Climate Change… “an American National Security Challenge” Sen. Kerry.
An appeal to self-interest from the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator John Kerry decided to send another salvo across the bow today and penned a passionate op-ed in the The Hill newspaper in support of climate change legislation. Stalled in Congress, the legislation suffers from attacks by corporate lobbyists, conservative think tanks and right wing talk radio hosts who debate the scientific realities of global warming. As many supporters of Congressional efforts to reduce carbon emissions know, defending the science and consequences of climate change against the fictitious and greedy attacks of the opposition can be a futile cause. So Kerry went another way.
Instead of arguing the science of the bill, he laid out the simple and stark geopolitical and national security threats that face this country if we fail to place a price on the cost of carbon. ”Climate change injects a new major source of chaos, tension and human insecurity into an already volatile world. It threatens to bring more famine and drought, worse pandemics, more natural disasters, more resource scarcity, and staggering human displacement. In an interconnected world, that endangers all of us,” he wrote. Shining a light on the critically shared Himalayan glacier water resources of India and Pakistan which are melting away, and the growing threats of famine, drought, and pandemics across the globe Senator Kerry hoped he could soften some intransigent opinions.
Channeling Hans Morenghtau he ended with the article with a clear message. “Here’s one fact that should awaken every rock-ribbed defense hawk to the stakes: There will always be excuses to wait, but every day that Washington fails to price carbon and embrace clean energy, America sends another $100 million to Iran. That’s not a choice America can afford., he wrote”.
I encourage you to read the whole letter in The Hill newspaper and then read the Senate’s bill S. 1733: Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
