Author S.E. Cupp Says Saving the Environment 'is a Rich Person's Burden," Agree or Disagree?

Between the comments coming out of author and conservative political commentator S.E. Cupp's mouth and the drunk ramblings of P.J. O'Rourke, there was no need for a Christine O'Donnell "Politically Incorrect" video for idiotic comments of the day. Talk show host and comedian Bill Maher took on the topic of saving the environment and green living on Fri., Oct. 8, on "Real Time With Bill Maher," and the ridiculous comments that S.E. Cupp had to say made me wish I could hear an hour-long speech from O'Donnell instead.

The conversation started because of Bill Maher quoting terrorist Osama bin Laden, obtained by Al-Jazeera in January 2010, with the following statement, "Speaking about climate change is not a matter of intellectual luxury, the phenomenon is an actual fact. All of the industrialized countries, especially the big ones, bear responsibility for the global warming crisis."

Maher then asks, "How come a guy in a cave gets it better than every Republican voting for the Senate?" He was met with a round of applause and a look that mirrored the drunken haze P.J. O'Rourke seemed to be under. I see no point in quoting O'Rourke's logic about green living hurting Chinese people from getting a Buick, along with a bunch of other craziness, but S.E. Cupp's comments are important (and incorrect) because so many misguided people also have this same blahzay attitude about environmentalism and green jobs.

Her comments on green living and green jobs:
First comment: "For one, I mean, global warming is sort of a rich man's problem. I mean in economic boom time every cause can find a friend, but when times are tight we sort of, you know, batten down the hatches and we focus on immediate threats."

My response: Every single year when we look the other way at the green elephant in the room that continues to hurt the environment, that's one more year the Earth gets hotter. And the last time I checked, there were poor people living on the same planet as rich men. If poor people had their own planet then yes, this would be a rich man's problem, but considering we're all living here, it's an equal problem for everybody.

Second comment: "Osama bin Laden doesn't have to worry about that because the cost of living in a cave is nothing I'm sure."

My response: This is all the more reason to focus on green jobs and the environment. The more wasteful products that people use in everyday life and the more electricity being used when solar energy could replace it, the higher their bills are. When people are already having a tough enough time getting by, why would you not want them to get educated on ways to save money? Simple things like using fluorescent light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs can certainly help on household appliances and use less power. With Energy Safe light bulbs alone, I save around $47 for the life of lighting my home. I save money in grocery stores with money-off programs to avoid using more plastic bags. I save money on health care costs by being more physically active.

Third comment: "China holds our debt. They can afford to think about global warming right now."

My response: If the United States would take a more aggressive stance on global warming, we wouldn't be trading products that help increase carbon dioxide. (Note: There is an alternate argument about how Earth needs more carbon dioxide for food production, published on U.S. News.) Either way, more education on the topic needs to be made, and the research doesn't have to just be Made in China like every toy in your local mall.

Fourth comment: "We're just trying to pay our mortgage right now." (Bill Maher explained how green jobs could help.) "This is going to turn us around, green jobs?" (Sarcastic tone) "Okay. That's a little pie in the sky. It's just not practical right now."

My response: Please walk into any unemployment office across America and tell those people that they could get off unemployment if they got a green job. See how many people would suddenly care, think it was practical and want to help. When you give people a reason to care about something that can help them, they usually do. When you blow it off as impractical and claim it can't help the everyday citizen who could pay her mortgage with a green job, it's a great way of keeping them stupid about their own environment. Unless the people who think it's "pie in the sky" want to deal with the Earth being too hot to live on as long as we continue to be delusional about the importance of it, you may as well live in the sky. Damn. Can't do that. It'd be too hot there, too.