On Monday, despite a whirlwind of world events, Obama announced his plan to act upon climate change by releasing the final version of America’s “Clean Power Plan”. The White House released a statement in which the president called “the biggest most important step ever taken to combat climate change” which has set to regulate federal limits in regards to the amount of carbon pollution power plants can dump into the air. Obama went on to discuss the growing threat that air pollution will have on the well being of this nation and the evident health defects that it has caused in recent decades. The ultimate goal of The Clean Power Plan is to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. By doing so it will help prevent 90,000 asthma attacks in children, up to 1,700 non- fatal heart attacks, and also 300,000 missed school days and workdays. The president made sure to explain that the benefits of The Clean Power Plan were not limited to areas of health but our nation's economy as well. The development of this plan will create tens of thousands of jobs, lower costs of renewable energy and for the average American family, it will mean saving $85 a year on energy bills in 2030. Obama also made clear that the cost of natural disasters as a result of air pollution has cost our nation up to $100 billion dollars. In his State of the Union Address in 2013, Obama expressed that “We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science — and act before it’s too late." It is evident that the President has deemed this issue of great importance, which further explains his reasoning in implementing The Clean Power Plan.
However, at a time in which many other issues seem more concerning to the American people as well as to the world, Obama’s decision to focus on climate change has not arrived without criticism. With the recent tragedy in Paris, the issue of Syrian Refugees in our nation, and the debacle over gun control, climate change seems to be the least of worries for many Americans. Republican candidate Carly Fiorina stated that she “watched much of his press conference, and [Obama’s] passion comes when he's talking about climate change, he has no passion when he's talking about defeating our real enemy, which is ISIS." Other republicans, Trump included, made statements in regards to Obama’s initiation of his climate plan and they have been quite critical.
The controversy surrounding the President's decision to focus on climate change rather than other issues has most certainly turned many heads.
Do you think his decision to focus on climate change is important and beneficial to our nation?
Are there greater concerns to our country? If so, what are they?
Are Obama’s concerns flawed for an issue of this nature and for a time like this in our world?
9 comments:
I think that President Obama’s decision to focus in climate change is important and necessary. The Paris Climate Change Conference in November was held for a reason. We are facing a frightening future if we don’t change our lifestyles now to decrease the rate of climate change. I don’t think Obama’s issues are flawed at all and I completely agree with his quote, “We can choose to believe that Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states have ever seen were all just a freak coincidence. Or we can choose to believe in the overwhelming judgment of science — and act before it’s too late." These events should be warnings to us, as should the living conditions of others around the world. Right now the air quality in China is so deadly that children can no longer play outside. The readings of tiny poisonous PM2.5 particles in the air in China reached into the high 600s micrograms per cubic meter through the capital and up into the 900s in suburban neighborhoods, as compared with the World Health Organizations safe level of 25.
However there are many other concerns that plague the American mind today and thus will have a larger spot on the policy agenda. The Republican House voted to block Obama’s international agreement to combat climate change and even passed a pair of resolutions (mainly along party lines) to prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from implementing rules to curb greenhouse gas emissions. However the White House has also vowed to veto these rulings. House Republican Steve Scalise said, “while the president continues to talk about the national security threat posed by global warming, the American people want more focus put on the strategy to defeat ISIS." I sadly think Scalise is right. I agree that ISIS and mass shootings are major problems that need to be addressed. However I also believe that we cannot keep pushing off the very real threat of climate change. I don’t think there will ever be a “right time” because there will always be foreign and domestic conflicts. If not now, when?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/01/politics/house-climate-change-obama-epa/
http://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2015/11/30/beijing-air-pollution-reaches-extremely-hazardous-levels
Last night, Discovery Channel aired the documentary "Racing Extinction." The film addresses climate change and the illegal wildlife trade. It featured striking scenes which show how our negligence and greed has resulted in the extinction of thousands of species and the destruction of countless habitats. It also highlighted how our massive amounts of carbon dioxide emissions are suffocating our oceans and warming the planet. As filmaker Louie Psihoyos said, "As a species we're one step away from greatness or the greatest disaster in the last 65 million years." There will always be something else wrong going on in the world, but the time to act on climate change is now. If we fail to act now, we are going to reach a point which is irreversible; therefore time is of the essence and we must act now. It's both frightening and sad to see public figures such as Donald Trump devaluing this issue. On his Instagram, he said,"While the world is in turmoil and falling apart in so many different ways especially with ISIS, our President is worried global warming -- what a ridiculous situation." Many fail to recognize that climate change is one of the reasons that are world is "falling apart." I completely agree with Obama that climate change is "an economic and security imperative that we have to tackle now." Climate change is one of the greatest concerns not only of America but the world if we want to save our planet. I disagree with Claire. There is a right time, and the right time is now before it is too late.
