By John Parnell
Tanner says Montana's hunters are more likely to notice subtle changes in the environment. (Source:Flickr/Gregw66)
A US conservationist has offered his pride and joy – a Berretta 12 gauge shotgun – as a prize to anyone that can persuade him that climate change is not real.
Todd Tanner, chairman of the Conservationist Hawks, a group of hunters and anglers that campaign on environmental issues will offer the gun to anyone that can provide him with a convincing argument that climate change is of no concern.
“If somebody can convince me that I don’t have to worry about climate change, I’ll give it [the gun] them. Or I’ll auction it off and donate the proceeds to the charity of their choice,” Tanner told Field and Stream’s Conservationist Blog.
“It will have to be a real argument, with real facts. I don’t think that argument exists, but I’m willing to be surprised.”
The Conservationist Hawks look to tackle environmental issues head on, something Tanner draws from his experience in the wilderness.
“Let’s say you are walking down a trail in the wilderness with your wife and kids, and you come upon a grizzly sow, standing on a carcass. She charges, flat out. You’re in front of your family. What do you do?” asks Tanner. “Just give up? Let her maul you and everything your care about? Of course you don’t. You take action. That is how I see climate change. It’s real, it’s threatening everything we love. Not taking action is not an option.”
Tanner and his organisation promote awareness of environmental issues, including climate change to other hunters, around half of which he says are concerned about these problems.
“The facts are out there, and we’ll present them as best we can. But I’m not asking anybody to take my word for anything. Just observe, and believe your own eyes and observations. You can’t fit a piece of paper between what I’ve seen in my life outdoors and what I know of the science of climate change. It’s not about politics, or who votes for who. It’s about what is real,” said Tanner.
Tanner is not the first to offer a prize linked to climate change. JunkScience.com’s Ultimate Global Warming Challenge offers $500,000 to the first person it judges to have proved the existence of man-made climate change.