By Nicholas Olivera
In mid-December, leaders from 195 countries came to an historic agreement in Paris about how to address the global crisis of climate change. The agreement was heralded as a pathbreaking moment for both international diplomacy and the scientific consensus concerning climate change.
Back home in America however, things felt a bit differently, as they often do.
A week after the historic agreement, President Barack Obama mocked Republicans for their continued failure to recognize climate change as a real issue.
“The American Republican party is the only major party that I can think of in the advanced world that effectively denies climate change,” Obama said according to the Guardian.
According to a recent Pew survey, only 27% of Republicans believe that global warming is mostly an issue caused mostly by human activity.
Only a couple of the Republican presidential candidates have expressed the belief that global climate change is a man-made threat.
Former governor of New York George Pataki has openly acknowledged his stance on climate, saying during October’s GOP debate: “It is not appropriate to think that human activity — putting CO2 into the atmosphere –doesn’t make the Earth warmer. All things being equal, it does. It is uncontroverted.”
Pataki has spent some time working towards a cleaner environment, having served as co-chair of the Independent Task Force on Global Climate Change, an independent commission dedicated to preventing climate change.
The group even issued a report back in June of 2008 making market-friendly recommendations in order to cut carbon emissions 60 to 80 percent by the year 2050.
And while Pataki is a staunch believer in climate change there’s no mention of it on his campaign website.
Why would a candidate with so much passion for the issue of climate change leave it out of their campaign?
“The fact that it isn’t being talked about very much by the rest of the candidates doesn’t surprise me,” Dr. David Woodard, a professor of political science at Clemson University and former consultant of Republican candidates told RISE NEWS. “I have found that other candidates have gotten a lot more mileage by bringing up the terrorist issues.”
Six of the remaining dozen candidates have dismissed the issue entirely.
Former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum has said in the past that he believes that climate change is nothing more than an excuse for “more government control of your life.”
Texas senator Ted Cruz asserts that climate change was simply concocted by “power-greedy politicians.”
And of course Donald Trump has made his beliefs concerning the issue known in a rather vulgar way.
This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 2, 2014
The remaining candidates are caught somewhere in the middle; each of them have publicly expressed a mixture of doubt, hesitancy, and skepticism in regards to climate change.
New Jersey governor Chris Christie has acknowledged the existence of global climate change but argues that the degree to which human activity contributes to it is up for debate.
Former governor of Virginia Jim Gilmore (yes, he is still running) claims to need more proof as to whether or not it is a man-made issue. Even former governor of Florida Jeb Bush has expressed his skepticism.
But chances are this is an issue that won’t pick up traction within the GOP nomination contest this year.
“I don’t think it’s an important issue this year given the events in California along with other terrorist attacks,” Woodard said. “The other candidates are going with the more hot-button issues where they get the most press attention and conflict with their peers.”
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Cover Photo Credit: U.S. Geological Survey/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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When Hate Hits Home: This High School Student Says She Was Targeted For Being Jewish
Hana Epstein, a high school student living in Katonah, NY recently received something in her mailbox that wasn’t mail- but instead a painful reminder that hate is still alive in the world.
In the early morning hours of January 25, Hana’s father went out to get the mail out of the family’s mailbox. He realized their mezuzahs had fallen off near the front door.
Hana’s dad continued to the mailbox where he discovered a white object that he thought was some kind of food lid.
After further inspection, he suddenly realized what it really was; a white square covered in swastikas. The name “Hannah” is also written across the square, with the last h underlined twice with a blue pen. The connection suddenly became evident.
“I was basically numb, I couldn’t really let it sink it just yet,” Hana Epstein said. “I’ve always heard of hate crimes being committed against Jews, but never in a million years did I think this would happen to me particularly.”
Hana lives in a neighborhood that is predominantly Jewish, so it was very unusual for something like this to happen.
“I had a wide array of emotions,” Hana’s mom Mara Gross Epstein said in a phone interview with RISE NEWS. “I was upset and angry and concerned for my daughter’s well-being. I was also amazed that this happened in Katonah, of all places.”
It took time for Hana to realize that there are hateful people in the world.
The entire episode created a sense of unease in the young student. She wasn’t able to sleep in her own house that night.
She looked around her room, looking at her Israeli flags and other tokens that reminded her of who she was. She said she could never understand why someone would do this to her just because she was part of a different religion.
Hana was so upset she went to her cousin’s house and missed the next day of school.
Eventually Hana said that she realized there is a lesson to be taken away from this.
“I always have been as proud to be Jewish as I am,” Hana said. “I don’t hide the fact that I’m Jewish, Judaism means the world to me. Now, more than ever, it’s essential that I stand up for who I am.”
Hana wants to spread awareness about the terrible crimes committed by anti-semitic people all around the world.
She posted a picture on social media of her wearing a Tallit (a holy garment) on top of Masada in Israel; the caption was “I’ll always be proud to be Jewish.”
Hana Epstein wearing a tall it on top of Masada in Israel. Photo Credit: Submitted.
Starting in September, Hana will be spending a year abroad in Israel where she hopes to share her experience.
The family said that they have reported the incident to local police.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in public affairs. Anyone can write for us as long as you are fiercely interested in making the world a better place.
Cover Photo Credit: Submitted.
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Haitian Radio Host Called A Race Baiter By NoMi Councilman, After Controversial Rant The City May Have Paid For
What’s News In This Story?
–North Miami Councilman Scott Galvin called popular Haitian radio host Rotschill Anderson a race baiter after the media personality went on a controversial on-air racial rant.
-Galvin claims that the city has paid Anderson in the past to allow North Miami staff to promote the city on air. Galvin also said that it was his understanding that the city had paid for a May 1 appearance by Assistant City Manager Arthur H. Sorey III.
-Sorey was on the show to encourage residents to vote for a $120 million bond measure. But he also sat through a rant from Anderson that some found to be racist.
-Anderson strongly supported the bond and asked his listeners to vote for it because he felt it would improve the city’s heavily Haitian western section.
-But it was the language that Anderson used that has gotten attention: “The big white guy, the big jewish guy- they are going to come into your community, says that your community is ugly and its nasty… gentrification will kick in.”
-A quick public records search finds that North Miami has paid Anderson’s radio station at least $1,800 so far in 2018 for “public relations.”
-But city manager Larry Spring told RISE NEWS that Galvin is wrong and that the city did not pay Anderson for the May 1 show.
-The city council has temporally suspended all payments to media outlets until they can craft a new policy to prevent a future incident.
——Here’s Something Completely Different: ——
There’s A Secret Buddhist Temple In This El Portal House
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