There are people out there in Washington, some of my colleagues in the Senate, they say, “the Green New Deal is too expensive, we can’t afford it!” I ask sincerely, what is the alternative?
Tell me the alternative if we are going to be looking at a planet which is burning up. Tell me the alternative if we’re looking at more and more drought and the decline of our food production. Tell me the alternative if we’re looking at more and more extreme weather disturbances, hurricanes, and tornadoes. Tell me the alternative if we’re looking at more and more disease. Tell me the alternative if we’re looking at more and more mass migrations of people around the world who can no longer stand to stay in their communities because there is no water, or there is no food.
Climate change is the existential threat to our planet. And we are seeing it with our own eyes right now. My colleagues ask if we can afford to act as boldly and aggressively as the situation demands – I ask, how can we afford not to?
Related Off-site Links:
Terrifying UN Draft Climate Report Urges Total Transformation of Our Way of Life – William Rivers Pitt (TruthOut, June 24, 2021).
Thanks to Climate Change, Heat Waves and Record Temperatures in the Pacific Northwest May Become Commonplace – David Knowles (Yahoo! News, June 28, 2021).
Record-breaking Temperatures Mean We Must Change the Way We Talk About the Climate Emergency – Kamyar Razavi (The Conversation, June 30, 2021).
Running Out of Water: How Climate Change Fuels a Crisis in the U.S. West – Jeremy Deaton and Briana Flin (The Guardian, July 1, 2021).
“The Fear Is Very Real.” The Surfside Collapse Is Renewing Focus on Climate Change Risks – Vera Bergengruen and Justin Worland (TIME, July 1, 2021).
The Fossil Fuel Companies Are Figuring Out Devious New Ways to Greenwash – Rishika Pardikar (Jacobin, July 1, 2021).
UPDATES: Scientists Call Northwest Heatwave the “Most Extreme in World Weather Records” – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, July 2, 2021).
This Is Only the Beginning: It’s About to Get Much Harder – Simon Whalley (Common Dreams, July 2, 2021).
See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• Photo of the Day – June 9, 2021
• Heather Cox Richardson on the Movement Conservatism Roots of the Energy Crisis in Texas
• The Stakes Have Shifted
• Examining the Link Between Destruction of Biodiversity and Emerging Infectious Diseases
• As the World Burns, Calls for a “Green New Deal”
• Marianne Williamson: Quote of the Day – August 29, 2017
• The People’s Climate Solidarity March – Minneapolis, 4/29/17
• “It Is All Connected”
• Standing Together
• Standing in Prayer and Solidarity with the Water Protectors of Standing Rock
• Rachel Smolker: Quote of the Day – September 19, 2014
• Superstorm Sandy: A “Wake-Up Call” on Climate Change
• Chris Hedges: Quote of the Day – May 31, 2011
Image 1: Sen. Bernie Sanders. (Photographer unknown)
Image 2: Flames surround the drought-stricken Shasta Lake in Lakehead, California – July 2, 2021. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)
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