President Obama officially launched his “ambitious”
campaign against the rising threat of global warming and climate change on
Tuesday, a move that environmentally and human health conscious individuals
like me have been waiting five years for.
While making the decision to confront some of America’s
biggest offenders in the climate change human drama could have been made
sooner, it took an enormous amount of personal courage and political stamina to
do what President Obama has done: attack King Coal and other powerful interests
in the country that have and are significantly adding to our planet’s warming
dilemma.
According
to former Vice President Al Gore, “I applaud the new measures announced by
President Barack Obama this afternoon to help solve the climate crisis —
particularly the decision to limit global warming pollution from existing as
well as new power plants.”
For all of the vitriol that will spew from the political
right in reaction to President Obama’s climate change
speech and subsequent
plan to confront it, America and the world will be a better place to live in, a
world that our children and their children can inherit with as much opportunity
to breathe clean air that we’ve had. What price can anyone put on this precious
gift?
In their focus on the almighty dollar, many individuals in
the conservative camp, in particular, have lost sight of the incalculable monetary
benefits of a planet further away from the precipice of self-inflicted human
and ecological disasters. That is, these individuals have failed to take
account of the enormous financial benefits of a healthier planet. And maybe they
won’t see or ever care to see what we’ve gained as a result of moving away from
our most greenhouse gas intensive industries and practices.
While I’ve had much to criticize President Obama for recently
(e.g., the unfounded and dangerous use of the 1917 Espionage Act
and the publicly unacknowledged collection of communication data from Americans,
among other issues), America’s
44th president has once again proved that big ideas, big dreams,
and “hope” can lead to big and positive changes in our own lifetimes.
Cut from the mold of John F. Kennedy, President Obama
believed in making tough decisions and working together to form a brighter future
for ourselves and generations yet to be. This is the President Obama millions
of Americans voted for. This is the President Obama I’m proud to say I support.
No comments:
Post a Comment