Two stark reminders about the political challenge of tackling climate change

[Nevilledog]

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Philip Bump
@pbump
I heard that Trump said the f-word at his rally in Georgia and was surprised/not surprised to learn that he did so in an effort to laugh off climate change.

washingtonpost.com
Analysis | Two stark reminders about the political challenge of tackling climate change
Trump swearing; Manchin profiting.
8:31 AM · Mar 28, 2022

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/03/28/two-stark-reminders-about-political-challenge-tackling-climate-change/

No paywall
https://archive.ph/QfuHp

There was an unappreciated irony to the placard that graced the lectern from which former president Donald Trump spoke over the weekend. “Save America,” it said, reflecting Trump’s preferred descriptor for the threat the country faces should it fail to acquiesce to his whims. But it was from behind this apocalyptic imperative that Trump laughed off an actual threat the country faces.

Well, not “laughed off,” really.

Trump claimed that we were at the “single most dangerous time for our country in history” thanks to the threat of nuclear weapons, somewhat downplaying decades in which the exact same threat lingered.

“And yet you have people like John Kerry worrying about the climate! The climate!” Trump continued. “Oh, I heard that the other day. Here we are, [Russian President Vladimir Putin is] threatening us [and] he’s worried about the ocean will rise one-hundredth of one percent over the next 300 f----n’ years.”

The crowd, pleasantly surprised by the vulgarity, cheered loudly.

In reality, of course, the risk of sea-level rise related to climate change is far more dire than what Trump presents. The increase in sea levels — largely driven by melting glaciers on land and expansion due to warmer water — is not measured in percentage-point increases, since that makes little sense given the ocean’s depth. Instead, projections are in meters or feet over less than a century, a rapid, large increase that poses a particular risk because of how close humans around the world live to the ocean. Trump’s private business recognizes the risk; his golf course in Ireland cited climate change in a permit application to build a sea wall.

*snip*

[Chainfire]

1. We will only deal with the effects of climate change, not the cause.

To tackle the problem upfront, would cost the wealthy too much money. Dealing with the effects can be put off on the taxpayer.