Lauren Mayer: Is it Hot in Here or is it Just Me?

That isn’t actually a rhetorical question – I’m at the age when many women are experiencing heat waves unrelated to the weather.  But these days it seems like we’re not alone.  So is menopause contagious, or is global warming real?

That one WASN’T rhetorical, because the scientific evidence is overwhelming – not just fluctuations in average temperatures, but polar ice cap melting and rising sea levels are hard to ignore.  At this rate, before too long houses in Fresno will be considered beach-front property.

But yet again, there are some politicians who almost willfully ignore the facts.  I can agree to disagree with people on the best way to protect the planet, cap-and-trade vs. government regulations vs. investments in smart energy, but it’s hard to have a rational disagreement with someone who claims that since lots of places had snowstorms this past winter, global warming is a liberal hoax.   And those people tend to have equally delusional facts-be-damned views on things like Obama’s birth certificate or the benefit of abstinence-only sex education (see Palin: Bristol).

I’m all for gentle delusion when it doesn’t hurt anybody – e.g., I won’t complain when my husband tells me I don’t look a day over 35, and I’ll let it slide when my son insists his room IS organized.  But there are real-world consequences toward sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to our environment – I’m hoping that eventually, climate change deniers will be as archaic as those old t.v. commercials where doctors are recommending cigarettes.  So here’s a song in honor of debunking deleterious denials…