Sally L. Newkirk
Harrisonburg, VA
May 4, 2019
Congressman Ben Cline
10 Franklin Road SE Suite 510
Roanoke, VA 24011
Dear Congressman,
Thank you again for meeting with Bishop Dansby and myself at your Staunton office on April 29, 2019.
I know Bishop has written you a follow up letter, and I feel compelled to do the same.
I was shocked to hear your understanding of Climate Science. By shocked, I mean the same reaction I have when I find out that some people still smoke cigarettes. Hopefully you are aware that the tobacco industry denied the medical science that cigarettes cause cancer for over 50 years? Of course, they didn’t have the science to back up their claims, so they hired a PR firm to spin the story. That story was “the government is trying to take away your cigarettes”. How many lives could have been saved but for industry choosing profit over the health and welfare American citizens?
It was the same story with the lead industry. By the late 1900s both the lead industry and U. S. Government (USG) agencies knew that lead was poison, but they considered it “essential” to our economy and consumers. So, they allowed its use in gasoline, pipes and paints. As a result, hundreds of thousands of children have suffered (more than from polio, which we quickly acknowledged and mobilized our resources to eradicate it.) Many continue to suffer from lead poisoning today (think: Flint, Michigan). The USG was complicit in this preventable tragedy, because of powerful lobbyists.
The same pattern of denial and obfuscation has happened because of actions by Big Carbon. I recommend you read the book Merchants of Doubt by Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway. The authors spell out very clearly just how effectively the oil industry hid the truth about the effect of greenhouse gases on our climate’s stability and raised doubts about the validity of the scientific consensus.
Fortunately, although it’s very late, there are many folks aware of the threats climate instability pose to all of us, including many in your party. I urge you to check into efforts like those espoused by Bob Inglis of RepublicEn, Rev Mitch Hescox of Evangelical Environment Network, Evangelicals for Social Action, American Conservation Coalition, and Virginia Conservatives for Clean Energy, to name but a few. Their web addresses appear at the end of this message. I hope you will come to agree that there are market solutions to addressing our carbon addiction and embrace efforts to use them.
One other point about the evidence supporting the impacts of excessive greenhouse gases. Notwithstanding the current Administration’s preference to avoid the term “climate change” and even deny the problem, there is a vast chasm between the assessments of most life-long civil servants and scientists who work hard to protect this country’s interests and the relatively small number of those who dismiss the problem. I am speaking of the employees like those in DOD, the National Weather Service, NASA, and even the EPA. They all have made it clear that Global Warming is real, caused by human actions, and is a grave threat to this county and the world.
I would welcome the opportunity for another exchange of ideas with you in order to find some common ground on what to do about the huge risks that we all face. I hope you can offer some good suggestions on possible actions that you can support. Solutions are many, but of course we have to have people, in all levels of government, who are open to understanding the issues and figuring out ways to address them. I would love to partner with you on ways to do this. Thanks again for your time on the 29th.
Warmly,
Sally Newkirk
Suggested Resources
RepublicEn: https://www.republicen.org/
Evangelical Environment Network: https://www.creationcare.org/staff
Evangelicals for Social Action: https://www.evangelicalsforsocialaction.org/
American Conservation Coalition: https://www.acc.eco/
VA Conservatives for Clean Energy: https://www.cleanenergyconservatives.com/states/virginia/
Climate Action Alliance of the Valley 