook. Recall that great masterpiece to the competitive spirit, The Karate Kid, and particularly the creed of the Cobra Kai, “strike first strike hard no mercy sir!” Besides being the creed of the evil opposing dojo in the movie, it was also the motto of Bush Cheney 2004, and turnaround is always fair play. So how do you “sweep the leg,” to recall the scene where the Cobra Kai sensei orders an attack against Daniel’s injured knee? Here are some thoughts: “You think gas prices are bad now. What about when they are $1 million a barrel, after most of it has been sucked up. Or do you deny that someday it will all be gone? Don’t we have a moral obligation to use the wealth that oil provides to develop viable alternatives for that day?” Or try facts: “According to the September 2004 issue of National Geographic, glaciers are visibly melting, sea ice is thinning, permafrost is thawing, lakes are shrinking, ice shelves are collapsing, droughts are lingering, mountain springs are running dry, plants are flowering sooner, migration times are changing, coral reefs are bleaching, coastlines are eroding.” Or how about the morality angle: “Global warming is like doing medical experiments on children. Our massive changing of the environment is like a big experiment with unknown results. Shouldn’t the burden of proof that no harm is being done be on the ones producing the change?” Tomorrow let’s talk about what the likely Dittohead reply will be, and what to do about it.