Politics Is Blame For A Changing Climate - 1168 Words

Politics is to Blame for a Changing Climate In the 1980’s, scientists discovered three important pieces of information that would shape American politics and the environment for years to come. The Earth was getting warmer, the warming was caused by human pollution to the air and sea, and future generations would suffer (Hansen). Few believed these environmentalists at first, but as science progressed, the signs that climate change was a real threat became more and more apparent. Today, the debate on climate change is a popular topic, especially in national politics. Although one may assume the first step to fixing these environmental problems is to talk about it, evidence shows that political debate over the issue actually masks it†¦show more content†¦This fact should spark a disturbance with many citizens because it shows how congressional votes depend on the use of a carbon dioxide emitting fossil fuel to make decisions. Some argue that the decisions politicians m ake will not truly affect Americans; however, this is not a sound argument. Perhaps these people do not see the full effect of a politician’s stance on the environment right away. That all changes when certain politicians, especially conservatives, are voted into office. When a certain group has control over the government and governmental policies, areas such as the food industry can be manipulated to follow this economy-over-environment pattern. For instance, in Elizabeth Grossman’s article â€Å"Banned in Europe, Safe in the U.S.,† Grossman describes â€Å"the process for restricting chemical use under the TSCA can also take years; in fact, only a handful of chemicals have ever been barred under TSCA† (Grossman 5). This quote clearly illustrates that getting rid of unsafe or potentially unsafe chemicals is almost impossible. If it does occur, people will still be exposed to the chemical for years to come. Why would the government want to use such harsh chemicals? The chemical is working to better the economy, whether it is being sold in grocery stores or used to create a product produced by thousands of workers to stimulate job growth. The government does not want to risk the economy over dangerous environmental impacts. The