Some Republican politicians seem to think that America simply can’t afford the expense of efforts to preclude the effects of climate change caused by global warming.
U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, a New York Democrat, argues that America can’t afford not to undertake those efforts.
HERE‘s her column on the matter:The United States federal government spends more than $3 million every hour putting out fires and responding to extreme weather events. That figure will continue to grow as the prevalence of natural disasters increases because of climate change. Spending in response to these occurrences has gotten so out of control that the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office now includes climate change in its annual High Risk Report, noting that a failure to take action presents a significant financial risk to our economy.
New York City got a taste of climate change in 2013 when Hurricane Sandy swept through the region and caused $60 billion in damage in its wake. More than 8.5 million New Yorkers went without power, and 650,000 homes were damaged or destroyed. The storm closed the New York Stock Exchange for two days and shuttered our nation’s largest public transit system.
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What is oddest about opposition to action to address climate change is the implications for another priority of the Republican party: deficit reduction. The bury-your-head-in-the-sand approach won’t make extreme weather events driven by a changing climate go away, but it will ensure that our response is uncoordinated, less proactive, and far more expensive.
Ignoring climate change is expensive, not frugal - Blogs - Rockford Register Star
Applesauce
Pat Cunningham offers an unabashedly liberal perspective on national politics. A note of caution: The language gets a little salty on some of the sites to which this blog links. So, don't say you weren't warned. By the way, this blog's name is inspired by the Will Rogers quote, \x34All politics is applesauce.\x34
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