Second Congressional Hearing

MAGE Institute's 2nd Congressional Hearing - March, 2036

Scene length: 7-10 minutes

Setting

The MAGE Institute is close to four years old now. The Institute has grown in size and funding is improving. With the support of Senator Magdalene, the Institute manages to arrange for another hearing before the Senate Committee on Energy & the Environment.

Senators may interject with questions and statements, as they wish.

Recent Events

2033 - Due to warm winters and long summers, mouse populations explode in the American bread basket. Thousands of tons of grain are eaten and mouse borne diseases spread throughout the population. Wheat laced with poisons is used to kill the mice. While this succeeds, many birds, cats and dogs are also killed from eating either the wheat or the poisoned mice.

2034 - The tick-borne tropical cattle disease theileriosis arrives in the US. It quickly spreads throughout herds in much of the Southern US. In some states, nearly 20% of cattle are estimated to have been lost.

2035 - Buruli ulcer, a painless but disfiguring skin ulcer begins spreading through the US. It appears to be caused by a bacterium that has been spreading with an invasive water plant found in many lakes that contain swimming areas. All swimming areas in these lakes are closed, but new populations continue to pop up.

Committee Members

• Senator Harold (TX): Ranking member of the Committee.
• Senator Wu (AK)
• Senator Sebastian (OK)
• Senator Kennedy (MA)
• Senator Winston (KY)
• Senator Seth (ND)
• Senator Dobbs (NV)
• Senator Magdalene (OH)
• Senator McMillan (AK)
• Senator White (WA)

MAGE Institute Members

• Chris Carpenter
• Jamie Schreiber
• John Papadopoulos
• Andrea Skala

Characters

Senator Harold (TX)

This is still your Committee and your Hearing. You call the shots around here.

That Magdalene knows how to get things done. He promised to support you on getting a few things through this committee in return for this Hearing. You could have pushed it through anyway, but it's easier this way. Plus, who really cares what these hippies have to say? Don't they know the 1960s have been over for longer than you've been alive?

Let's see if that Chris woman can stutter and stammer and clam up this time, too. That was a hoot last time.

Senator Wu (AK)

Alaska's economy has recovered significantly in the past few years. The reason it has done so is the lack of regulations like this think-tank wants to see put in place. If they got what they wanted three years ago, who knows how bad things might be. You likely wouldn't have had your job either, if you supported things like that. There is no tie between what's going on in the past few years and a lack of regulation, anyway.

Senator Sebastian (OK)

Environmentalists still don't understand that if there isn't a strong economy, there isn't any civilization. We'd all wind up worse off that way and a lot more would end up starving and dying in anything but the most far-fetched environmental catastrophe anyway. The past couple of years have shown that there are probably some long-term impacts of the way things are being done, but the matter can be handled by the private sector.

Senator Kennedy (MA)

The political tides may be changing on this issue in your state. They haven't changed completely though and it isn't changing nationally. Plus, you've got to worry about re-election soon and there are a number of businesses that you can't really afford to lose financial support from. You'll give these folks a fair hearing, but there is no reason to go on the record supporting them. Maybe some helpful advice to keep the tall tales to a minimum would help.

Senator Winston (KY)

The family coal business had their largest profits last year. Sure wouldn't have happened if folks like this had their way. All they've got is overblown conjectures that don't mean nothing. Why, your family business paid for some studies that proved the connections these folks tried to make last time were fake anyway. Mind, you don't need to mention that your family business paid for the studies. Good enough to just point out that these folks are all frauds.

Senator Seth (ND)

Hey, they brought a third woman this time. She's as attractive as the other two. Looks like she has a wedding ring on. Oh well, so do you. You have a better chance with her than she does getting any real support on this Committee. Sure won't get any support from you. You like this job.

Senator Dobbs (NV)

What was that? It's hard being 90 years old. You got a new hearing aid just last month. Darn thing doesn't seem to work any better though. What are they talking about? Was that rice or lice? Or did she say you were nice? Hard to tell. Nice looking young people. They should go out and get real jobs.

