Friday, July 10, 2009

Counterfeit Bills and Climate Change

-- A letter from NASA climate scientist James Hansen
(versified by Horatio Algeranon)


The climate course

Set by Waxman and Markey

Is a disaster in waiting,

It’s pure malarkey.


A wasteful way

To get tiny reductions,

In carbon emissions

With complex instructions!


It's less than worthless,

Since it will delay --

By at least a decade

Instead of starting today--


Taking a tack

That makes good sense,

From the standpoint of science,

And dollars and cents.


Sec Def McNamara

Once failed to refrain

From “Stay the course”,

Which caused great pain.


But failure to address

The grave threat to climate

Will be far worse,

Can’t nickel and dime it.


With the Senate debate

Over climate just starting,

There’s still time to change

The course that we’re charting,


Toward the rocky shores

Of “Cap and Trade”

And other schemes

For getting paid.


Instead plot a course,

For the sandy beach

Of “Fee and Dividend”

Still within reach.


But we must start now,

Not next month or next year,

And we need real captaining,

And we need it here,


In the good ol’ US

Which must lead the way,

To avoid Noah's shipwreck,

On some future day.


Captain Horatio on the Rocks

Though Hansen is much too polite to say so, it is not unreasonable to think that he might be more than a little inclined to add a letter to "Cap and Trade". Horatio will leave the precise letter (and placement) as a "cross-word" challenge for the reader.

Horatio's Hint:
Read James Hansen's letter: "G-8 Failure Reflects U.S. Failure on Climate Change"