Up All Night

Did you hear about the 30 Democratic Senators who stayed up on the Senate floor from 7pm on Monday, March 10 until 9am on Tuesday, March 11 talking about climate change and the huge failure of Congress to address it? (Though they aren't addressing anything really these days are they?)

Senators made speeches on the science of climate change, the fact that there is scientific consensus on the science, how climate change is affecting specific states, the effects in general (storms, ocean acidification, loss of jobs), the Keystone XL pipeline was brought up and criticized for being a step backward to a dirty energy future. They noted how dire climate change is for our children and future generations, how the time to act is now. Calls were made for policies supporting renewable energy and a tax on carbon pollution. Both Vermont Senators (Leahy and Sanders) participated. Go Vermont!

The Democratic Senators who participated were, predictably, those who have accepted far fewer political contributions from the fossil fuel industry than Democrats who skipped the event. Those Dems who skipped were, also unsurprisingly, from fossil fuel producing states, including states that take offense to the "War on coal" because their economies are woefully dependent on it.

If you followed the Twitter coverage there were the normal detractors to the conversation: climate change deniers who still argue that there are equal numbers of scientists on both sides of the "debate" on climate science (there aren't, not even remotely close). They deny that US citizens are concerned about climate change (they are) and disparaged the event as a "partisan stunt." They posted links to the Heritage Foundation, a notorious right-wing think tank. Lead Senate climate denier James Inhofe made an appearance at the Senate All Nighter to deny that climate change is real.

Americans are concerned about climate change. This graphic from a Gallup poll shows that most recently 58% of Americans are concerned about it, though it has fluctuated over the years with a high of 72% of Americans being concerned about it in 2000. 

I strongly support the Senators who stayed up to make a statement about the urgency of climate change. I hope their action will be successful in getting the conversation moving again, despite a decades long history of inaction and failed attempts at a solution for the crisis. 

Citizens need to put the pressure on our elected officials now. Mainstream media needs to stop with the "debate" when 97% of scientists agree that humans are causing global warming. In the words of Neil DeGrasse Tyson, 

"...science is not there for you to cherry pick.... the good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it." 

We have already begun to see the effects of climate change, it's time to wake up.