Co-Author of Chilling Climate Change Report Warns of Imminent Threat to Economy
*By Christian Smith*
If you didn't find this weekend's dramatic climate report unsettling, read it again.
Andrew Light, distinguished senior fellow at the World Resources Institute and co-author of the report, said on Cheddar Monday that the effects of climate change are imminent ー unless the federal government acts now.
"It is threatening almost every sector of the economy ー of course more so those sectors that are dependent on natural resources," Light said.
"We should start moving with the most effective and efficient policies that can begin switching our energy sources in earnest from fossil-fuel based to non-fossil fuel based, and also begin to lead the entire country on measures towards adaptation and resilience."
The Trump administration released its dire findings on the Friday after Thanksgiving, timing many have called suspicious ー among them, Politico reporter Matt Daily, who thinks officials meant to bury the news on a holiday weekend.
"I don't know if burying it on Black Friday was a very successful tactic," Daily told Cheddar, noting that the attempt to downplay the news only handed environmental advocates a new line of criticism against the administration.
The [National Climate Assessment](https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/), which is required by federal law to be published every four years, found that climate change will cost the American economy hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century and will endanger thousands of American lives each year. The White House issued a [statement](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/25/climate/trump-climate-report.html) saying that the report, which was instituted under the Obama administration, was "largely based on the most extreme scenario” of global warming.
Daily disagreed.
"That's a bit of a stretch, to put it mildly," Daily said. "The report offers quite a wide range of what's possibly coming our way by the end of the century."
Light noted that some states and cities were already moving in the right direction ー but he added the federal government needs to take the lead.
"The U.S. federal government is not leading even though we are seeing states and cities do quite a lot," Light said.
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President Biden proposed a new billionaire’s tax, that would subject the richest Americans to a minimum tax rate of 20 percent. The White House says billionaires pay an average tax rate of just eight percent, much lower than the national average of 22 percent. Cheddar News speaks with ProPublica’s Paul Kiel who explains how the regulation would work.
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Imani Gandy, senior editor for law and policy at Rewire News Group, and co-host of the podcast Boom! Lawyered, joins Cheddar Politics to discuss Ketanji Brown Jackson's upcoming confirmation hearings, and the politics surrounding several Republican attack lines against her in the lead-up.
Susannah Wellford, founder and CEO of Running Start, joins Cheddar News to discuss getting more women involved in politics. Running Start helps provide women and girls the tools they need to get involved in politics, and to see a future where they can become political leaders.
Congressional candidate Melanie D'Arrigo came on Cheddar Politics to talk about her campaign for the Democratic nomination in New York's Third Congressional district. The progressive activist ran in the 2020 primary against incumbent Democratic Rep. Tom Suozzi. The seat is open this time, as Suozzi seeks the New York Governorship.
Reecie Colbert, founder of Black Women Views Media, breaks down the roles of race and partisanship in the Senate hearings for Supreme Court Nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson. She also discusses the importance of standing up for Black women in the public sphere.
Michael Kirk, director of the new Frontline documentary 'Pelosi's Power,' joins Cheddar Politics to discuss House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's long career as a Democratic leader in Congress.
President Joe Biden is ordering the release of 1 million barrels of oil per day from the nation’s strategic petroleum reserve for six months in a bid to control energy prices.
