Month 9, Day 26: My Aunt Lives In Texas; Maybe She’ll See This Letter!

The Austin Statesman ran an AP article on the current climate talks at the UN, which are of course completely paralyzed.

While the deadlocked UN climate talks are an indicator of just how much remains to be done in educating people everywhere in the world about the dangers of climatic disruption, they also point to some sad facts about our nation. An America that honored both scientific expertise and the notion of “personal responsibility” would have acted long ago to cut greenhouse emissions and end our dependence on fossil fuels. The citizens of such an America would recognize that the scientific evidence for human causes of global heating is overwhelming, and would take responsibility for grossly disproportionate carbon dioxide emissions (4.5 percent of the world’s population; 20 percent of the world’s CO2). Such an America would lead the world in restoring the planet’s health, and helping poorer nations cope with the devastating effects of climate chaos. Alas, our country’s inability to address climate change has made risible our hubristic claim to a transnational moral authority.

Warren Senders