The overheating planet.

AuthorPal, Amitabh
PositionComment

2012 was the year that global warming struck home. May 2013 be the year that the United States finally takes the lead--not in causing global warming but in curbing it.

Most Americans have come to realize the hard way that global warming is a real and present danger. The summer droughts, the record heat, and especially Superstorm Sandy and the flooding of New York City demonstrated that something has gone terribly wrong with our climate. Scientists have been predicting events just like these for twenty-five years now. The "once in a century" storm may be a "once in every three years" occurrence from now on.

That is, unless we do something dramatic about the crisis of global warming. But the power of the fossil fuel industry and the idolatry of growth keep getting in the way.

In his first post-reelection press conference, President Obama was asked what he intended to do about global warming. Here's what he said:

"There's no doubt that for us to take on climate change in a serious way would involve making some tough political choices, and you know, understandably, I think the American people right now have been so focused and will continue to be focused on our economy and jobs and growth that, you know, if the message is somehow we're going to ignore jobs and growth simply to address climate change, I don't think anybody's going to go for that. I won't go for that. If, on the other hand, we can shape an agenda that says we can create jobs, advance growth, and make a serious dent in climate change and be an international leader, I think that's something that the American people would support."

While keeping Americans employed is certainly important, and while it is possible to grow in a green way, the President's comments suggest that tackling global warming is not going to be a priority, though he told Time magazine that it was near the top of his list.

It wasn't anywhere near there in his first term. In one international conference after another, the Obama Administration refused to make any binding commitments to shrink our carbon footprint or to compensate Third World countries because we've contributed so much to the problem--a problem they are having to bear disproportionately.

The most recent example was at the Doha conference in December. U.S. negotiators "made certain that neither the word 'compensation,' nor any other term connoting legal liability, was used," the Guardian reported.

Japan, Russia, and even Canada said they won't sign...

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