A few days ago President Obama gave the first State of the
Union speech for his second term.
Historically this speech is an opportunity for a President no longer
worried about running for re-election to spell out an ambitious agenda for his
last term. And in this sense the
President didn’t disappoint, his agenda was as broad as it was ambitious. There are many elements of the President’s
speech I liked, and some I didn’t. But I
was gratified to hear him give climate change a prominent place in his speech,
a place I think it deserves (clearly not a surprise to anybody who has ever
read my blogs). And then there was the
Republican response by Senator Marco Rubio (R) of Florida. I
generally consider the Senator an accomplished and intelligent person, so I was
disappointed to hear him use the word “weather” to describe climate
change. Specifically, what the Senator
said was “When we point out that no matter how many job-killing laws we pass,
our government can’t control the weather – he accuses us of wanting dirty water
and dirty air.”
Control the weather???
I am surprised that somebody who comes from probably the
most climate vulnerable state in our country would have such a flippant
attitude towards a very real threat to the people of Florida. I suppose that’s the beauty of foresight, you
can just keep denying until hindsight requires you to change.
At this point I could talk a lot about why addressing
climate change is so important and what the costs of inaction will be (e.g.,
agriculture, increased storms, fishing and tourism). But there is a plethora of reports that can
do a much better job than I can (I just like saying the word “plethora”, it roles off
the tongue funny). I will only point to
one study, the recently released “Global Sea Level Rise Scenarios for the
United States National Climate Assessment” prepared by NOAA’s Climate Program
Office.
Although this report was prepared by NOAA, it was prepared
in collaboration with NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey, the Scripps Institution
of Oceanography, the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Columbia University, the University of Maryland, the University of
Florida, and the South Florida Water Management District. Therefore, a lot of smart U.S. based science
went into this report. And one of the
key findings of the report – sea level rise will rise up to 6+ feet in the U.S.
by 2100. I wonder if Florida, with its
2,276 miles of tidal coastline (2nd only to Alaska) should be concerned?
I really don’t think it’s a bad thing for the Senator to
question how the government spends money, such as whether a specific climate
policy is really in the best interest of the country. But I wish he would base his arguments on
real issues (e.g., the benefits and detriments of the policy) and not just
repeat the tired old “climate change isn’t real” rhetoric that he and many of
his party have embraced. I think he does
a disservice to the people of Florida who are and will continue to struggle with the
effects of climate change, even if some of us choose to ignore that fact.
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