Pakistan and priorities
Some perspective:
- Floods in Pakistan are killing thousands of people.
- Millions more have lost everything. MILLIONS.
- The government there is unable to efficiently distribute aid to its citizens, for reason either of corruption, inefficiency, or both.
- Terrorist groups are using this instability to gain foothold in the country.
- The storms that caused these floods were formed by a huge mass of warm air (the same one responsible for Russia's recent heatwave) colliding with a cooler air mass.
- The warm air mass was very unseasonably warm. The cool air mass was equally unseasonably cool.
- And, it's not like this was just a random anomaly; it's part of a consistent trend of increasingly turbulent meteorological phenomena.
- A tragic (but common nowadays) illustration of extreme weather ravaging people and their homes.
As the world falls apart around them, partly because of the consumption activities of rich nations, who would blame them for joining a terrorist organization aligned against the rich nations - especially if it means a place to live, food, and a way of living?
Legislation addressing climate change and energy consumption needs the same degree of expediency and non-questioning that defence spending always has. Because addressing climate change IS a matter of national (and international) security. No matter whether you get your facts from science, the Bible, or Harry Potter.
The recent events in Pakistan are, sadly, vivid proof of this.
Oh yeah… wait… what was that about some "mosque" thing being built in Lower Manhattan that seemed to be FAR more newsworthy to the US than millions of people living in squalor and having no idea when (or IF, rather) their lives will return to normal…? I guess this doesn't agitate enough wingnut fringe voters to make the news these days...