Address climate change based on science, not campaign checks

Last summer, President Barack Obama struck the single greatest blow yet against climate change, calling for the first-ever federal limits on the dangerous fossil-fuel pollution from the nation’s power plants.

It may be one of the most important steps of Obama’s presidency for the people of Hawaii.

Hawaii faces unprecedented threats from climate change. Rising sea levels, coastal flooding, dying coral reefs, food insecurity, escalating temperatures on land and sea and other symptoms of climate change are all jeopardizing the very way of life in Hawaii.

Hawaiians recognize the enormity of these threats. Indeed, the worldwide voyage of the Hokulea is called, "Malama Honua," meaning to care for our Earth. As the Hokulea voyages on in this epic journey, we must all recognize how urgent this responsibility is.

On Friday, U.S. oceans and space agencies will confirm that 2014 was the hottest year on record globally since record-keeping began in 1880. The 16 hottest years on record have all occurred since 1997.

We need to cut our dangerous carbon pollution today so our children don’t inherit more climate chaos tomorrow, in the form of widening deserts, rising seas, raging storms, withering drought, destructive wildfires, blistering heat and other hallmarks of climate change.

The stakes for the country are huge — and rising. Climate change is imposing real costs right now, imperiling our health and threatening our children’s future.

In 2012 alone, wildfires, storms and other climate-related disasters cost the country $139 billion, the U.S. insurance industry estimated. Taxpayers picked up the bulk of the tab — about $96 billion, a Natural Resources Defense Council analysis found. That’s an average of $1,100 per taxpayer.

Small wonder why 64 percent of Americans support the president’s plan to limit dangerous carbon pollution from the nation’s power plants, a November poll by the Pew Research Center found.

We must stand up to those who would put fossil-fuel profits ahead of the good of our country.

But now, even before the president’s plan can be implemented, Republican leaders in Congress have vowed to derail it.

These climate-change deniers cannot be allowed to reverse needed progress by anchoring our future in the fossil fuels of the past.

If anything, Obama’s plan should be strengthened. Here’s why: Power plants account for nearly 40 percent of all U.S. carbon emissions.

Astonishingly, though, we’ve allowed power companies to dump unlimited amounts of this pollution into our atmosphere — until now.

The president’s plan calls for limits to be set, beginning in June 2015, aimed at cutting carbon pollution from power plants 26 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2030. The reductions are tailored to each state’s individual energy mix. And the plan allows power companies to find the most cost-effective way to hit the targets by, for instance, investing in efficiency so we can do more with less waste, getting more energy from the wind and the sun, and/or cleaning up dirty and aging plants.

The task this year for us all is to make sure our leaders — in Congress and at the state levels — understand and embrace our moral obligation to protect future generations from the dangers of climate change. With the GOP now holding the reins in both House and Senate, Republican leaders have vowed to resume the legislative assault.

To counter the gathering offensive, citizens must make our voices heard. We must let our elected representatives know that we care about the kind of world we’re creating for our children and we’ll hold politicians to account for voting against the national interest.

We must ensure that decisions about our environment are based on sound science and the public interest, not the narrow interests of corporations that write the largest campaign checks.

And we must stand behind those leaders, from Obama on down, who understand the stakes for the country and the opportunity to put in place policies today that will promote a brighter, more prosperous and more hopeful future for all of our children.