The irresponsible politics of climate change in an extremely close U.S. election

WASHINGTON (AP)  - The U.S. this year keeps setting records for weather extremes, based on the precise calculations that include drought, heavy rainfall, unusual temperatures, and storms. - This probably comes as no surprise: Federal scientists say July was the hottest month ever recorded in the Lower 48 states, breaking a record set during the Dust Bowl of the 1930s.

The average temperature last month was 77.6 degrees. That breaks the old record from July 1936 by 0.2 degree, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Records go back to 1895

In a summer dominated by heat waves and a devastating nationwide drought, it would seem that climate change would be a major issue in the US presidential campaign. However, quite the opposite is happening. Neither President Barack Obama nor the presumptive Republican nominee, Mitt Romney, has focused any attention on this critical issue. In a recent speech on the Senate floor, Senator John Kerry characterized the political discourse in the United States as a “conspiracy of silence … a story of disgraceful denial, back-pedaling, and delay that has brought us perilously close to a climate change catastrophe.” This silence means that we can expect further delays in addressing climate change, delays that we cannot afford.

The Article Highlights

• Climate change does not register as a high-priority issue for most Americans, and the Democratic and Republican presidential campaigns are both exacerbating the situation by ignoring the issue.
• The consequence of this inattention will be an irreversible commitment to a much higher level of global warming than either Obama or Romney care to admit. For more over climate change in the US presidential campaign read the entire article by clicking Conspiracy of silence:

12-08-2012/ Source: CBS News - Al Gore – Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists

• Making: Science-Based Policy decisions on Arctic Ocean Oil Drilling To protect life in the Arctic
• Over 500 scientists argues for delaying new oil and gas activity in the U.S. Arctic Ocean until more scientific research is completed. A “Science-Based Policy” on Arctic Ocean Oil Drilling in the United States

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