Under the Oak

John Holdren, Director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy, offers some insight into the kind of things being contemplated in the shadowy corners or our nation’s home office (bearing in mind that this is the politics-free branch of the West Wing).

“We’re talking about all these issues in the White House,” Holdren said. “There’s a very vigorous process going on of discussing all the options for addressing the energy climate challenge.”

Oh boy. Here we go. The Cult of Green strikes again, right? Oh, it gets better. You see  the “these issues” that he refers to are the questions that…you know…kinda crop up surrounding the use of climate altering technology to drastically cool the earth.

The concept of using technology to purposely cool the climate is called geoengineering. One option raised by Holdren and proposed by a Nobel Prize-winning scientist includes shooting pollution particles into the upper atmosphere to reflect the sun’s rays.

That’s right. We are going to tax farmers for cow farts and when that doesn’t work, we’ll…shoot pollution particles into the upper atmosphere? I’ve obviously missed some important bit of information between “burping worms are destroying the atmosphere” and “well what if we do this stuff…like…on purpose?”.

I suppose we can expect to see a lot of crazy stuff from folks like this, right? I mean sure, it sounds totally idiotic and counter-intuitive, but its the White House! These people are smart, politics-free, totally unbiased scientists, right? How could they be wrong?! And besides, even if they are, what harm could possibly come out of it?

But he said there could be grave side effects. Studies suggest that might include eating away a large chunk of the ozone layer above the poles and causing the Mediterranean and the Mideast to be much drier.

Or, if you will allow me to paraphrase the wording of the stuffy news guy on NPR this morning: “However, Holden did say that there could be permanent, predictable side effects including massive holes in the ozone layer and drastic global cooling.”

Now, don’t get me wrong. I don’t actually fear that these nuts are going to blast a hole in the ozone (what incredible arrogance it must take to make these predictions about the effect of human actions). What I do fear, however, is that the people advising the most powerful man in the world are totally insane. Combine that with the unavoidable impression since he took office that Obama hasn’t the foggiest idea what he is doing and is relying heavily on advisors like Holdren, and your initial chuckle upon hearing about a mad scientist in the White House will transform itself into a knot in your stomach as it did for me this morning as I lay in bed listening to the news.

How long before the Cult of Green gets really panicky and decides to start pushing for interplanetary colonization as a means to escape the warming monster? Before the end of the Obama administration is my guess.

Greenists strike in Washington state (surprise!) only to find out that dirty dishes aren’t on the list of things that people are willing to give up to save the environment. Oops.

So lets grant the absurd notion that mankind has somehow managed to overheat the earth – you know…for the sake of argument. If people aren’t even willing to give up clean dishes for the cause, then isn’t that evidence that mankind is not morally capable of the sacrifice that would be required to cool the earth back to its “normal” temperature? And if we’re not capable then why suffer half the sacrifice and fail? I say let them have phosphate based dish washing detergent! Let the soccer moms buy SUVs! Let the cows fart in peace! If there is no hope anyway, we may as well enjoy these little pleasures for the last thousand or so years of our collective existence, yes?

I wish I could blame my dirty dishes on the Cult of Green.