Heeding Obama's climate warning at academy graduation
New London Mayor Daryl Justin Finizio, who on Wednesday shared a stage with President Barack Obama at the Coast Guard Academy commencement, has often said he would like the name of his city to have the same close connotation with its academy that West Point has with the U.S. Military Academy and Annapolis with the U.S. Naval Academy.
It is a wonderful goal to pursue. President Obama appears to be doing his part, mentioning New London in his most recent State of the Union Address and returning to that theme during his commencement address.
“In my State of the Union address this year, I mentioned how I’ve seen America at its best when commissioning our new officers, including here in New London. And it’s true, some folks across the country didn’t quite get the reference. One person tweeted that they were pretty sure I just made this up. Then there was one person in town who asked, ‘Did Obama name drop New London?’ So let me do it again. It is a great honor to be back in New London, at the United States Coast Guard Academy — to salute the newest ensigns of America’s oldest continuous maritime service.”
And New London was happy to have you back for a second time, Mr. President.
Those who understand the vital and expanding role of the Coast Guard could take heart from President Obama’s vow during the last 19 months of his presidency to continue to fight to adequately fund its mission, something Congress has not been doing the last few years.
“I’ve made it clear that I will not accept a budget that continues these draconian budget cuts called sequestration, because our nation and our military and our Coast Guard deserve better,” said the president, generating applause from the 223 graduates and the families present to cheer them at a sun-splashed Cadet Memorial Field.
The Coast Guard mission, noted the president, includes the traditional missions of search and rescue, enforcing maritime security, and drug interdiction, but also now involves guarding against terrorist attacks, working with the Navy in ports around the globe, and providing safe navigation during “the birth of a new ocean,” caused by the melting of Arctic sea ice.
President Obama spent the bulk of his address focused on a vitally important issue, but one that did not make for the most scintillating of graduation speeches: climate change. His call for greater federal spending on energy research and renewable technologies — and pursuit of a strong global agreement to reduce worldwide emissions — deserve bipartisan support.
“The science is indisputable. The fossil fuels we burn release carbon dioxide, which traps heat. And the levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are now higher than they have been in 800,000 years. The planet is getting warmer. Fourteen of the 15 hottest years on record have been in the past 15 years. Last year was the planet’s warmest year ever recorded,” said President Obama.
Unfortunatley, the Obama administration sent mixed signals recently when it gave Royal Dutch Shell permission to move ahead with plans for Arctic offshore drilling. President Obama did not try to work that contradictory fact into this commencement speech.
Still, the president deserves credit for continuing to stress the importance of the issue, despite facing a Republican Congress that refuses to confront the implications of climate change or acknowledge its causes and the need for change.
The problem in trying to mobilize the public to curb carbon emissions is that the repercussions of climate change appear remote.
“Over the past century, the world sea level rose by about eight inches. That was in the last century; by the end of this century, it’s projected to rise another one to four feet,” he said.
That will result in catastrophic change, but the fact is Wednesday’s graduates will be dead or very old men and women when the century ends.
But, as the president also noted, no one need wait a century to know developed nations must start to curb carbon emissions before it is too late. Rising seawaters and historic droughts are already creating “climate change refugees,” said President Obama, and weather-related crop failures contributed to instability in Syria and Nigeria, situations exploited by terrorist groups.
Just as a Coast Guard officer would take action to protect a ship and crew if confronted by a storm “or dangerous shoals,” the world, led by the United States, must take action on climate change, said the commander in chief.
“Anything less is negligence. It is a dereliction of duty,” said President Obama.
It is a fair analogy and one that politicians of all persuasions need to acknowledge.
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