Disclaimer: no knitting content. Its too freakin' hot. Yarn sticking to hands = non-pleasurable hobby.

Today the thermostat went up a few more degrees. And although we had a mid afternoon thunderstorm which nicely cooled things down for a bit, the scorching heat was back within an hour. My thermostat in the house, only goes as high as 90, and it was there. In fact it was 85 degrees in the house when I got out of bed this morning.
Now, every summer we experience a heatwave. What is unique in this one, is that it swept the entire nation. Its not localized, not just in the plains, or the desert southwest, and it isn't just the south.. it was everywhere for the most part.
Right before the heat swept into upstate New York, I read this particularly scary article about the rain forest. Did you know that the rain forest can only withstand 2 consecutive years of drought? Did you know that we are now seeing that second year of drought? But the rain forest seems like such a far away place doesn't it?

Studies by the blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia,
have concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive years
of drought without breaking down.

Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern hemisphere,
including Britain, and could massively accelerate global warming with
incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a process that might end in
the world becoming uninhabitable.

Feeling a little sweaty right now? Is it the heatwave or a teensy bit of fear?

the Amazon now appears to be entering its
second successive year of drought, raising the possibility that it could start
dying next year. The immense forest contains 90 billion tons of carbon, enough
in itself to increase the rate of global warming by 50 per cent.

You can also see a video on the subject, here.

So other than being hot and sweaty, why are my knickers in a twist? I happened along this nugget..

From Thinkprogress.org, Majority Whip Blunt: If I Stay In Charge, Congress Won’t ‘Do Anything Meaningful’ On Climate Change

Continued Republican House and Senate majorities would likely mean more of the same on climate. House
Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) said he would oppose global warming
mandates if Republicans control the 110th Congress. “I think the
information is not adequate yet for us to do anything meaningful,� he
said.

Really? I guess we wouldn't want to slap the hands of the polluters, pardon.. campaign contributors. Really, its just the fucking planet we live on, the air that we breath, and the water we drink. Roy Blunt, republican ass hat.

You could start somewhere meaningful where Bush backed out..

On Sept. 29, 2000, while campaigning in Saginaw, MI, Bush said: “We
will require all power plants to meet clean-air standards in order to reduce emissions of…carbon dioxide within a reasonable period of time.�

Shortly after being elected, Bush announced he was backing off his campaign pledge due to pressure from the oil industry. In a March 13, 2001 letter,
Bush said: “I do not believe, however, that the government should
impose on power plants mandatory emissions reductions for carbon
dioxide, which is not a ‘pollutant’ under the Clean Air Act.� Vice
President Cheney said of Bush’s campaign pledge, “It was a mistake because we aren’t in a position today to…cap emissions.�

While CO2 may not technically be a pollutant, our planet relies on a delicate balance..

from BBC..

So the amount of carbon dioxide taken out of the atmosphere every
year by plants is almost perfectly balanced by amount of carbon dioxide
put back into the atmosphere by respiration and decay. The magnitude of
this cyclic flow of carbon is also important to realize, because small
disturbances in the balance can have large implications.

By
comparison, the amount of carbon dioxide added directly to the
atmosphere as a result of human activities seems at first
inconsequential. But these superficially small amounts do matter,
because the natural parts of the carbon cycle (the air-sea exchange and
the biological processes) have long been in good balance, at least on
the time scales of immediate relevance to humans. Industrial and
agricultural activities seem to have significantly tipped the balance
of the carbon cycle.

While the republicans force votes on silliness like defining marriage, flag burning, and protecting the phrase "under God" in the pledge, things like clean air, and the survival of our planet.. not so important. Forget the term ass hat, we've moved on to fucktard.

If you stuck around this long for my rant, I'll leave you with the gift of laughter. But before you start chuckling. Think about what you could be doing to help our environment. For starters, give a little love to progressive candidates running near you. If we can take back some power in Washington, we can get back to important issues like our environment. What can be more important that the world we live in? Even if you don't believe global warming is real *cough* and needs more research, are you really willing to gamble? We let our leader invade an entire country and turn it into a complete fucking disaster with absolutely no evidence necessitating such an action. That was a gamble.. and look how well that bet payed off.

Around a year ago on this day..

• We're back from PA - 2005