A Scientific State Of The Union

After decades of research, a consensus has been reached that our impact on the planetary environment cannot longer be treated as trivial. Climate change, the most extensive form of our impact upon the planet is, in some form, already upon us. Make no mistake; it is impossible at this moment for scientists to say exactly how extreme that change will be. But to use uncertainty to deny that change is coming, to deny that change is already on going, speaks to a kind of willful ignorance that is simply not part of the American personality.

From a purely research perspective, Climate Change as a reality was settled some time ago. It is now time to stop debating old science and start debating new policy. We do not have to do anything in response to what we know is happening or we can do a great deal. That is our choice. It is our response now that will determine our future and the future of Americans for many generations to come. But to deny we face a choice is to deny our responsibility to those future generations. From the elimination of slavery to facing down the fascist threat 60 years ago, we have never been a nation to turn our back from challenges. Our resilience and ingenuity have always been our, and the world's, salvation and it can be again.

We must also be willing to stare down the other great truth facing our collective moment. For decades we have known that the fossil fuels upon which every aspect of our culture depends were being depleted. From fertilizers to pesticides to medicines to building supplies to the fuels that make it all move; we have been addicted to a substance whose supply we know is limited. For decades we have failed to act on that knowledge. Very soon now we will begin feeling the effects of our inability to act. Very soon now, unless we marshal an effort worthy of the challenge, we will understand the inescapable links between civilization and the energy source on which it depends. There will be no replacing oil. Instead, we must very quickly build a culture structured from the ground up on something different, something we must imagine and forge in just a few decades. There will be no magic bullets in this task. If we cannot marshal a collective effort then we very well may face a collective collapse. That is how real and how close the danger we face has become.

Plagiarised from here. 

Lets hope that is exactly the message and tone that eventually, but quickly, gets through to the people and their politicians.