Wild rumors have panicked millions of Americans and their elected officials into national action when told falsely that President Obama plans to confiscate guns or that all Internet e-mails will be taxed.
However, tell the same Americans man-made pollution is slowly killing the planet and they're apt to dismiss the news as "junk science" or as another, ho-hum, generation's problem.
Well, the Gulf oil spill dispels the "junk science" myth. Inept humans caused the spill. Consequently, the whole Gulf ecosystem plus the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of seafood industry and tourism employees are doomed for years to come, not to mention billions of dollars in public costs.
It's no mirage that the world's rain forests—sources for 28 percent of the world's oxygen turnover and 25 percent of its natural medicines—are being whittled away for lumber.
Urban air pollution is increasing respiratory disease and affecting vegetation.
Thousands of species that provide the cycle of life on the planet are endangered.
Now, more data show a relentless shrinking of Arctic sea ice unmatched in perhaps 5,000 years and, according to studies by scientists from five countries, "unexplainable by any of the known natural variabilities." Vanishing sea ice is the victim of global warming.
This isn't just a natural cycle. It's a trend that seems to be building.
What more convincing evidence does the world's leadership—especially America's—need to begin a crash effort to begin the research and innovation necessary to free itself from polluting fuels to reverse the poisoning of the planet?
