Obama at Notre Dame on May 17th talked a lot about climate change. Ezra Klein wrote about it, and I’m just copying him verbatim here. You should click through to his post – which is short and to the point – if only to see the maps he included: they show graphically which parts of the world have primarily caused climate change, versus which parts of the world will suffer most from its effects. Very sad. And Obama seems to get this.
Which might explain the shift in Obama’s language. he normally speaks of
climate change in terms of American interests, jobs, and security. Not
yesterday. Climate change was presented not as a domestic issue but as
a global danger. It is not just our nation that’s threatened, but the
planet. That’s actually a more honest approach. But it gets at one of
the real difficulties of addressing climate change. America — the
world’s leading emitter of carbon — must make the most changes even as
it derives the least benefits.The developed countries that benefit most from fossil fuels will suffer
least. The countries with the maximum incentive to prevent climate
change have no power to do it.
- Your World in Maps: Climate Change Edition
Ezra was hired away from The American Prospect to be a blogger/columnist for The Washington Post, and debuted in fact on the day of this post cited here. So far I’m quite liking the switch. I found his commenters back at the Prospect to be the most useful part of his writing, and there can be a little more noise than signal in some of the Post entries, but he has some very good commenting occurring there too. In all, it’s worth switching the bookmark to Ezra’s new place. Good reporting, and a step up for the Post, actually, I’d say.