Senator Magdalene (OH)

You found yourself thinking about some of what those two environmentalists had to say three years ago. They were right that other pests were going to be moving north and upsetting things. You decided it wouldn't hurt to have another hearing on the matter. You had to agree to support a few measures Harold wants to get through the Committee. He'd get them through anyway though, even if the fight might be a little rougher, so it's a fair deal.

Senator McMillan (AK)

Shame about Alaska's polar bears going extinct last year. There may be something to what folks like this have to say. Of course, even if there is, there is no way you could support regulations or anything like that. That's not what the people and businesses of Alaska want. Your job is to represent their interests, so you won't give these folks any quarter.

Senator White (WA)

The time has come to start thinking about environmental protections again. That doesn't mean they need to be so drastic as they were last century. That was part of what lead up to the 2nd Great Depression. You'll give these folks a good hearing and ask them for more reasonable suggestions than they're likely to want. Something reasonable and feasible would be alright.

Chris Carpenter

You've learned something about how difficult it is to make people accept the truth. People are not interested in listening to things that they don't want to accept. Repetition matters. Highlighting history matters. You're far more ready for this hearing than you were the last one. You'll say your piece, but you'll also let the other members of the MAGE Institute have ample time to speak. Different voices joined in common cause can have more impact and reach people more powerfully than any one voice alone.

There are once again two goals: 1) Highlight the incidents in the past few years that support your case. 2) Call for the return of previously existing environmental protections and the strengthening of these protections.

Jamie, John and Andrea will each highlight one of the incidents of the past few years. You will make the call for action by this Committee. They must be made to see reason, somehow. Billions of lives depend on it.

Jamie Schreiber

Your job is to highlight the mouse population explosion in the summer of 2033. It was only a few months after you and Chris first spoke before these people. They have to remember what was talked about then and start taking it seriously. The other members of the MAGE Insitute will be highlighting other recent incidents and Chris will be tying it together with a demand for action.

Tens of millions of mice across the American bread basket consumed thousands of tons of grain. The cause? The warm winters and long summers brought about by global warming.

The price of many foods shot up dramatically. Worse, much of it had been destined for other countries where people are starving. Tens of thousands died of starvation because of it and many times that number went hungry.

Mouse-borne diseases spread throughout the area, causing untold illnesses and overfilled hospitals for a time. The solution, poisoning the wheat throughout the areas hit by the catastrophe, was almost as bad. Thousands of birds, cats and dogs were killed from eating the wheat or the poisoned mice.

Will Congress really wait until something like this, or worse, happens again?

Andrea Skala

Wow, you're speaking before the U.S. Senate. That's pretty cool. It's also more than a little daunting.

Each member of the MAGE Institute has a specific role to play here. Three of you highlight catastrophes in the past few years and Chris issues the call to action.

You're talking about the tick-borne tropical cattle disease theileriosis that arrived in the US during 2034. As the Senators likely know, it spread like wildfire throughout herds in much of the Southern US. Texas lost nearly 20% of their cattle.

The price of beef went through the roof, of course. Coming on top of the grain shortages from the previous year, food has never been more expensive in this country. People, lots and lots of people, literally starved in this country.

Theileriosis is a tick-borne tropical disease, of course. The ticks that carried it wouldn't have been able to survive up here until just the past few years. The warming climate made this possible and it's not going to go away.

John Popadopoulos

You're fired up and ready to go. More energy than you know what to do with. You're going to talk about Buruli ulcer, make it terrifying to these people and explain why global warming has caused it.

A Buruli ulcer is a painless but disfiguring skin ulcer. It hit the US last year. It is caused by a bacterium that has been spreading with an invasive water plant. That plant has now been found in many lakes that contain swimming areas. All swimming areas in these lakes are closed, but new populations continue to pop up. The only reason the plant is here now is because of the heating climate.