Congress has finally acted on global warming—by denying it exists. It’s in the grand lawmaking tradition of the Indiana state legislature’s 1897 attempt to ___1___ the value of pi.
The Republican-led House of Representatives is currently working on the Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011, which would ___2___ the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating carbon dioxide emissions to mitigate climate change.
In the House Energy and Commerce Committee, California Democrat Henry Waxman had proposed an amendment calling on Congress to at least acknowledge that “warming of the climate system is ___3___,” just as abundant scientific evidence confirms.
But on Tuesday, March 15, all the committee’s Republicans ___4___ that amendment, as well as two others acknowledging the threat of climate change to public well-being. Rep. Ed Markey, Democrat from Massachusetts, had this to say:
“I rise in opposition to a bill that repeals the scientific finding that pollution is harming our people and our planet. However, I won’t rise physically, because I’m worried that Republicans will ___5___ the law of gravity, sending us floating.”
【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽(yù)出品】
redefine bar unequivocal voted down overturn
美國(guó)國(guó)會(huì)終于對(duì)全球變暖問(wèn)題有所行動(dòng)了，只不過(guò)是——否認(rèn)它的存在。此舉也不足為怪，因?yàn)樵缭?987年，印第安納州立法機(jī)構(gòu)就曾試圖重新規(guī)定π的值，此次只不過(guò)是延續(xù)了“光榮傳統(tǒng)”而已。 共和黨人領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的眾議院正在起草《能源稅預(yù)防法令》（2011），這項(xiàng)議案將禁止環(huán)境保護(hù)署為緩和氣候變化而控制二氧化碳排放。 眾議院能源和商務(wù)委員會(huì)成員，加利福尼亞州民主黨人亨利?韋克斯曼已向國(guó)會(huì)提交了一份修正案，呼吁國(guó)會(huì)至少應(yīng)認(rèn)同“全球氣候系統(tǒng)的變暖是不容置疑的”，充分的科學(xué)證據(jù)已經(jīng)證實(shí)了這一點(diǎn)。 不過(guò)就在3月15日，該委員會(huì)中所有的共和黨成員以及另外兩名認(rèn)為氣候變化威脅到人們安定生活的成員都否決了亨利提出的修正案。馬薩諸塞州民主黨人、眾議院議員愛德華?馬基則說(shuō)： “對(duì)于廢棄環(huán)境污染有害人類和地球這一科學(xué)發(fā)現(xiàn)的法案，我肯定會(huì)站出來(lái)反對(duì)。不過(guò)，恐怕我是站不起來(lái)了，因?yàn)槲覔?dān)心共和黨人馬上要顛覆萬(wàn)有引力定律了，這樣一來(lái)，大家腳都要著不了地了，哪還站得起來(lái)╮(╯_╰)╭”