The Seattle Post-Intelligencer says what makes the global warming denial industry so dangerous is its potential to preclude or delay necessary actions – caps on carbon emissions, development of new energy sources – that will assure human civilization’s future on the planet. Anything that prevents us from acting quickly is a cause of future peril.

Global warming deniers need only look at the shrinking South Cascades Glacier and Chikamin Glacier in the Glacier Peak Wilderness, or the rapidly receding glacial tongues of Canada’s Columbia Icefield – a vital water source for the Columbia and other great North American rivers. In British Columbia, the pine bark beetle – no longer controlled by winter cold – has killed millions of acres of forests.

“One can argue that any country in which a large percentage of people believe that planet Earth was created in six days – and do not accept evolution – will believe anything,” the newspaper said.

“A belief that blocks or delays action is dangerous. No one will save us. We must save ourselves.”