Big Ag Guilty of Treason Against Planet

To the dismay of conventional farmers and those in animal "agriculture," the U.S. House of Representatives passed a climate-change bill Friday.

Despite scientists from numerous organizations warning us that we must counteract climate change before it's too late, Big Ag is threatened by such talk.

Steven Pearlstein, a business columnist with the Washington Post, found it ironic that Big Ag would be against measures to reduce climate change.

A report out last week from scientists at 13 government agencies found that climate change is happening more quickly than we thought and that by the end of the century, many farmers will face scorching summer weather, severe storms, prolonged drought and swarms of new insects.

Despite this dire information, Big Ag is more concerned about the immediate present, not the future. Furthermore, although animal "agriculture" accounts for more greenhouse-gas emissions than does transportation, all farmers are exempt from the Waxman-Markey climate-change bill. But they still aren't satisfied.

But, for farmers, it wasn't enough to get a free pass on carbon emissions. They are unhappy that the effect of the caps and pollution permits will be to raise the price of their fuel, fertilizer and electricity. No matter that other Americans will suffer similar effects. In the mind of the entitled American farmer, any increase in costs or reduction in revenue -- whether from natural causes, market forces or government regulation -- must be compensated for by the government.

These are the same people, mind you, who derogatorily label President Barack Obama a socialist.

These are also the same people who talk about family values. Yet they refuse to acknowledge that we can't sit idly by and expect climate change not to occur. We can't leave it for our children and our grandchildren to solve. By then it will be too late.

An op-ed columnist for The New York Times recently criticized the 212 House members who didn't vote for the bill.

And as I watched the deniers make their arguments, I couldn't help thinking that I was watching a form of treason — treason against the planet.

Those "family farmers" who support Big Ag are just as guilty.

(Photo of Texas drought February 2009. Michael Stravato for The New York Times.)