Beach party mocks idea of global warming crisis
ISSUE: 02/28/07 > news > beach party mocks idea of global warming crisis
Satirizing Al Gore’s book and movie, An Inconvenient Truth, the Belmont Collegiate Republicans invited students to a beach party Feb. 23 to learn about opposing ideas to the theory of global warming.
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Photo by Amanda Hill |
Rob Martin, president of the campus group, and his fellow offcers sorted through eight dozen studies and articles to challenge the conclusions of the widely-reported, United Nations-backed study that found that the warming of the earth’s climate system is unequivocal, that it is likely man-made and that it is a serious and lasting threat. In a similar vein, former Tennessee senator and vice president Gore focused on climate change in the 2006 documentary, An Inconvenient Truth.
The Collegiate Republicans offered three display boards featuring much of the research along with hot dogs and soft drinks to beach partiers and bystanders in the amphitheater.
“In these studies, we were most frequently faced with the data that countered the scientists’ hypotheses, yet the conclusion confirmed it,” Martin said. “They’re going to find what they want to whether it’s there or not.”
One student who attended the event, however, said the simple fact that the temperature is rising every year is proof enough for him that there’s a problem. “I believe it’s a major concern,” Ryan Snellen said. “I try not to be a typical human that leaves the lights on or throws trash outside. My parents taught me to care for what God has given us.”
Martin said that there might be some truth to the global warming theory, but that he can “neither admit nor deny” that climate change is actually occurring.
Sophomore Sarah Johnson believes global warming might exist, but said, “I think Al Gore is blowing it way out of proportion and using it for his own benefit.”
Martin agrees with Johnson and dedicated one of his boards to criticizing Gore’s political and personal life, labeling Gore as the “stepfather of global warming.” Martin said he believes Gore became involved with the issue to further his political campaign – Gore is to date, however, not an announced candidate for the 2008 presidential election – and said the lowering of greenhouse gases would be an honorable mission if “it were authentic.”
“He’s right for the wrong reasons,” Martin said. “He’s dedicated his life to something that is good for humanity.”
Many Republicans agree with Martin, but Snellen, who said he almost always votes Republican, said, “I think the Democrats are saying that humans are the problem and the Republicans are saying we’re not to blame. I don’t necessarily agree with the Republicans, because we are the civilized individuals that put the pollution in the air.”
While Snellen’s common sense approach might work for him, others require more concrete evidence. “It is to this day still a theory,” Martin said. “The U.N. and Al Gore can say as much as they want but until someone produces conclusive evidence I’m going to be cynical of it. I am not in any way an environmental scientist and I don’t claim to be, but I am a cynic.”
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