Yesterday we dodged a bullet with the re-election of Obama. Throughout the campaign as both Obama and Romney studiously ignored the great peril we face as our planet warms in response to the burning of fossil fuels, I was often near despair. Then in crashed the super storm to force them to take notice and respond. With the arrival of hurricane Sandy it was as though the Earth herself rose up and cried out for help. She was the first to cast her ballot and it was very likely one of the deciding ones.
Vanquished is the candidate who, at the Republican national convention, in his snide and smug tone, derided Obama for his mention of rising sea levels. Romney promised to protect “you and your families”… as though protecting people and planet are not one and the same. Yesterday, as thousands on the east coast were still without electricity and heat, that foolish and dangerous notion was soundly rejected.
Today we have been given a second chance. We must challenge the president to be bold and courageous in his care for our sacred planet, to build upon and not undermine the steps he took in his first term. There is not a moment to waste. We are far from safe with Obama in the White House. He fell over himself throughout the campaign professing his love of coal and openness to the Keystone pipeline, feverishly professing his willingness to expand domestic drilling rather than move us to a Green economy. This we cannot abide.
This very day Bill McKibben’s 350.org, a global movement to solve the climate crisis, will continue its preparations for the November 18th march and rally at Freedom Plaza in Washington, D.C. Perhaps you will be inspired to join them or make some other contribution to protecting our precious planet we call home.
As someone recently quipped, “external climate change requires internal climate change”. We must recognize that we are one people on one planet whose fates are inextricably linked. Obama’s re-election is no promise of survival on our rapidly heating planet; it is merely a second chance to redouble our efforts at coming together in time to avoid ecocide.
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