The heartbreak of melting

Reading on the walk home from work: Call me a predictable liberal, but there's only one issue more distressing to me than the long agenda of Bush administration misinformation aimed at constraining domestic liberties and justifying dangerously aggressive foreign policy. It's something that's a bigger threat to us all than Islamic fundamentalism, runaway pharmaceutical companies or illegal government wiretapping. And it's certainly a bigger threat to our children and grandchildren. The earth is getting warmer. The current administration has prevaricated about the issue plenty, of course. It's always struck me as idiot-fying that George Bush has continuously reiterated that global warming "needs more study", but his standard of evidence on WMDs didn't require nearly as much certainty before sacrificing soldiers' and civilians' lives in Iraq. But I blame Dubs hardly more than I blame any of us who over-consume and are still blazé about changing things. If you haven't yet focused on the issue, how's this for tugging your heartstrings toward giving a shit: Polar bears are drowning. That's how bad it is. Already. That link will take you to a good piece on the bears' predicament. The best thing I've recently read on the broader issue, however, is called The Coming Meltdown, by Bill McKibben. Highly, highly recommended.