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The Phone is Ringing Now: Who Will Answer It?
On the campaign trail, the presidential candidates have been debating who is best qualified to answer the White House ”red phone” in the middle of the night. The debate presumes that the next crisis will be another armed attack on the United States.
But the phone is ringing now. The next crisis is already here. Only it is not an armed attack by violent extremists. It is a much bigger threat, one not just to the United States, but to all of humanity — a menace far bigger than the ones posed by al Qaeda, Iran, and North Korea combined. Dangerous climate change, if unchecked now, will make today’s security challenges seem small compared to what humanity will likely face by midcentury and beyond.
Climate change is threatening human security today. All but one of the 13 disaster emergencies handled by the UN Office of Humanitarian Affairs in 2007 were weather-related: extreme floods, droughts, and storms. Relief officials believe climate change is driving the increase in weather-related disasters. The UN Development Program estimates that developing countries will soon need about $86 billion annually — in addition to development aid — to address the harmful effects of climate change.
Recent earth observations — such as the collapse of a large chunk of the Wilkins Ice Sheet in Antarctica in late March — indicate that the ice in the Arctic Ocean, Greenland, and portions of Antarctica may be melting much faster than previously thought. This may cause the climate to warm and sea levels to rise even faster than the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change estimated last year.
In the decades ahead, tens of millions of people living near sea level may be forced from their homes by rising seas and increasingly intense storms. New Orleans is still struggling to recover from the effects of such a storm more than two years ago.
Hundreds of millions of people depend on the annual melting of snowpacks and mountain glaciers for their water and food. The snowpacks are now melting earlier each year, and the glaciers are disappearing rapidly. A recent study, “Human- Induced Changes in the Hydrology of the Western United States,” warns of “water shortages, lack of storage capability to meet seasonally changing river flow, transfers of water from agriculture to urban uses, and other critical impacts” in the near future due to climate change (Science, 2/22/08).
The ecological fabric of life on Earth is being eroded by a potent, human-made brew of greenhouse gases that is warming the atmosphere and acidifying the oceans. Will the White House and Congress act in time to prevent the worst?
The president and Congress can mobilize the nation in response to a crisis. After September 11, 2001, they mobilized millions of people, redirected the missions of federal agencies, moved armies around the world, and spent hundreds of billions of dollars in pursuit of national security.
Where are they now on climate change – a far more profound threat? What will the next Congress and president do? When will they answer the phone? The Earth is calling.
Also In This Issue
Projecting Greenhouse Emissions
"America's Climate Security Act" Needs Strengthening
Elect Climate Friendly Legislators This Fall
The Most Powerful CFL is the One You Put in Congress ( PDF flyer)
Climate Change: Seizing the Opportunities
Reviewed:
04/29/2008
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