Climate change warning

We are sickened at the destruction and death in the Gulf of Mexico, both the human death toll and the spectacle of birds and other animals feeding their young fish poisoned by not only oil, but also by toxic dispersants. The politicians and rednecks in that part of the country, as elsewhere, have been in bed with the oil companies for years, and now they are begging for monetary compensation.

There is no compensation for the extinction of species that may never again grace our planet. There is no compensation for the tuna and other species that used to spawn in the Gulf and this time will die instead.

Why did the people let it happen?

Now in Montana, we tread a similar destructive path. Our politicians here are in bed with coal interests in exactly that same colluding way. Montana has just leased the Otter Creek coal beds to coal developers in spite of the fact that burning coal will escalate and hasten global warming and bring us more planetary destruction. This issue is far more than just the end of a way of life for a few old ranchers as it is portrayed on TV.

The world needs clean energy development, not more coal. The emission of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, primarily by the burning of fossil fuels, has increased the blanket of heat-trapping gases in Earth’s atmosphere. Global temperatures have risen approximately 0.8 of a degree Centigrade (1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels, and this small increase is already causing significant adverse effects. These effects are documented by the world’s leading climate scientists and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

Evidence of global climate change includes disappearing glaciers, rising sea levels, increasingly severe heat waves and droughts in some areas, intensifying hurricanes and floods in others, and more wildfires.

“If left unchecked, the effects of climate change will be catastrophic: millions of people displaced as rising sea levels flood coastal areas; many regions devastated by reduced crop yields and shortages of drinking water; human health threatened by the spread of malaria and other vector-borne diseases; numerous plant and animal species at risk of extinction” (League of Women Voters United States, lwv.org).

That is the world our children may face because of the collusion of Montana politicians with the coal companies, just as surely as the Gulf politicians’ collusion with BP has caused the Gulf catastrophe.