On September 26, 2012 I posted a blog called Thune For Thought, in which I wrote:
“At 2 a.m. on September 22, 2012, the United States Senate voted by unanimous consent that U.S. airlines could choose to ignore the European Union’s requirement that all airplanes landing in the EU reduce their carbon pollution that is causing global warming. Either climate change is happening or it isn’t. But, once you look at the data, once you subscribe to the opinion that it is happening, you have an affirmative obligation to take all reasonable steps to responsibly address the problem. I understand that this is election season, and some of the Senate races are tight, and airlines can be powerful lobbyists, but, it is 2012 and an anti-climate emissions control bill is passing via unanimous consent in the United States Senate? Either climate change is really happening or it isn’t.”
Our climate champions across the nation abandoned their science-based advocacy about the reality of climate change and the extreme price tag that comes with our collective failure to act. They abandoned that advocacy immediately prior to the election, and disappointingly, during the election. They abandoned that advocacy even in the aftermath of the one-two punch of Super Storm Sandy and Nor’easter Athena.
Not a single elected official in Rhode Island, from the Governor to the delegation, has uttered the words climate change in any of these contexts.
After the November 6, 2012 election, nothing much has changed in Rhode Island or for the country in terms of political representation. Our delegation in Rhode Island remained the same: Reed, Whitehouse, Langevin, and Cicciline; our Governor remained the same: Chafee; our President: the same; and, the balance of power in the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives remained the same: blue majority in the Senate, red majority in the House.
The take home message is simple: Averting the climate disaster can’t be about party politics. We all lose if that is where the battle lines are drawn on the single most important issue facing our country. Averting the climate disaster requires science and the courage to act on it.
Dear President Obama, start acting on climate change.
Dear Senator Reed, start acting on climate change.
Dear Senator Whitehouse, start acting on climate change.
Dear Representative Langevin, start acting on climate change.
Dear Representative Cicciline, start acting on climate change.
Dear Governor Chafee, start acting on climate change.
Dear Rhode Island House and Senate Leaders, start acting on climate change.
We need science and courage, not politics.
Greg Gerritt
We can not make the economy of RI work unless we tackle climate change and other forms of ecological healing. As long as we do not put ecological healing and greater equality at the center of our economic development plans, and plan for a SMALLER economy, we are doomed to failure and a worsening climate.
Tricia Jedele
A member of Senator Whitehouse’s staff wrote me to tell me that my blog was not accurate with respect to Senator Whitehouse’s record on speaking about climate change prior to and during the election, and in particular, took issue with this statement in the blog: “They abandoned that advocacy immediately prior to the election, and disappointingly, during the election. They abandoned that advocacy even in the aftermath of the one-two punch of Super Storm Sandy and Nor’easter Athena. Not a single elected official in Rhode Island, from the Governor to the delegation, has uttered the words climate change in any of these contexts.”
This statement is not in fact accurate with respect to Senator Whitehouse’s record. Senator Whitehouse has been a real leader in the Senate on climate change. On number of occasions during the summer and early fall of 2012, he gave floor speeches about the scientific reality of climate change. I have even posted one or two of those speeches in previous blogs I’ve written on this subject. Indeed, Senator Whitehouse may have been among the only candidates for office who talked about climate change during re-election campaign (during his second debate, post Sandy). As a Senator, he continues to look for opportunities to make climate change part of the legisltive agenda in Washington. His efforts to date on this subject are admirable and welcome.
My recent blog was really more about the collective silence of our leaders on the campaign trail and in the immediate aftermath of Sandy to seize the many opportunities to explain to their opponents and the “climate change/ all we need are jobs” naysayers, to connect the dots between the reality of climate change and our economic well-being. It used to be that politicians everywhere would proclaim themselves as aligned with environmental issues, and now it seems our candidates and elected officials are being forced to choose between the mantras: “we believe in job creation” or “we believe in something else,” and most often they choose the first mantra. Our elected officials need to collectively start explaining why the rhetoric that leads people to believe that economic growth and environmental health are not inextricably linked at the hip, is a penny-wise, pound foolish approach to governing. We really need to push back on this thinking at all levels of government. Senator Whithouse is one voice, and he is an incredibly valuable voice to have in the Senate, but we need a chorus of voices.