Voices
our time. By this I refer to the silence around climate change.
For the first time in 24 years,
the words “climate” and “warming” were not used once in the
presidential debate, while “oil”
and “natural gas” were mentioned 56 times. To put that in
context, the U.S. just experienced the warmest eight months
on record, during which time
over 60 percent of the nation
experienced moderate-to-exceptional drought conditions,
44,000 wild fires burned 7.7 million acres, and U.S. corn production reached its lowest yield in
17 years. In 2011, the 14 most severe weather events in the country cost the U.S. close to $140
billion. I write this in the midst
of Hurricane Sandy, which is on
track to be the largest storm ever
to hit the east coast.
The nation is haltingly moving from one disaster to the next
while the candidates bickered
about who can drill for more
oil and gas. To ignore the problem of greenhouse gas emissions
while millions of Americans are
suffering as a result is either denial to the extreme or the peak
of negligence.
Now, before people jump to
JAMES
McGARRY
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
conclusions, let’s clear up one
misconception right away. Averting the worst consequences of
global climate change is not
about protecting the planet. It
is about protecting us. As the
extreme weather events of the
last decade have
shown us time and
time again, the
The
planet is quite canation is
pable of protecthaltingly
ing