鈥淲E WANT our children to live in an America鈥� that isn鈥檛 threatened by the destructive power of a warming planet.鈥� With these words in his , President Obama finally put climate change back onto the US political agenda.
That was welcome after a campaign in which both sides ducked the issue. But Obama still didn鈥檛 say quite the right thing. It鈥檚 not just our children we should be worrying about. As yet, we can鈥檛 say how much of the devastation caused by superstorm Sandy was attributable to climate change. It鈥檚 nonetheless suggestive of the extreme events that a changing climate will visit on us 鈥� much sooner than we had anticipated (see 鈥�Climate change: It鈥檚 even worse than we thought鈥�).
鈥淚t鈥檚 not just our children we should be worrying about. Extreme events will hit us too鈥�
Advertisement
Obama can perhaps be forgiven for casting climate change as a future challenge. The scientists who drew up the last major report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change in 2007 may have taken that view too. But it is now becoming clear that the report underestimated how quickly the planet would respond to warming and how serious the effects are likely to be.
If we carry on as we are, global temperatures could rise by more than 2 掳C 鈥� the 鈥渄angerous level鈥� of warming to be avoided at all costs 鈥� before expected. Given what we have seen so far, the potential impact, in terms of storms, floods and heatwaves, is frightening.
What鈥檚 needed is very clear: emissions cuts, and soon. The best way to do that is to change our economic systems to reflect the true long-term cost of fossil fuels. That means ending the $1 trillion of annual subsidies for fossil fuels and imposing carbon taxes instead.
With four more years in office and no need to worry about re-election, Obama should make good on the climate promises he made in 2008. 鈥淣ow is the time to confront this challenge once and for all,鈥� he said back then, when anything seemed possible. 鈥淒elay is no longer an option.鈥�
The 鈥� to cut CO2 emissions by 80 per cent by 2050 and invest $150 billion in renewable energy technologies 鈥� are probably no longer sufficient, but the sentiment is still the right one. Like George W. Bush after his narrow re-election in 2004, Obama has renewed . Unlike Bush, he should spend it wisely.
