With the pandemic, we are reliving a recurring phenomenon in our national life.
First, there are multiple reports by top international scientists concerning an impending crisis.
Then the President, his supporters and the same irresponsible media self-righteously declare that the dire reports concerning that crisis are “fake news”. The President indignantly declares that “everything is under control”, that there is no need for action because it is just, “all going to disappear”. The President states that the reports are just another partisan effort to, “discredit and attack this President” and, “propaganda from China intended to shut down American businesses”.
Finally, the voices declaring that it is all a hoax fall silent as the reality of the crisis becomes clear beyond dispute or denial.
We are already in the midst of yet another monstrous crisis of even greater significance than the pandemic, about which internationally recognized scientific experts have been warning us for years and which the President and his acolytes have declared to be a hoax. That crisis is carbon emission driven climate change.
There is no question among the scientific community concerning the reality of the disastrous effects on climate as a result of the use of fossil fuels and the urgent need to act on an emergency basis to reduce and then eliminate the massive production of carbon emissions which is driving the climate crisis.
We cannot permit the same combination of ignorance, greed and mindless partisanship to prevent us from taking essential actions now.
Even in the midst of the current pandemic, we must respond to a crisis which, incredibly, is infinitely more serious than even the overwhelming numbers of the seriously ill and dying with which we are already struggling.
Bruce Menke
Athens