CVF spokesman Saleemul Huq distilled the absurdly unfair dynamic that plays out at these international climate meetings, telling The Guardian newspaper, “We are the majority: 106 of the 195 countries of the world want this 1.5C target. But there is no democracy here. It’s a power game and the powerful are not on our side.” In this scenario, Obama and the U.S. delegation, committed as they seem to be on curbing climate change, are not on the side of the powerless. U.S. Republicans are even further off the mark, and constitute a minority within a minority as they deliberately ignore climate change. Arrayed against their dogged denial of the problem is most of the rest of the world. The good news is that even inside the United States, communities are fighting back to preserve the planet. As many parts of the country are affected by serious droughts, Americans are beginning to witness evidence of a changing climate. A University of Michigan poll found that “a record 61% of Americans who indicate there is evidence of global warming said severe droughts were having a very large effect on their belief.” In the last few weeks, Shell Oil announced it would back out of its Arctic exploration projects, and Obama denied approval of the massive Keystone XL pipeline project. Many cities and states are taking proactive approaches to addressing the climate. Portland, Ore., Mayor Charlie Hales, for example, recently signed a historic, unanimously passed resolution that bans the building of new fossil-fuel infrastructure within city limits. Global warming is a form of terror, perhaps the worst form. The finality of death is the same, whether we are gunned down in the streets or drown in the floods. But as Obama and Hollande mourned the victims of the Paris attacks earlier this week, the question arises: Will heads of state similarly mourn those who will almost certainly die from the earth’s catastrophically changing climate? Given that we know climate change is killing hundreds of thousands of us now and will continue to kill more in the coming years, will we take action to stop the disaster, just as we would if we knew that a terrorist attack was about to take place? Your support matters…

Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.

You can help level the playing field. Become a member.

Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.

Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG
In this Article:
#barack obama#climate change#cop 21#environment#françois hollande#jeb bush#kpfk#paris#president#racism#republicans#Sonali Kolhatkar#td-original#terrorism#uprising