"Arrest 'em! Charge 'em with criminal negligence! Jail 'em!" That's what some are calling for in the case of "deniers" of global warming here in what used to be known as America. Assistant perfesser of philosophy at Rochester Institute of Technology, Larry Torcello, is calling for just that, and others are taking up the cry. Says the Torch:
We have good reason to consider the funding of climate denial to be criminally and morally negligent. The charge of criminal and moral negligence ought to extend to all activities of the climate deniers who receive funding as part of a sustained campaign to undermine the public’s understanding of scientific consensus.
Yesterday, over at Gawker, a feller named Adam Weinstein quotes the Torch extensively, and pushes onward:
Those denialists should face jail. They should face fines. They should face lawsuits from the classes of people whose lives and livelihoods are most threatened by denialist tactics.
I'm talking about Rush and his multi-million-dollar ilk in the disinformation business. I'm talking about Americans for Prosperity and the businesses and billionaires who back its obfuscatory propaganda.
Perhaps Weinstein and the Torch should take a hike over to places like China and India, just to, you know, set them straight. Come on back when you reach an agreement with them, boys.
But that won't work, because man-made global warming isn't their fault - it's yours, because you're American. Never mind that although the USA never signed onto the Kyoto Treaty, we're the only country on the planet that not only met, but exceeded the CO2 reduction goals set forth in the Treaty; you need to do more. And you need to pay more.
And to that end, the Obama regime is targeting the dairy industry. The plan is to regulate methane emissions from cows by 25% over the next six years.
“During digestion, microbes resident in an animal’s digestive system ferment food consumed by the animal,” the EPA notes. “This microbial fermentation process, referred to as enteric fermentation, produces [methane] as a byproduct, which can be exhaled or eructated by the animal.”
As might be expected, the professional agitators over at Sierra Club don't think that's sufficient. Even though methane emissions have dropped 11% over the course of the past quarter-century, they think that the folks supplying us with natural gas, of which methane is a byproduct are somehow "getting away" with methane emissions - despite the fact that the companies routinely capture the methane for use as fuel.
As has been mentioned here before, if they really want to get serious about methane, they need to round up the single most prolific source of biological methane - termites. Maybe they can come up with a way to fit them all with tiny butt-plugs.