Many of you were surprised to learn that Exxon knew about climate change since 1977 and spent $millions spreading deceitful propaganda to cover up how burning fossil fuels is a primary cause. Would you believe, however, that some actually suspected and broadcast the truth almost sixty years ago? It’s true! We’ve known way too long,not to have taken the steps we needed to take!
On February 12, 1958, the American public saw the first televised warning about the dangers of carbon dioxide, global warming, and sea level rise. That warning came from The Bell Laboratory Science Series, which aired its fourth TV episode, “Unchained Goddess,” written and produced by three-time Oscar winner Frank Capra.
Capra is famous for classic films like “It’s a Wonderful Life,” and not so famous for having a degree in chemical engineering. In this film, Dr. Research (Dr. Frank Baxter) explains to The Writer (Richard Carlson) that unrestricted carbon dioxide emissions could lead to a world where “Tourists in glass bottom boats would be viewing the drowned towers of Miami”:
“Even now, man may be unwittingly changing the world’s climate through the waste products of his civilization,” warns Dr. Research. “Due to our release through factories and automobiles every year of more than six billion tons of carbon dioxide, which helps air absorb heat from the sun, our atmosphere seems to be getting warmer.”
Note: Now we are emitting six times (!) as much CO2 from fossil fuels as in 1958… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Think Progress>
Recently, someone asked me how the Republicans who are doing everything in their power to block Obama’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions here and sabotage the Global Climate Accord expect to survive the effects of their criminal greed. I have tried to answer in the above graphic.
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9 Responses to “We’ve Known Way Too Long!”
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Lovely graphic. Of course, the church suggests they might listen to something other than what is between their own ears, and the barn suggests they might actually roll up their sleeves and do some work. Therefore I assume both of those buildings are purely for show.
They are for the serbgants allowed inside.
The REPIGS have been living with their heads in a bubble for sooooolong now, they would not know how to navigate the world if they lost it!
Another answer to the question is that they are simply too focused on short term thinking to consider consequences beyond their short walk to the bank. I read, recently, in something unrelated to politics, that humans evolved with eyes set on short term safety issues, presumably helping our ancestors to get through each day, perhaps every few days. Some of us, like "I ain't evolving," SCROTUS man Thomas, and the REPIGS (the party that nominated him,) do not have the ability to consider any consequences beyond the tips of their noses, sadly.
I read where CA's AG, Kamala Harris, who is running for Boxer's Senate seat here, filed charges under CA laws on this one.
Perhaps the Republicans and a few democrats think they will be living under a dome in a few years. No amount of money from lobbyists will protect them when the whole earth is destroyed. My dad was a coal miner of necessity to make a living. He understood these concepts when I was a child. We were taught to conserve, recycle, and not waste. He switched our home to natural gas as soon as it was available. Of course, no one was talking about the dangers of pollution when I was a child.
Your graphic reminds me of the movie Logan's Run where a civilisation took itself out of the polluted atmosphere above ground. Stories were told that to go above ground meant death. During the time below ground, without the constant input of humans, the earth was able to heal.
When it comes to Republicans, their heads are so far up their asses that they can't (or don't want) to see what is happening. I wonder how they will survive when their factories etc go under water, literally, and there are far fewer people to do their bidding and contribute to their wealth.
I suppose in 1958 people thought of Capra's TV series as a SF show, a lot of predictions of what might be there in the future, without too much credibility. The sad thing is that a lot of Americans still think that about films and TV programs, even though their message is based on here and now scientific evidence and not fiction.
The dome the 1% is expecting to live under, however, is pure fiction (in an otherwise excellent cartoon, TomCat). First of all, because a dome like that probably be far below sea level, and second of all because the 1% isn't united enough to even think of starting a project like that. By the time they're in need of their domes, they're too busy fighting what is left of us and most of all: eachother.
Thanks all! Hugs!! Hurrying!!
We need to take action now. It might be too late, but we must try. Stephen Hawking said its probably too late.