Public Comment
Climate Crisis Has Arrived
A massive heat wave has scorched much of Europe, with the U.K. shattering its record for highest temperature ever recorded. Oblivious and unconcerned about the future but determined to retain his coveted Congressional seat, Senator Manchin has shown a complete willingness to sell his soul to the highest bidder, the fossil fuel and coal industry to upend his party’s efforts to introduce legislation to combat climate change.
Judas Manchin is supported by radical members of the Republican Party who are hell-bent on scoring political points denying the existential threat of climate change condemning their families and future generations of humanity to a dark and uncertain future.
President Biden’s actions are also confusing. Abandoning his prior condemnation of Mohamed bin Salman as a pariah, he rushed to Riyadh to meet MBS with a warm fist-bump begging him to pump more oil, then rushed home to declare climate change caused by our addiction to fossil fuels as an existential threat to our survival!
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a “dire warning on the consequences of inaction.” Even with an immediate concerted global effort to phase out fossil fuels, there is still only a slim chance that we can preserve our civilization as we know it.
Author and environmental activist, Guardian reporter George Monbiot, added his powerful voice calling for vigorous action to reduce carbon emissions. His latest column headlined “This heatwave has eviscerated the idea that small changes can tackle extreme weather.” Monbiot criticizes what he calls “micro-consumerist” bleep — an approach that presents “micro-solutions” to the “macro-problem” of climate change. The only thing that delivers quickly and effectively is system change,” only new technology can eliminate the West’s reliance on animal agriculture, which is one of the leading causes of the climate crisis often overshadowed by a focus on fossil fuels.
Monbiot, winner of the Orwell Prize for Journalism, reminds us of the world-wide devastation caused by a rise of 1.2 degrees. What would happen with an elevated temperature of 2 or 3 degrees? He has a scathing critique for the small baby steps taken thus far. More conflicts are likely to occur as climate refugees try to escape Violent weather, floods, wildfires, extreme temperatures, rising sea levels and pandemics.
