Why we're proud to be scared

Today, Denise L. Behreandt of the "John Birch Society," a conservative political organization, released an article entitled "Wisconsin Residents Fed Global Warming Scare Stories."

Behreandt is referring to the Wisconsin League of Conservation Voters’ upcoming Conservation Lobby in Madison on January 30. The WLCV will encourage Wisconsin residents to urge their legislators to back WLCV’s ‘Conservation Priorities’, which include adopting a science-based plan to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Behreandt says, "Like many environmentalist organizations pushing global warming based regulations, the WLCV attempts to use fear to generate support." She calls the WLCV’s warnings that global warming will bring more extreme weather, diseases, and species extinction "baseless and undisguised propaganda." She continues, "The evidence for human induced global warming is shoddy, there’s no reason to expect more extreme weather, and in cold weather climates, if it were to happen, warming would be a boon to human health."

What Behreandt doesn’t seem to realize is that there is nothing shameful about using fear to garner support when that fear is based on reality. For example, Al Gore’s "An Inconvenient Truth" used the tagline, "By far the most terrifying film you will ever see." It didn’t aim to be the feel-good flick of the year, but a wake up call to people that hurricanes, floods and droughts will only escalate if we continue our current energy consuming habits. With similar intentions the WLCV is sending a serious message to voters that if legislators don’t start acting on global warming, we will suffer the consequences.

What’s perhaps even scarier is that the link Behreandt provides for "shoddy" evidence goes to the website of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, where the headline reads, "U.S. Senate Report: Over 400 Prominent Scientists Disputed Man-Made Global Warming Claims in 2007. Senate Report Debunks "Consensus.” Think it’s a dated piece? Nope- this report was released in December 20, 2007.

If the Senate is still releasing reports trying to disprove climate change is a man-made threat, you bet that people in Wisconsin should be demanding that their elected officials will take a different stance. People need to know that every pro-environmental vote is a plus for America and a plus for the world. And if that requires fear-mongering, then bring out the boogeyman.