Today in “that is not how science works,” the United States senate has overwhelmingly voted that climate change is a real thing that’s happening, so it must really be real!
Still, it is a good thing that the vote was so lopsided. In fact, there was only 1 vote against out of the entire senate, with 98 agreeing that thermometers aren’t witchcraft to add a “climate change is not a hoax” amendment to the Keystone XL oil pipeline bill. I know that for a lot of you it’s freezing cold outside and you hate everything right now, so you might be tempted to call your senator and ask what gives, but remember that your subjective, sample-size-one experience doesn’t decide science—unless you’re a senator, I guess.
While climate change is real whether the senate votes on it or not, it’s great to see a change in the frequently partisan conversation on the issue and an agreement that something is happening whether we know what’s causing it or not. The cause still met with scrutiny, as another amendment stating that human beings are causing climate change failed to gather the 60 votes it needed.
Of course, some of those who don’t agree on human-based climate change just see the current trend as part of Earth’s normal cycle, which they have to admit is real. But whether human beings are causing climate change or not isn’t actually up for a vote, and it’s not a necessary factor for congress to do something about it, either. The ramifications of climate change aren’t good whether we’re causing it or not, so there’s no reason we can’t try to counteract it. If we can all agree that it’s happening, we should try whatever we can to curb it whether or not we can agree on how it started.
Hopefully, now that we’ve all at least agreed that there’s a problem, we can find a solution.
(via Gizmodo, image via Micolo J)
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