speaking of catastrophe

from Decades of Denial:
Guess who said it:

The energy crisis is real. It is worldwide. It is a clear and present danger to our nation.

Any guesses? Think someone recent, maybe a leftist climatologist or rogue oil executive? Nope - it was President Jimmy Carter, speaking in July, 1979.

Twenty-six years later, we're still fiddling while New Orleans sinks and gas prices rise.

The immediate cost is evident at my neighborhood service station: Regular gasoline there cost $3.29 a gallon yesterday, roughly 15 cents for each local mile driven.

The longer-term cost will be greater. Scientists already are debating whether we've waited too long to reverse the process of global warming. But surely intelligent policy could slow it down.

No one can say with certainty that a given storm, Katrina, resulted from global warming. But we can say with certainty that insurance companies have had to shell out billions more in catastrophic coverage over the last decade than previous decades. We can say with certainty that this summer has seen a remarkable surge in early-season hurricanes and tropical storms. We can say with certainty that mean temperatures in much of the world are on the rise. And we can say with certainty that American politicians, the public and the press have yet to make global warming or energy independence priority issues.

The time to do so is long overdue.

We were given the responsibility of being caretakers for creation. The worse job we do at that, the more creation seems to fight back.