I can understand why these big issues become political. I understand why abortion is a political issue. I get that. I understand why the war in Iraq is a political issue. And I can certainly understand why freedom of speech is a political issue. What I don’t understand is how global warming became a political issue. Global warming, it seems, is an ecological issue. Whether it’s true or not, it’s something that’s debated among experts which are the scientists. So why is this now becoming a political issue? Why are political pundits talking about it? I don’t get it. Liberals are saying it’s true; conservatives are saying it’s being blown out of proportion. Well, isn’t the best way to settle the issue is to go straight to the experts, namely the scientists who study the global effects?
Please tell me! Why is this a political issue?
Shaun Miller's Ideas 
it’s a political issue because although MOST scientists agree unequivocally about it, a few don’t, and the right wing is clinging to them to help deny something they don’t want to believe is truth.
ecology itself is a political issue itself, because the actions that concern it are taken not just by the general populace, but by governments. thus it becomes by default a political issue because it must be discussed by politicians.
Here is a link to satisfy Shaun’s question. I don’t know why I bother posting though, it seems people only want to recognize their limited views. Nobody is willing to consider they might not have all the facts and have an actual debate which is due, in part, to global warming being politicized. Nevertheless:
http://www.kusi.com/weather/colemanscorner/38574742.html
Nancy, as for your claim that only a “few” scientists don’t endorse the so-called etiological consensus of Global Warming, I encourage you to check this out:
http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=8641
or
http://www.petitionproject.org/
Unequivocal agreement? Right.
Besides the ad hominems that Coleman does to Gore, environmentalists, and Revelle, I liked it. He was also on Penn & Teller’s Bullshit about it, which I’ll have to check out.
However, I still don’t get why it became politicized. Yeah, it mentions Gore, but the whole idea of Global Warming was a political thing before Gore came on to the scene. Why do politicians have to discuss it? Isn’t this something that science should get involved? So again, why is this issue political?
Maybe because the people involved in the environmental INDUSTRY feel the need to create terror to secure their own jobs? A lot of money can be made on environmental control standards, and they come from tax dollars.
I guess it’s not just those redneck, neanderthal conservative Americans that have questions about the cause of global warming. The president of Czechoslovakia has questions. I wonder if this is political too.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.a18bbb18df8422d8340c4db2e8eb4388.1131&show_article=1
I read the article. It’s very intriguing. My hope is that global warming won’t end up being a philosophical/ethical issue like abortion or capital punishment. I’m hoping it’ll stay a scientific issue so that people can determine it through data, not politics; through empirical evidence, not philosophical persuasion.
I’m with you on that one.