USA, what do you have to say?
Not a whole lot of time left before the world’s leaders meet in Copenhagen to decide the fate of the world. That sounds a little dramatic, but it’s basically true. Climate Change is increasingly more of a threat, as new reports come out the pressure for the United States to actually do something on the issue grows.
The United States really needs to wake up to this. There is more than enough proof available, from the most reliable sources that this issue is real, it is happening and it is moving faster than expected.
The issue is that there is so much misinformation out there, plenty of denier folks who refuse to actually look at real facts won’t even listen to reason because they just don’t want to acknowledge it.
The dirty money from “energy” companies that rely on fossil fuels makes the process even more slow. It is astounding to me that so much of the world is not only willing to acknowledge the problem, they are ready and prepared to act. Yet, here we sit in the United States, twiddling our thumbs as if there’s not an issue.
Why is it so important for the US to act too?
We are the second largest green house gas emitter, which is bad enough, but per capita, we are by far the worst. It is pretty ridiculous, actually. I’ve said all of this before, but one thing that is not mentioned usually is the amount of money that would be saved in health care costs by reducing green house gas emissions.
I read a report earlier today from “USA Today” that was about economists supporting taking action on climate change. It was pretty crazy, 97% of them believed we need to do either a carbon tax or cap and trade system, sign an international treaty and it would save the US about 120 billion dollars a year in health costs alone.
That’s some hefty numbers that are constantly being ignored. I am sure more excuses of why we shouldn’t take action are on the way, however. So, USA, what do you have to say?
Climate change IS hard to get. The science is complicated, the dissonance overwhelming, and the solutions are expensive and hard to explain in 10 words or less. Small wonder the politicians don’t get it and the American people are clamoring to do something about it. Still, attention must be paid.
I’ve given up on the political process, global or otherwise. For me, it is all about adapting and about educating my children to the world that awaits them, a world that will be quite different from the one they see around them today.
G J Lau´s last blog ..Worth Repeating
Yes it is complicated, though the gist of it is pretty simple to grasp. It’s explaining all of the details that will answer all of the questions that gets complicated. To me, it’s just pretty common sense, but apparently not for everyone.
Globally, there is overwhelming consensus that it is real and something must be done, unfortunately, it would seem the governments are unwilling to act as swiftly as we need them to.
As much as I would love to say this is a problem that can be solved by everyone changing their own light bulbs, that just isn’t true. The governments across the world need to step up on this issue.
I think you also bring up an interesting point, preparing for the world that will be in the future. There certainly needs to be the mix of us out there, those fighting to do something about now and those fighting to ensure people are prepared for what is to come, one way or another.
Thanks for the great comment!