Sources:
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-climate-change-became-so-politicized/
http://www.rollingstone.com/movies/news/how-racing-extinction-could-save-the-world-20151202
http://www.forbes.com/sites/alliewilkinson/2015/12/02/marine-life-gets-major-screen-time-in-racing-extinction-airing-tonight/
http://www.wtsp.com/story/news/politics/2015/12/01/obama-climate-change-imperative-despite-terror-threat/76608094/
I think that the immediate impact that world events have on our minds is exactly the reason Obama is acting on the climate change issue right now. It is easy to live crisis to crisis, thinking about gun control or the reasons for radical Islam, and these issues are certainly important, but the preventable crises of the future are equally easy to overlook. For Obama to address the climate change issue so head-on as he has during his presidency is, in my opinion, one of his greatest strengths as the president. For a crisis that is not immediately pressing and as a result does not have a lot of public pressure to solve at the moment, it is very mature of Obama to make it a top priority before it gets to bad to solve. In addition, the United States' involvement in the climate change discussion sets a positive precedent for the rest of the world.
I totally agree with Ally's points listed above; if we do not act now, then we are leaving a world for the young people of today and the unborn future generation a world that will be inhospitable. It would have been optimal to begin cleaning our act up 50 years ago before it was an issue, but as the saying goes, "the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the second best time is today."
I absolutely believe that Obama is right in acting on climate change. As Ally said above, if we do not act now, we risk the future of humanity. Yes, there are other pressing issues that this country faces--most recently the threat of ISIS and mass shootings like the one in San Bernardino. However, ignoring climate change in favor of these other issues would be an enormous oversight of any politician--including Obama. More than one issue can be tackled at a time, and this one deserves to be high on the priority list. Every single country contributes to global warming and as a large, affluent nation we have a responsibility to ourselves and our future children to combat the effects of a long history of destroying our Earth. Francoise Hollande, President of France, made the point at the beginning of COP21 that now is not the time for inaction. He stressed that all of the promises to "do better" would have no effect until countries buckle down and change their ways. If Francoise Hollande, president of the country so recently and horribly affected by terrorism, believes in the importance of new environmental policy, then there is no reason that the US cannot do the same. Even the pope has said that our world is in suicide mode. We can save the earth, but we have to start before it is too late.
http://www.rfi.fr/france/20151201-lancement-cop21-unite-facade-fractures-paris-climat
I think it is EXTREMELY important to act on the issue of climate change, and it will no doubt be beneficial to our country. As President Obama stated, it is unrealistic to simply consider the plethora of national disasters that have occurred in the past decade as coincidental. There is scientific backing to support the fact that human impact on the planet by means of green house gas emissions directly impacts the behavior of nature. The negligent style of living we are used to in America is not slowing down, and as time goes on the damage being caused to our planet is that much worse. Now, the consequences of our actions are catching up to us; there is no better time to act on this issue than now.
As for if there are more important issues for our nation to focus on; of course. As ally said, there will always be something more important, but there comes a point where this pattern of harmful pollution NEEDS to be stopped to preserve our planet for the future. Obama mentioned in his speech that one of the benefits to his Clean Power Plan would be to reduce the number of Asthma attacks experienced by children, showing how our future generations are already being impacted so heavily by this course of action. Children world wide are becoming ill due to poor air conditions, especially in Bejing and other areas with heavy industry
I do see, however, how many can argue this timing is not appropriate. The point is, there will never be a good time for environmental reform, so kudos to President Obama for making that time now.
