Mr. Robinson Strikes Back

(Appeared in The Coast Star: July 26, 2007)
GLOBAL WARMING NOT A THREAT TO SHORE – TERRORISTS ARE
Editor, The Coast Star:

Mr. Tufts, your letter in The Coast Star [“Continuing the Global Warming Debate”] in response to my letter, was interesting, but I’d like to raise a few points.

Mr. Gore is not a scientist, he’s a lifelong politician. Every calculation he makes is based on political motivations. He is positioning himself, with the help of Hollywood and the media, to get in the Presidential race. When a report came out that he was using 20 times the energy of the average American, he worked feverishly on his mansion to change it. He still hasn’t sold his jet, and I’d like to know the last time he flew commercially. Then there is the issue of his zinc mine and its cleanup.

“Carbon offsets” are rich people like Mr. Gore paying to use more energy. I personally probably have more carbon offsets than Mr. Gore and the Congress combined. I owned a plant nursery and grew and planted thousands of trees from New York state to Maryland, over the last 50 years.

As someone who has had a house along the shore for over 40 years, and who, before that, was a lifeguard captain for four years, and who was a member of the U.S. Coast Guard for eight years, Mr. Tufts, I don’t know what ocean you’re swimming in “with feces and tampons.” I know the ocean is cleaner now than it was years ago.

I agree with your criticism of bottled water –– I never bought a bottle of water, for three reasons: First of all, we don’t know where all those bottles will end up. I see them along the roads and on the beach. Also, the water is not tested like our tap water, and when you add the cost, it’s more expensive than gasoline! Global warming and bottled water are the two marketing schemes of our lifetime. The American society is the most advanced and compassionate in the history of mankind. We get the highest yield per acre, and feed half the world. We send advanced medicines to most of the world; we share our technology and knowledge with third world countries; our missionaries and Peace Corps are all over the world; we’re sending $30 billion to Africa to fight AIDS.

We should not feel guilty about our standard of living. It was earned by the sacrifices, hard work, and the intelligence of those that came before us.

As a life-long environmentalist, I know we must stop our dependence upon oil from “terrorist” nations. Ethanol cannot be an option because of the reliance we have on corn for food products –– particularly meat. Also, weather such as drought, would send prices soaring. As a life-long member, also of the Farm Bureau, I know some farmers disagree, but ethanol is a short-sighted solution. We must become self-reliant and tap the resources we have in the continental U.S., as well as Alaska, before it’s too late. We haven’t built a refinery in over 40 years!

Let’s look at some of the facts reported by the Business and Media Institute: In 1924, the New York Times ran stories about a new Ice Age. Then in 1933, they reported on the longest warming spell since 1776. And then in 1975, both the newspaper and Time Magazine reported on a major cooling year. The first Earth Day concerns were the coming of the Ice Age. A professor of atmospheric sciences at MIT, Richard Lindzen, wrote that there is “no scientific consensus on global warming.” Therefore, it appears that climate change is cynical.

All discussions of global warming become irrelevant unless our professionals can defeat the barbarians of the Middle East and keep them away from our shores. Global warming is not a threat to our shore –– terrorists are.

EDWARD ROBINSON
Brooklyn Boulevard, Sea Girt

--------------------------------------

See Tadvocate's Rebuttal