Too Much Skin
It’s getting warmer every year
From carbon in the atmosphere.
But Congress doesn’t want to hear
About the situation.
Oh, fire and flood and heat and drought,
Too trivial to think about.
But science now has figured out
The fashion implications.
CHORUS: A quandary, you cannot scoff:
the heat goes up, the clothes come off.
a recipe for mortal sin,
Oh, save us please, from too much skin!
The mercury begins to rise,
Jackets off, and then the ties:
A trend that we cannot advise,
Leading temptation.
It’s hard to keep your thoughts devout
With nudity all busting out.
We’re better off by far without
This kind of revelation.
CHORUS
Soon naked voters in the halls,
With only shoes and parasols,
Sporting all their wherewithal,
Demanding compensation.
If you don’t care for science stuff,
Imagine Congress in the buff,
Giving you the booby prize
For things you didn’t recognize.
Before it really hits the fan,
Why don’t you fix it while you can?
A carbon fee and dividend
Will change the way it’s gonna end.
So lead us not to mortal sin,
But save us please from too much skin!
©Doug Hendren and Nancy Beall 2014 What’s it about? As of 2014, the US Congress is still jam-packed with people who officially deny that 1) Earth’s climate is changing, and 2) It is due primarily to greenhouse gas (CO2 and methane) emissions from human activity. At a time when every credible scientific organization in the US and in the world acknowledges these basic facts, some 55% of Republican US senators deny them. It’s no laughing matter. Climate change is real, is urgent, and is already costing us an arm and a leg. Technologically and economically feasible solutions are available right now. Climate deniers are simply copying the strategy of the tobacco industry in the 1970’s, in order to maximize the profits for the fossil fuel industries a little longer. This song was inspired by an editorial in London’s Financial Times. The author mused that if the ominous facts from scientific study don’t seem to move these generally ultra-conservative lawmakers, perhaps they can be moved to action by the vision of a world where higher temperatures force people to take off their clothes! What can we really do about climate? Economists at both ends of the political spectrum agree that a carbon tax is the fairest, most efficient way to correct our perverse incentives, and let the marketplace help rather than hurt us all. Even Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson is in favor of a carbon tax! Carbon is much more costly than present fuel prices. We are all paying for it in a hundred other ways, including pollution, asthma, environmental degradation, and climate change. In the 80’s we started taxing cigarettes, to pay for the diseases caused by smoking. If we price carbon correctly, investors will naturally begin making huge adjustments in allocation of financial resources. This is faster and much more effective than a regulatory approach. If all the fees collected are distributed to American families, there is no cost to the taxpayer, and no growth in government. Other countries will have to follow our lead, or their products will be taxed at our borders. Since we are the world’s biggest importer of foreign goods, the ripple effect of this policy will be rapid and decisive. The carbon fee and dividend has been studied by REMI (Regional Economic Modeling Inc.), and has been determined to improve the US economy, save American lives, and dramatically reduce US emissions (33% by 2025; 50% by 2035). Find out more at: CitizensClimateLobby.org SOME PAINLESS REFERENCES: How many scientists doubt climate change? Infographic: Scientists who doubt climate change If you prefer to count them for yourself: www.jamespowell.org/methodology Who are the deniers? New video turns up the heat on GOP climate change deniers 3:02 Who are the climate deniers in Congress? Interactive Map: The anti-science climate-denier caucus Even More Backward Than Oil Companies. Grist They’re doing it for money: Billion-Dollar Climate Change Denial Network Exposed (video, 4:26) ExposeTheBastards.com Climate Skeptics: Who gets paid for what? The Guardian Secret funding helped build vast network of climate denial thinktanks, The Guardian The media aren’t helping: CNBC Still Deeply in Climate Denial But they are just starting to wake up: LA Times: On letters from climate deniers To improve accuracy, BBC tells its reporters to stop giving air time to climate deniers Where the denial strategy came from: The Climate Deniers are using the same tactics as the tobacco industry How serious is climate denial? The Crime of The Century
