Igloo Comedy

This is how, for the most part, the GOP responds to global warming: Everytime it snows or gets really cold, it mocks former Vice President Al Gore.

Oklahoma’s own U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, of course, is the leading mocker, but now even his family is getting in on the fun. During the recent Washington D.C. snowstorm, Inhofe’s daughter, son-in-law and their children built a replica of an igloo and named it “Al Gore’s New Home.” It drew national and local news coverage. Funny, right?

Well, it might be if it weren’t for the fact that global warming and climate change is the likely culprit behind all the recent severe winter weather across the country. Scientists say changing weather patterns, caused by global warming, lead to more severe storms, not less. The point is that our weather patterns are changing.

The igloo also doesn’t make the fact that the earth is getting warmer go away, but I guess it’s difficult for Inhofe’s daughter, Molly Rapert, who is apparently a professor at the University of Arkansas, to understand the scientific overview. Again, weather patterns are changing because of global warming.

Think Progress had an insightful post on the spectacle, pointing out that last month was the hottest recorded January in the history of the earth. The post also pointed out that a scientist with the National Wildlife Federation says the science directly links severe storms with climate change.

Unless we can do something about global warming, future generations will look back in horror at this silly political pandering and mockery. It might make for a good laugh at the moment, but the joke is really on Inhofe and his daughter, who rely on stunts to distort an extremely important issue.