This sort of behavior is really beginning to sour me on, well, I suppose unlimited personal freedom. First consider this (all bolds mine):
In testimony before the Senate Intelligence Committee Tuesday, Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats warned that climate change remains a national security threat.
“Global environmental and ecological degradation, as well as climate change, are likely to fuel competition for resources, economic distress, and social discontent through 2019 and beyond,” Coats said in the U.S. Intelligence Community’s annual “Worldwide Threat Assessment” report. “Climate hazards such as extreme weather, higher temperatures, droughts, floods, wildfires, storms, sea level rise, soil degradation, and acidifying oceans are intensifying, threatening infrastructure, health, and water and food security. [Yahoo! Finance]
And then this:
Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities. Global climate change has already resulted in a wide range of impacts across every region of the country and many sectors of the economy that are expected to grow in the coming decades. [U.S. Global Change Research Program]
And in response, the Trump Administration is leaping into action by … convening another panel.
The White House is working to assemble a panel to assess whether climate change poses a national security threat, according to documents obtained by The Washington Post, a conclusion that federal intelligence agencies have affirmed several times since President Trump took office.
The proposed Presidential Committee on Climate Security, which would be established by executive order, is being spearheaded by William Happer, a National Security Council senior director. Happer, an emeritus professor of physics at Princeton University, has said that carbon emissions linked to climate change should be viewed as an asset rather than a pollutant. [WaPo]
Really? Another panel? And apparently run by a non-expert who happens to have an odd view on the subject.
If, as I expect, we continue to see a worsening of the climate, as predicted by the climate scientists, which hurts just about everyone in the world, I hope that the US electorate embraces this litmus test for all future high political office candidates: Do you approve of the science denial practiced by the Trump Administration? If the answer is yes, no vote for that candidate.
