The new fictional disaster movie "The Day After Tomorrow" comes out on Friday and we’re planning on seeing it ASAP (we need to get in all the summer movies before the twins arrive). The film details what would happen if global warming continues to go unchecked. Is the science behind the film sound? My guess is no. But at least the film might get people to start asking more questions about the impact global warming has on our weather and the environment in general.
The Indianapolis Star notes the film comes out just as Congress is set to vote on legislation that “would regulate carbon dioxide emissions and other man-made gases that some blame for the shift in climate patterns.” James Patterson writes:
Senators received a letter Wednesday signed by an unusual alliance of environmentalists, clergy, Nobel laureates and presidents of national scientific associations urging reconsideration of the Climate Stewardship Act, which would establish the nation's first regulatory system for carbon dioxide emissions."Among the predicted consequences of climate change are more frequent occurrences of heat, waves, drought, torrential rains and floods; global sea level rise of between one-half and three feet; increase of tropical diseases in non-temperate regions; significant reduction in biodiversity," the letter states.
It is co-signed by 30 prominent American academics and clerics, including professors from Harvard, Stanford, Cornell, Rice, Duke and Princeton universities, the California and Massachusetts institutes of technology and the universities of California and Michigan.
Other signatories to the letter, titled "A Plea From Religion and Science for Action on Global Climate Change," represent the National Council of Churches, U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops, Jewish Theological Seminary of America, United Methodist Church, the Union for Reformed Judaism, Episcopal Church and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
You can read the letter here. Congress can be contacted here.
