MEMO to Those who voted for the GOP

MEMO

To: Those who voted for the GOP
From: The scientific community
Date: From now until eternity
Re: Don't fuck with our planet

You don't get to vote on the periodic table.

You don't get to vote on the strength of the electromagnetic interaction.

This is the basis for chemistry, including the chemistry of the atmosphere.

Greenhouse gases are transparent to visible light but absorb infrared light. Atoms (like argon) and homonuclear diatomic molecules (like O2 and N2) cannot absorb infrared light. This is fundamental physical chemistry. You don't get to vote on that.

The major non-precipitating greenhouse gases in the atmosphere are first and foremost, CO2; then methane (natural gas), and oxides of nitrogen. All three now have very large man-made sources that need to be reduced. You DID get to vote on that, and you blew it.

Global warming is not a hoax. It is real.

Global warming is not our worst problem. Worse problems like severe economic inequality, racism, misogyny, war, and nuclear proliferation come to mind. You DID get to vote on that, too, and you voted for more!

Global warming is not our worst problem but it makes all of our other problems worse. The US military considers global warming a major threat to our national security.

A coalition of 25 military and national security experts, including former advisers to Ronald Reagan and George W Bush, has warned that climate change poses a “significant risk to US national security and international security” that requires more attention from the US federal government.

and

Last year, the Department of Defense called climate change a “threat multiplier” which could demand greater humanitarian or military intervention and lead to more severe storms that threaten cities and military bases and heightened sea levels that could imperil island and coastal infrastructure. In January, the Pentagon ordered its officials to start incorporating climate change into every major consideration, from weapons testing to preparing troops for war.

How has the GOP responded?

This new focus has not been warmly welcomed by Republicans, with Colorado congressman Ken Buck proposing an amendment that would bar the Pentagon from spending money on adapting to climate change.

“When we distract our military with a radical climate change agenda, we detract from their main purpose of defending America from enemies like Isis,” Buck said in July.

This is crazy talk.

Without a concerted effort to reduce our carbon emissions, the world will soon (by 2028 or so) have more than enough greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to warm the planet by 2°C or more, with devastating results.This will be like a slow cooker, not a fast one, so it will be another decade or so until the inevitable happens before the middle of the century. These are the consequences of putting another 1000 Gt of CO2 into the atmosphere since 1880. This is fundamental physical chemistry. You don't get to vote on that.

As John Abraham wrote in The Guardian, "Anyone who voted for Trump shares the responsibility for the climate damages resulting from his presidency".

You cannot hide from this responsibility. We will not let you forget. Nor will our ALL of our children (yours, too). Nor their children. Nor their children.

It is on you.