\nThere is a famous Sci-Fi story twice made into a movie, \u201cThe Day the\nEarth Stood Still.\u201d The basic plot (no\nspoilers) involves an alien who arrives on Earth to warn human kind that we\nwill be destroyed before we can destroy the planet. One of the scientists negotiating with the\nalien offered some sadly accurate but prophetic words. She said humans had the ability to change, to\nstop destroying the planet, but we would not choose to do so until we were\ntruly faced with catastrophe to force our hand. \nAs we enter 2019, we are most assuredly going down that route. We need an alien, or at least some strong\nleaders, to take charge, show courage, and address this crisis before we do in\nfact destroy the planet. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nEnvironmental degradation is nothing new. With technological, industrial, and energy\nadvances that have benefitted society has also come the challenge of pollution\ncontrol. As a consequence of damaging\nair, water, and soil pollution decades ago, the United States created the\nEnvironment Protection Agency and began regulating pollution, funding clean-up,\nand holding offenders liable. More\nrecently, Climate Change dominated the environmental discussion. With very few exceptions, the entire\nscientific community accepts this theory based on extremely strong evidence and\nthe dire consequences of inaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nRising sea levels threaten coastal communities worldwide. Residents will be forced to move further\ninland or perhaps rely upon land-saving technology to keep the ocean at\nbay. The earth is experiencing longer,\nmore severe droughts threaten food supplies and the ability to grow sufficient\namounts of produce and raise sufficient amounts of food animals to feed the\ngrowing world population. The U.S. alone\nhas been experiencing a large decline in agricultural land forcing us to import\nincreasing amounts of food. We are also\nexperiencing a treacherous increase in powerful storms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nCommunities prone to hurricanes are seeing more powerful and damaging\nstorms. It is conceivable that we will\nhave to add a Category 6. The infamous\n\u201cPolar Vortex\u201d deep freezes are increasing in the northern part of the country\nand extending further. Cold and snow is\nextending to southern states such as the Carolinas that have not previously\nbeen prone to the more typical northern snow and ice. Snow can be beautiful when it is not shutting\ndown schools, businesses, and travel for days. \nImagine living with a power outage in the middle of a cold snap with no\nheat for days. Floods around the country\nas well as wild fires, mostly in the west, are also growing in alarming strength\nand number. The government will not be\nable to keep rebuilding the affected communities, nor should that be the long-term\nanswer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThere are climate deniers out there and they have control over the Republican\nleadership. As illogical and contrary to\nthe plain facts as their position may be, it is not truly necessary to convince\nthem to accept climate change. \nSustainability and clean energy create jobs. Good jobs. \nImproving technology leading to cleaner, safer air and water is never a\nbad thing regardless of any political or policy debates. So is an improved economy and job\nmarket. Thus, the economic and practical\nsafety arguments should suffice even where the environmental crisis or concern\nfor future generations does not compel their support. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nThe U.S. and most of the world were trying to address climate\nchange. The Paris Accords were an\nexcellent initial international step and represented a meaningful effort. No omnibus international agreement can be\nperfect considering the intricacies and complexities of over 100 nations\nadvocating their own interests and priorities. \nBut the accords were an excellent start and deserved support. Unfortunately, President Trump immediately\nnotified the world that he was pulling the U.S. out of the accords. He did so without any understanding of its\nprovisions or necessity. It was blind\npolitical theater much to the detriment of our country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump ally former Florida governor, now Senator, Rick Scott, seriously hurt the state. Despite increasing drought, beach erosion, incredible catastrophic storms, significant water pollution, endangered species, etc., Scott opposed all climate change efforts and like Trump, banned even the use of the phrase or discussion of the issue within the government. We need greater effort, not abandonment. \u201cLeaders\u201d with such intellectual dishonesty and cowardice who work against our interests are unfit for office. IT is not about disagreement over policy but rather about the extreme danger they cause, harming all aspects of society and threatening our collective future. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Voters must speak with loud voices this year and going forward in all elections if they want to prevent the otherwise imminent peril from inaction and denial. Selfish, foolish statements that the next generation can address these issues no longer work. This is the next generation, and this is the time where we must act before it is too late. I began with reference to a Sci-Fi movie. There have been plenty of such stories and movies focused on environmental catastrophe wherein society lives in extreme drought, long-term famine, is forced to move underground or live above water, and in which war and violence are an everyday part of life as people struggle for survival. These are works of fiction, but as the saying goes, the truth is often stranger than fiction. We all must heed the warnings in these stories before they become more like historical documentaries. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There is a famous Sci-Fi story twice made into a movie, \u201cThe Day the Earth Stood Still.\u201d The basic plot (no spoilers) involves an alien who arrives on Earth […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":186,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[12,56,94,97],"class_list":["post-354","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","tag-2020-election","tag-climate-change","tag-election","tag-environment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=354"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=354"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=354"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whoobazoo.com\/thebooth\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=354"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}