I ran across this post yesterday on treehugger.com. It is a sobering truth and a taste of what continues to head our way as we delay action on reigning in greenhouse gases and switching to viable, clean, and renewable energy sources. Climate change is here because we have delayed making a good change for so long, and now, unless we act with even better changes, it will only get worse.
Many will never learn about what is happening on the small island of Tuvalu. With a population of just over 10,000 the 24/7 cable news circuit will deem this as an insignificant story. But what does it take to get the attention of Americans about the realities of global climate change? How high does the ocean have to rise in order for them to get the picture? Maybe when an island actually disappears beneath the waves they will understand. Or maybe when one of the major resorts on Hawaii have to push back farther into the island as the size of the islands decrease. Perhaps it will only be when a major city in the continental U.S. on the coast starts to lose its waterfront properties to the water permanently.
Guess what? A city on the continental U.S. has already started to feel the affects of rising ocean levels due to climate change. While it may not be considered a major city, it is a city nonetheless. Norfolk, VA has begun to experience rising tides that flood the streets and inundate residents' basements and homes. The city has actually had to raise the level of the roads so that they won't be underwater anymore. Again, however, unless you watch PBS during the evening at regular intervals, chances are the average American has not heard of this story because the mainstream media won't cover it. If climate change is evidential and provable, they just can't seem to bring themselves to cover it.
My call on this post is for the mainstream media news channels of this nation to cover the realities of our changing climate. Don't call it into question, because there is none. Don't treat it as if it is still debatable by bringing on and giving equal time to denialists when discussing climate change. It is real. It is happening. The science is sound and the evidence and facts are just too overwhelming to be brushed to the side. Stop seeing this as a ratings game and report the news of what is happening to our environment with a fair and even hand. And America, my call is for the average citizen to wake up and insist our government improve its regulations and policy on climate/environment and insist that companies you patronize make that move too. Every citizen will be impacted negatively in some way by climate change. It's time to realize this and do something about it. 10,000 will become millions if we don't.
Many will never learn about what is happening on the small island of Tuvalu. With a population of just over 10,000 the 24/7 cable news circuit will deem this as an insignificant story. But what does it take to get the attention of Americans about the realities of global climate change? How high does the ocean have to rise in order for them to get the picture? Maybe when an island actually disappears beneath the waves they will understand. Or maybe when one of the major resorts on Hawaii have to push back farther into the island as the size of the islands decrease. Perhaps it will only be when a major city in the continental U.S. on the coast starts to lose its waterfront properties to the water permanently.
Guess what? A city on the continental U.S. has already started to feel the affects of rising ocean levels due to climate change. While it may not be considered a major city, it is a city nonetheless. Norfolk, VA has begun to experience rising tides that flood the streets and inundate residents' basements and homes. The city has actually had to raise the level of the roads so that they won't be underwater anymore. Again, however, unless you watch PBS during the evening at regular intervals, chances are the average American has not heard of this story because the mainstream media won't cover it. If climate change is evidential and provable, they just can't seem to bring themselves to cover it.
My call on this post is for the mainstream media news channels of this nation to cover the realities of our changing climate. Don't call it into question, because there is none. Don't treat it as if it is still debatable by bringing on and giving equal time to denialists when discussing climate change. It is real. It is happening. The science is sound and the evidence and facts are just too overwhelming to be brushed to the side. Stop seeing this as a ratings game and report the news of what is happening to our environment with a fair and even hand. And America, my call is for the average citizen to wake up and insist our government improve its regulations and policy on climate/environment and insist that companies you patronize make that move too. Every citizen will be impacted negatively in some way by climate change. It's time to realize this and do something about it. 10,000 will become millions if we don't.
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