The Signal’s “Right Here, Right Now!” column continues to flounder with misinformation, contradictions and about-faces. Since the Republican party takes its cues from our overmatched and hopelessly inept president, this is not unexpected.
One of my more amusing pastimes is seeing the latest science advice from the notoriously anti-science Republican party. Conservatives are unable to wrap their brains around more than one issue at a time, therefore Ms. (Patricia) Suzanne is “confused’ how climate change relates to pandemics. That statement almost boggles the mind. Here’s one example for you, ma’am: As temperatures heat up, insect-borne diseases (think mosquitoes) fan out, carrying things like malaria and yellow fever into areas that previously were immune. Now imagine a crossover virus that develops in the mosquito, and, well, you see where this is going.
Deforestation, which both stresses the indigenous animal populations and brings more humans into contact with these populations, increases exposure and opportunity for future cross-species pandemics. The impact of climate change and disease is so obvious, I am stunned it has to be explained to Ms. Suzanne.
After running through her right-wing litany of all the things in the bill she can’t stand, she dwells on the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (conservatives notoriously hate the arts) and their $25 million grant. Twenty-five million dollars out of $2.2 trillion. I’ve heard of not seeing the forest from the trees but this is like waxing furious over a particular grain of sand of the beach.
Finally, this muddled column comes to a merciful conclusion with statements like “we’re experiencing positive environmental effects from the pandemic,” “NASA satellites are reporting dramatic atmospheric changes,” “84.5% increase in days with good air quality,” and my favorite “a Stanford University researcher says this (cleaner air) may prevent 50,000 to 75,000 people from dying prematurely.”
Ms. Suzanne, in answer to your question, how is climate change related to pandemics, I could not have said it better myself.
Lynn Wright
Valencia
