In his recent piece in the Beacon, titled “Leave It In The Ground,” Dave Skinner shared some choice words about folks who accept the science on climate change. He described them as “hard-core believers,” as “climate changeists,” and – this one is my favorite – as “warmunist cult leaders.”
In case you were wondering, Dave combined the words “warm” and “communist” – isn’t that clever? – and then, obviously concerned that his target demographic might not get his point, he added “cult leaders” to make things a little clearer. That’s right. “Warmunist cult leaders.”
As a writer and a climate communicator, I’ve noticed that folks typically share their strongest arguments in public. Dave must have known that he didn’t have science, facts, or logic on his side, so he apparently decided to call people names instead.
Then again, who knows? Maybe I’m mistaken. Maybe Dave thought that the sheer linguistic brilliance of his “warmunist” salvo would overwhelm decades of scientific research and make people forget about last summer’s record high temperatures, choking smoke, devastating drought, and explosive wild fires.
Regardless, the facts are clear. Our fossil fuel emissions are heating the planet, endangering our economy, and putting our future at risk. By the way, that’s not just me talking. That’s our scientific community, our economists, our religious leaders, the U.S. Military, and our top corporations – including ExxonMobil. They all agree that climate change is real, that it’s happening right now, and that it’s a major threat to America.
In fact, ExxonMobil says on their website that they’re working to – and I quote – “unlock integrated solutions to manage climate change risks. We have a robust set of processes, technologies, and best practices designed to improve efficiency and reduce emissions across our global operations.”
I’ll look forward to Dave raging against the “warmunist cult leaders” at ExxonMobil.
Todd Tanner
Bigfork