Juan Cole: Global Warming Is a Domestic Crisis!

As President Obama made clear in his inaugural address Monday, failing to confront the threat of climate change in his second term, would be a betrayal of future generations. "Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science," Obama said, "but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires and crippling drought, and more powerful storms." Actually, there are some who can avoid fires, drought and storms, but most of them voted for Mitt Romney. At a time of continued unemployment and Republican assaults on workers' rights, the climate crisis may not seem like a pressing bread and butter concern. However it is vital for the president and his allies in Congress to remember that those Americans most defenseless against extreme weather and natural disasters form the backbone of the Democratic Party. That is the only conclusion one can draw from the draft of a new federal study on global warming growing impact on the United States. Those who stand for the workers and the middle class, and for the rights of minorities, women and the underprivileged in our increasingly unequal society, are facing yet another epochal struggle. The carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere by the coal, oil and gas corporations threaten the well being of the 99 percent on a whole range of new fronts. Climate change is provoking more and more drastic weather events. Residents along the coastal regions are at risk both from more violent storms, and from a projected 3 to 4 foot sea level rise over the next eight decades. The enormous storm surge caused by Hurricane Sandy, is an example of these new threats. Hurricanes require warm water to remain active, and Sandy fed off of high Atlantic temperatures, in waters that have historically been much colder. The draft National Climate Assessment notes that people and neighborhoods along the coast were hardest hit, adding, "Many low to moderate income residents live in these areas, and suffered the damage or loss of their homes, leaving tens of thousands of people displaced or homeless." We saw with Katrina in New Orleans as well, how the least well off are often shunted to low lying and more vulnerable land. Most of New Orleans will be gone within a century, if we go on producing carbon dioxide at our current rate.