I agree that it may be difficult for people to focus on an issue like global warming that is not nearly as pressing as the gun control and ISIS issues we face currently, but it is nevertheless a priority. "That's my feeling," Christie said. "I don't see evidence that it's a crisis." The word crisis makes it seem like whatever we deal with has to be dramatic and urgent. But in the case of climate change, prevention is the cure. Climate change is easy to push aside as we can see by our continuous neglect for the situation, but the sooner we start dealing with it, the better. 2014 was the hottest year on record globally, and 2015 is on track to break that record. Clearly, the “Superstorm Sandy, and the most severe drought in decades, and the worst wildfires some states” are not just a freak coincidence. I disagree with the Republicans that are lashing out against Obama’s interest in climate change, which I believe is just as important. In fact, leading climate change would strengthen America’s role as a leading country, which we can see even now is declining in the economic sector. Because climate change an issue that spans countries and parties, American leadership in this area would definitely influence other countries. "American leadership involves not just playing to American constituency back home, but you now are in fact at the center of what happens around the world. And that your credibility and America's ability to influence events depends on taking seriously what other countries care about," Obama said. In my opinion, as long as other issues are not neglected, then climate change should continue to be pursued.
http://www.npr.org/2015/12/01/458087304/republican-candidates-slam-obamas-focus-on-climate-change
https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate-change
I absolutely agree with Sarah. Not every issue in world politics can boil down to: what does this have to do with ISIS? Climate change is a long-term issue that will be dealing with for what is the great foreseeable future. When taking into account the volatility of the Middle East and the general, enduring nature of terrorist groups it's not outlandish to expect ISIS's relegation to a low-level threat and influence in the next several decades. Climate change, however, is not going away unless we take greater, consistent action against it. The myopic views of many 2016ers are not shocking, considering the usual trend of derision directed at anything Obama says and does. This tweet (https://twitter.com/GovMikeHuckabee/status/671382851535925249 CAUTION: HOT TAKE, OVEN MITTS REQUIRED) by former Governor of Arkansas Mike Huckabee seems to suggest that the president, in making climate change a focus of his, is not a president at all, but a weatherman. Or, you know, the president's job is to consider many different issues while in office and acting in our best interests, not just those currently dominating the news-cycle. Also, he just deployed ~100 special operations forces to the region to coordinate attacks on the group's leaders and assist local forces. It certainly won't destroy the group, but it's a start.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/12/03/us-mideast-crisis-obama-idUSKBN0TM1HU20151203
I think that the decision to focus on climate change is important and beneficial to the nation because while there are other concerns, this is something that is of concern as well and can benefit the nation. I agree with Gursimar that while it is not as important or pressing as some other issues the nation is facing, such as gun control and the Middle East, that it is an important issue to address and it certainly a priority. The decision to focus on climate change is an important one, but might not be brought up at the right time considering the mass shooting in California and the attacks in Paris, which are considered greater concerns towards the nation than air pollution is currently. That being said, this could be the right time to bring this up because there isn’t anything like it being implemented and it would, as mentioned in the article, provide jobs, benefit the health of individual Americans, and be an economic investment for the United States. Obama has yet to take a strong stand on a few of the major issues that have been presented to the U.S. He hasn’t taken a strong stance on gun control and has yet to implement this Clean Power Plan. At a time like this, he should probably be more focused on the issues of national security and protecting ourselves and our allies from the enemy and the traitors rather than from the pollution.
I think President Obama's decision to place such a large focus on climate change is absolutely justified, since it is a pressing issue that affects all of the world. Even though many conservatives refuse to agree with 97% of the scientific community, it is a fact that the Earth is heating up due to human emissions; simply standing by and letting nature "run its course" will not solve anything. Though there are many other issues to be dealt with, such as the national debt, terrorism, and gun control, the fact of the matter is that climate change is a perpetual menace that will become very apparent in the coming few decades. Thus, actions must be taken now to curb its consequences, as terrorism will mean nothing when the oceans have acidified due to the abundance of CO2 and the Earth is plagued by unnatural weather patterns. I am a firm believer in the idea that climate change is the biggest issue facing our nation today because it does not just have resonating ramifications for America, but also for the world. Republican claims that rising temperatures are a hoax must be cast aside and action must be taken, because the fact is that carbon dioxide has reached 440 ppm in our atmosphere, Arctic and land ice are shrinking rapidly each year, and global temperatures are rising (NASA). There is no greater issue facing our world than climate change, especially since almost nothing has been done to counter it so far. Obama's actions are not an attempt to divert the attention of the American people, but rather an attempt to prevent the worst environmental catastrophe in human history.
Source:
http://climate.nasa.gov/
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