Global Warming and American Politics

One of the political slogans is that unless the national debt is addressed, we as Americans will be leaving it to our grandchildren to deal with.




Source of Photo: Blue Planet Green Living:


Here is another slogan: Unless Americans address global warming, we will be leaving a major disaster for future generations to deal with as well.

To not address global warming is like a the fictional story of an ostrich burying his head in the sand hoping all will be well when he comes up for air.




Source of Photograph:  Running Code 3



In fact, ostriches don’t bury their heads in the sand, but many Americans and nations are doing just that with regards to global warming.

Now, I am not an expert on global warming---but any rational person knows that global warming does exist due to the human activity of billions of people. Unless politicians address global warming as aggressively as they do the national debt---well the effects will be disastrous---and in our life times.

Unless politicians----liberal, moderate, and conservative----acknowledge the scientific evidence---well,  like the national debt they are kicking the problem like a can down the road for someone else to pick up.

The world is in a catch 20 scenario, as we need fossil fuels to sustain our economies. But fortunately, with both political and economic pressures,  wind energy technologies,  better rechargeable batteries,  and better fuel consuming automobiles are being developed.  

But we need a national commitment to the development of clean energy technology and policies.

The coal and oil interests and the politicians in their pockets are not consumer friends in assisting with this development and will put barriers to stricter controls.

This classic example of the world attempting to address the problem was the signing of the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases. Currently, this agreement has been signed by 191 nations. However shortly after George W. Bush arrived in office, he refused to sign the treaty that his predecessor Bill Clinton was willing to sign. Bush’s reason---too costly and more than likely he was in the pockets of big oil and coal interests.

The damages by Hurricane Sandy will be over 50 billion dollars and the real question is how much of the storm was attributed to global warming.




Source of photo: Global Post


I tend to go along with moderates who suggest Hurricane Sandy was both a natural occurrence worsened by rising sea levels due to glacier melting caused by global warming.

With  irrefutable evidence that global warming exists, it is now time to address the issue  and  not later.