Nuclear War and Environmental Catastrophe

^{Appendix 7} Open Letter to Africa, December 12, 2011

On December 7, 2011, during the UN Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma delivered a video message aimed at the international delegation: “Today I’m happy to bring you the good news about the complete collapse of the global warming movement and the failure of the Kyoto process…. For the past decade, I have been the leader in the United States Senate standing up against global warming alarmism…. You should know that global warming skeptics everywhere wish we could be with you celebrating the final nail in the coffin on location in South Africa.” Inhofe is the minority leader of the Environment and Public Works Committee. His top campaign contributors include Koch Industries (oil, chemicals, and forest-derived products); Murray Energy (coal); Devon Energy (oil and gas); Contran Corporation (chemicals, metals, and radioactive waste disposal); and Robison International (lobbyists for defense, nuclear energy, GE, and IBM).

US Senator’s Statement At COP17 Disappointed US

We are writing as US citizens to express our grave disappointment about the views expressed by our government representatives at COP17. On December 7, US Senator James Inhofe delivered a video message to the Durban delegation which was ill-informed and mean-spirited.

We, like many others in the US, accept the consensual science on climate change: it is happening and people are suffering from water shortages, the acidification of the oceans, and extreme weather events.

The carbon load in the atmosphere, caused mainly by fossil fuel combustion, is too great and must be reduced. This reduction must begin before 2020.

While it is true that the US is a democracy, it is also true that Inhofe, who serves on a very powerful committee on environmental issues, continues to do the dirty work for industry.

Industry interests are the main impediment to any necessary movement on climate change which must happen on a global scale.

It is more accurate to say we have a democracy that uses free elections to put in place known obstructionists, and a media that disproportionally gives a forum to economically driven ideology over sound science.

JACK MIMS AND LARAY POLK

Dallas

Source: Mercury (South Africa)