If A Tree Falls in the Senate, Will Anyone Hear Sea Rise?
Breaking News: The US Senate doesn't give a fuck.
Wait, that wasn't news? oh well.
If a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, goes the question pondered by generations of college sophomores late at night, does it make a sound? Despite the noble intentions of Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.) in holding a hearing on sea level rise this week, the same question, only slightly modified, applies. Bingaman brought in five experts to testify at the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, including Climate Central’s Ben Strauss.
Six senators showed up — five Democrats and Republican Lisa Murkowski. And according to a liveblog on Daily Kos, six reporters showed up to cover it. And so despite dramatic (and scientifically rock-solid) statements like Strauss’s assertion that “rising seas raise the launch pad for coastal storm surges and tilt the odds toward disaster,” there’s a good chance that nobody will hear much about it.
On the other hand, climate hearings are awfully rare on Capitol Hill these days. And the number of senators and reporters at Thursday's hearing was nothing out of the ordinary. So if you want to look on the bright side, the fact that the Senate held a hearing on sea level rise offers at least a bit of hope that things could someday turn around.
Of course, we thought the same thing back in 1988, when James Hansen electrified the nation with his own Senate testimony that “the evidence is pretty strong that the greenhouse effect is here.” In those days, global warming wasn’t nearly such a political hot potato, even though the evidence for it was far shakier than it is today. Legislators on both sides of the aisle took it seriously. As did the media and public.
More: http://www.climatecentral.org/blogs/if-a-tree-falls-in-the-senate-will-it-slow-rise-of-seas/
Compare with Mexico passes climate-change law if you want to feel really depressed.