By Kerry Trueman

Texas is tops when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. “If Texas were a country,” NPR’s John Burnett reported on today’s Morning Edition, “it would be the seventh-largest carbon dioxide polluter in the world.”

Some Texans apparently think that Texas is its own country; the state that loves to live large is refusing to unite with the 35 other states that are taking action to fight global warming, including California, New York, and Florida. While the Republican governors of those states have launched serious initiatives to combat climate change, Texas governor Rick Perry is still making juvenile jokes about the largest source of carbon dioxide being Al Gore’s mouth.

Many of Governor Perry’s constituents share his skepticism about climate change. Carroll Smith, a Chevrolet car dealer who no doubt sells plenty of 14-mile-to-the-gallon Chevy Suburbans, told Burnett, “This is such a mega problem, and I hear some of the reports”¦that scientists disagree on, and when I hear that I’m thinking, well, gosh, I’m not a scientist, I’m just a car dealer, so how could I know more than they do?”

Well, shucks, I’m just a citizen activist, but last time I checked, the debate was over. Too bad Texas didn’t get the memo, because if the Lone Star State continues to go its own way on climate change, it’s gonna drag the rest of us down, too, gosh darnit.