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Some Help, Mr Romney
Some Help, Mr. Romney
By Michael Stafford
As Americans go to the polls in a few months to select our next president, one issue- the economy- will be foremost in voters' minds.Environmental concerns are taking a back seat this election cycle.
That's a shame.One hundred years from now, historians will be writing about what we did, or didn't do, to combat climate change and secure the environment, not about the federal deficit or the latest employment numbers.
The reason for this is simple- we've run out of time to take action to reduce the carbon emissions driving climate change across our planet.As author Alan Weisman has observed, "by tapping the Carboniferous Formation and spewing it up into the sky, [humanity has] become a volcano that hasn't stopped erupting since the 1700s." We have, quite literally, changed the very composition of the atmosphere.
Today, these changes are accelerating in ominous ways.At the same time, we have gained new awareness of the potential consequences for humanity- which range from bad, to worse, to completely catastrophic.
Of the two major political parties in the United States, one- the GOP- lives in a state of climate denial.In this topsy-turvy world, the broad scientific consensus on climate change is a hoax, denialist researchers more adept at publishing newspaper opinion pieces than peer-review journal articles are considered experts, and the claims of think-tanks funded by the coal and oil industries count for more than the views of NOAA and the National Academy of Sciences.Meanwhile, over the past two years, Congressional Republicans have been gripped by an unprecedented ecocidal fervor, launching repeated attacks on the EPA (including on its attempts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions) as well as attempts to roll back a litany of environmental protections.
The national GOP has essentially erased any mention of climate change from the party platform; local Republican legislators in places like North Carolina have tried banishing it by legislative fiat instead.
Today, the energy industry is pouring political contributions into conservative PACs and Republican coffers. This is in addition to the huge sums they already spend in their ongoing disinformation campaign designed to confuse Americans about the science of climate change.Muddying the waters, and the minds, has never been so expensive.
Throughout the Republican primary, Mitt Romney took great pains to parrot conventional "movement conservative" (read "energy industry approved") views on environmental policy and climate change.He's stated that he "would get the EPA out of its effort to manage carbon dioxide emissions from automobiles and trucks," and opposes heightened fuel efficiency standards set to take effect in 2025. His energy plan adopts a "drill, baby, drill" approach sure to please oil, gas, and coal industry executives.
During his acceptance speech at the Republican convention in Tampa, he dismissively quipped: "President Obama promised to begin to slow the rise of the oceans and heal the planet. My promise is to help you and your family."
Romney's comments reflect a false dichotomy between prosperity and protecting the environment- a meme often advanced by the GOP.In reality, securing our ecological future is critical for the long-term health of our nation.
This summer, temperature records have fallen like dominoes across America.Large segments of the United States have been gripped by terrible drought. Forest fires have raged.Meanwhile, storm intensity is also increasing, leading to more flooding, property damage, and even deaths. And sea level rise is threatening coastal communities.
All of this is linked to our changing climate.And it's merely a harbinger of even worse problems ahead.
At this juncture, it's clear that a Romney administration would be complicit in further assaults on core environmental protections while pandering to climate denialists. The results will be dirtier air and water, with all the sundry associated public health and welfare problems those facts entail, and no action to curb greenhouse gas emissions. The human engine driving climate change would chug on, unimpeded.Indeed, it's a safe bet that, under Romney, every bit of coal, oil, and natural gas that can be mined, drilled, or fracked and burned for a profit, will be.
Back in 2003, standing in front of a coal-fired Massachusetts power plant during his term as governor, Romney made a very different promise:"I will not create jobs or hold jobs that kill people, and that plant, that plant kills people."Apparently times, and Romney's priorities, have changed.
Some help, Mr. Romney.
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©Copyright 2012 Michael Stafford, distributed exclusively by Cagle Cartoons newspaper syndicate.
Michael Stafford is a former Republican Party officer and the author of "An Upward Calling." Michael can be reached at anupwardcalling@yahoo.com
This column has been edited by the author. Representations of fact and opinions are solely those of the author.
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Why not run a cartoon with the column? We recommend the cartoons below as a good compliment to Michael Stafford's topic.
Click on the thumbnail images to preview and download the cartoons. |
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Record Heat and Drought Color
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August 9, 2012 | 
Record Heat and Drought
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August 9, 2012 | 
Waterworld
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January 15, 2011 | 
Melting faster
By: Olle Johansson
August 27, 2012 | 
Lib Eggvironment
By: Bill Day
August 10, 2012 | 
Lib Eggvironment COLOR
By: Bill Day
August 10, 2012 | | | | |
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Michael Stafford, 9/12/2012 [
