The "convenient truth" about climate change is that it distracts the conversation away from things like PCB and mercury contamination. Those are issues that are way too clear cut to be discussed in a public forum. In 2004 the EPA issued a mercury contamination warning against eating fish from 35% of the lake acres in the United States, 24% of the nation's river miles, 65% of the nation's contiguous coastal waters, including 92% of the Atlantic coast and 100% of the Gulf coast. The warning also included 100% of the Great Lakes and their connecting waterways. The press reaction was...nada. The next year the warning was taken down from the EPA site. The issue that's most seriously going to influence our health is plain, old pollution. And we can't talk about it now because the nebulous dog-and-pony show of climate change has become the central focus of all environmental discussion.
