Don’t shoot the messenger. It’s an old cliche, but it’s true.
Unfortunately, shooting the messenger has become the main strategy of the people trying to stop us from taking action on climate change. And it needs to stop.
Just a couple of days ago, a columnist excoriated my friend Vice President Al Gore, insinuating that his warnings about the crisis of climate change were somehow self-interested — ignoring his lifetime of dedication to this issue.
And maybe even worse, the last months have seen a sustained attack on scientists. Rush Limbaugh called them "liars" and "skunks" and said that they should be "named and fired, drawn and quartered."
And all of this to create an atmosphere in the media that there’s some broad dispute over whether climate change is real, let alone worsened by man-made emissions.
Well, we have to defeat the campaign tactics of distract, divide, and distort – we need to stand up and say, "Enough!" Tell the media that you demand honest reporting about what’s really going on.
I know something about people taking lies and distortions to attack someone personally. I chose a life in the public eye, and I can take it. But scientists are just doing their jobs. They don’t deserve to be the targets of campaigns to distract from reality.
And that reality is – simply – that every major scientific body that has looked at the evidence has come to the same conclusion. They all conclude that the climate is changing in dangerous ways, and human activity – our pollution, our emissions – is pulling us in a dangerous direction. This is simply not in doubt anymore.
So, take a moment to raise your voice for the truth. Follow this link to send a letter to your local paper and tell them that you want reporting on real debates, not phony attacks:
http://www.truthfightsback.com/StepUpForScience
We started TruthFightsBack.com to fight for the truth, and that’s what we’re going to do. I hope you can join us.
Thank you,
John Kerry