Louisiana Republicans Ignore Climate Change. Soon Their Districts Will Be Underwater.
U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, shown speaking during a House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing. (Photo by Stefani Reynolds via The Associated Press)
Every Louisiana politician—but especially members of the state’s GOP congressional delegation like Steve Scalise—should start each day by repeating this statement often credited to the great painter and ornithologist John James Audubon:
“A true conservationist is a man who knows the world is not given by his father but borrowed from his children.”
Of course, working to leave the next generation a thriving, healthy country should be considered a core responsibility of every citizen.
I focus on politicians here because, in our society, they decide which policies our country will follow to achieve that end.
And I single out the GOP because they continue taking actions ensuring our children and grandchildren will face a harder, more expensive, more perilous and life-threatening future. I’m talking about the GOP’s continued resistance to the urgent measures needed to address the causes of our rapidly changing climate.
That’s not my opinion or a “liberal talking point.” It’s the conclusion of the peer-reviewed study “Intergenerational inequities in exposure to climate extremes,” in the latest edition of the journal Science published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
The paper finds that if our climate continues to warm at current rates due to emissions, most of today’s 6-year-olds will experience three times as many climate disasters, twice as many wildfires, 1.7 times as many hurricanes, 3.4 times more river floods, 2.5 times more crop failures and 2.3 times as many droughts as someone born in 1960.
Read the rest of the article at The Times-Picayune.
