Voices
Put another way, we are turning
the planet into something that
we, and much of life as we know
it, cannot live in.
Don’t believe me? Ask the Pacific
islanders of low lying nations like
Papua New Guinea who are now
climate refugees after permanently
evacuating their homes in the wake
of sea level rise. Ask the owners of
the 275,000 homes that were destroyed during Hurricane Katrina,
or the 600,000 pets that were
killed or left without a home from
that storm.
It is going to be some time before
we know the full costs of Hurricane
Sandy. What we know for sure,
however, is that until we open up
a dialogue about climate change in
this country, based on the premise
that the 99 percent of climatologists who say that climate change is
happening and that human beings
are to blame, are correct, we do not
stand a chance. When our leaders
focus on an “all of the above energy strategy” and “clean coal and
natural gas,” that sends the wrong
signal. That says that we are not
ready to think about the sweeping
changes needed to stem the tide of
these destructive weather events
from which we seem to be perpetually recovering.
JAMES
McGARRY
HUFFINGTON
11.11.12
We know what has to be done.
Clean renewable energy that can
produce electricity while emitting zero carbon dioxide is available today. Energy
efficient appliances
that can do the same
Averting
work as their less efthe worst
ficient counterparts
consequences
with less energy are
of global
available now. Presiclimate
dent Obama finalized change is
new fuel economy
not about
standards for cars
protecting
and light trucks so
the planet. It
that by 2025 the
is about
U.S. auto fleet will
protecting us.”
have to get about
54.5 miles per gallon. This will save Americans
roughly 3 million barrels of oil
per day and $140 billion per
year. That was a good step, but it
is not by itself enough.
The U.S. has to break its silence on climate change, accept
that our current energy-intense
lifestyles are responsible for the
increasingly violent weather patterns, and tax, or otherwise limit
the fossil fuels that are emitting
climate-altering greenhouse gases
into the atmosphere.
The planet does not
need to be saved. We do.