We are facing a planetary emergency
which, if not solved, would exceed anything we’ve ever experienced in the
history of humankind. In spite of John McCain’s past record of open-mindedness on the climate crisis,
he has apparently now allowed his party to browbeat
him into abandoning his support of mandatory caps on global warming pollution.
* open-minded: unprejudiced; receptive
to new and different ideas and opinions
ex> Philosophy professors tend to be
very open-minded people.
* browbeat: to intimidate or abuse
verbally
ex> I hate when parents browbeat
their children in public.
And it just so happens that the climate
crisis is intertwined with the other two great challenges facing our nation:
reviving our economy and strengthening our national security.
Almost a hundred years ago, Thomas Edison
said, “I’d put my money on the sun
and solar energy. What a source of power! I hope we don’t have to wait until
oil and coal run out before we tackle
that.”
* put one’s money on: to be very sure
about something
ex> I’d put my money on the
fact that your battery is dead.
* tackle: to work on a project to
completion
ex> The construction crew tackled
the rebuilding of the house with zeal.
But how did this no-brainer become a brain-twister? Because the carbon fuels
industry – big oil and coal – has a 50-year lease on the Republican Party, and
they are drilling it for everything it’s worth.
* no-brainer: something that is very
easy or mentally unchallenging
ex> The science test was a no-brainer.
I hope all of the professor’s exams are like that.
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