Sunday, September 18, 2011

A Modest Proposal for Oakland's Mayor Quan

Dear Mayor Quan,

When cigarettes were shown to cause cancer, cigarette companies were required to put warnings on the boxes.  Now that we are virtually certain that burning fossil fuels (and thereby releasing CO2) causes global warming/climate change, which threatens all of civilization, why don't we require all gas stations in Oakland to post a warning on their pump.  Something like:

"WARNING:  Burning gasoline adds greenhouse gases to the air, increasing the threat of serious climate change.  The City of Oakland urges you to economize on the use of gasoline and seek alternatives such as public transit, bicycles, and electric cars powered by renewable energy."

Ultimately we need to move beyond fossil fuels as www,350.org has shown, but this warning label would be a step in the right direction.  Such action would probably create a hysterical reaction from the oil companies and their paid global warming deniers, but somebody has to stand up to these anti-science people.  Chemistry doesn't compromise; we have to stop dumping CO2 into the atmosphere.

sent 9-18-11

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