Are we seriously still having this argument? Climate change is real, folks.

I'll admit it. I'm one of those people who on the whole ignores the midterm elections. I've never lived in a state where shake-ups could happen during a mid-term election and so I've become comfortable with the idea of just 'sit and watch' over the years. But this year's primaries have shot this complacent little ecologist right out of her chair and up on two feet with both arms flailing. Why? Because I suddenly noticed a consistent line being towed by several of the senatorial candidates.

In New Hampshire, all of the GOP potentials are in agreement that climate change due to humans has not been proven. New Mexico GOP candiadates think that "it's not real." In Alaska GOP/Tea Party candidate Joe Miller "hasn't heard about it." Wisconsin hopeful Ron Johnson "absolutely does not believe in the science of man-caused climate change." In fact the only GOP candidate supporting climate action is Mike Castle, from Delaware.

I'm equally frustrated with the candidates on every side who won't vocally speak out in support of the overwhelming scientific evidence that global warming is happening seemingly because it's just not a popular stance. By not advocating for climate change action, these candidates are complicitly contributing to the idea that climate change might not be real.

How can we still be having this argument? Have we landed back in 1992? Cause I really don't want to have to go through the horror of having to wear braces and headgear all over again. Seriously though, in case you're on the fence about this whole "global warming thing", here are a couple of models that I think help explain the problem.

Pakistan: A Possible Future

(To help flood victims, please click here)

Ali thought to himself: should I report this? He had just walked by a conversation between two men regarding an effort to plan attacks against U.S. troops guarding the new massive embassy in Islamabad.

What do I do?

Ali and his family lived in the Northwest Frontier Province, in a small village about 100km away from the Swat valley. His family was quite poor. They lived in a small shack and he and his parents both worked in the fields. They basically kept to themselves and their family, and were apolitical in every sense of the word. They assumed that since they were all uneducated and illiterate, that they had no place in speaking out about their country.

No to a Ground Zero Mosque, Yes to a Community Center

Yesterday, protests at Ground Zero continued to gain international attention. What's at issue is a figment of the American public's imagination: the ground zero mosque. Herds of "well-intentioned" Americans flooded lower manhattan to chant down the construction of what they are calling a ground zero mosque, but what really is an Islamic community center. This case is a powerful lesson in framing, which I was first introduced to by the George Lakoff but you and I experience constantly. If we want to make sure The Community Center at Park 51 is built, we've got to re-frame the conversation, or else the Islamophobes have won!

Scapegoat: Pakistan

The "big news" out of the Wikileaks controversy recently (whereby the website released 92,000 classified documents to the press about the Afghan war from 2004-09) was the role of Pakistan in the chaos. Well, there was a bigger story, namely how the war was in itself becoming a more obvious nightmare, but the American mainstream press opted to cover the "shocking" news that the Pakistan intelligence agency (the ISI) was supporting the Taliban and the counterinsurgency in Afghanistan, even though Pakistan gets a lot of (military) aid from the U.S. The episode shows just how much Pakistan is America's whipping boy in all of this mess. Not surprisingly, the horrible flooding tragedy that has left one-fifth of Pakistan underwater as of right now is not getting much media attention in the U.S., and sorely-needed donations are lagging badly behind. As the BBC asked, who cares about Pakistan? The U.S. perception of Pakistan as a terrorist wonderland (which is problematic as it is) might be a major reason America has dropped the ball on this one (unlike Britain, which has done much more). Click here for ways to help the relief effort.

***This post first appeared on www.thedailybeast.com***

In the midst of the drama around the mosque that’s being erected two blocks from Ground Zero, a few details have been left out that provide some clarity as to the purpose of this project. Specifically, the project will be the country’s first certified “green mosque,” in full compliance with stringent LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards, which is why organizers have named the project Park51, rather than the oft-cited “Cordoba House.”

The mosque (which is more accurately a community center with a prayer space) is located on Park Place in Downtown Manhattan, but the new name also reflects a desire to emphasize the intricate (though widely unknown) connections between Islamic teachings and environmentalism. For example, Islam calls upon people to be "stewards of the Earth" and to treat all things in nature as sacred. The new name, Park51, invokes images of trees, creeks, and children playing. Parks are for the public. Parks are fun. Parks are green. And parks are not controversial.

Proponents say this project is a victory for religious tolerance and a symbol of this country's unwavering dedication to freedom of religion. Opponents cite the 9/11 tragedy and its connection to Islamic fundamentalism, and say the mosque is salt in America's open wound. But the organizers of state-of-the-art Park51 believe they are building bridges, with the hope that the center can be a place for Muslims and non-Muslims to interact culturally and socially, and to provide an opportunity for all people to gain a more complete and accurate picture of how Islam sees the world.

Ibrahim Abdul-Matin is author of Green Deen: What Islam Teaches About Protecting the Planet and a media personality on public radio's newest morning news show, The Takeaway.