The White House is seeking $469 million in tax dollars to dump into green programs on those continents, initiatives ranging from helping farmers preserve pastureland to helping women who canât afford to move from hot and dry areas made worse by global warming.
The costly Global Climate Change Initiative, however, is expected to come under fire in the Republican-controlled House which has passed a fiscal 2013 budget that curbs overseas spending like the initiative which is handled through USAID. At a Center for American Progress symposium, former Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle predicted a âhostileâ reception by an âideologicalâ GOP.
While the spending is already going on, it might take decades for any country to see the global warming disaster that the administration is gearing up to control, according to a State Department official. Thatâs because rising temperatures and varying rainfall âare things that are slowly progressing over time, on a decades-long scale,â said Kit Batten, the global climate change coordinator at USAID. âYou donât have a sharp turning point,â she added at the symposium.
The administration agrees with a new report from CAP warning that global warming could lead to terrorism. How? It might change human migration in north-western Africa, likely opening up huge swaths of land to terror groups like al Qaeda. Also, âdisenfranchised youthâ would be push into terrorism, said the report.
The administration believes that helping farmers use a greener growing processes and reducing carbon emissions will thwart that change--and reduce terror threats--by cutting the potential for rising temperatures and odd rain patterns that ignite human migration.
Meanwhile, the presidentâs reelection campaign is talking up the environment, global warming and Sundayâs Earth Day, even using it to raise money for his campaign. One message out Monday suggests that his opponents favor polluted water and air which would endanger children.
âPresident Obama knows we don't have to sacrifice clean air and clean water to create jobs and grow our economy. But time and again, we've seen that our opponents are willing to play politics with the health of our natural resourcesâ"and the American peopleâ"just to protect the bottom line of their special-interest allies. If it was up to them, we'd have no EPA working to protect our kids from harmful air pollution or make sure our water is safe to drinkâ"polluters would once again have a free pass. And I probably don't need to remind you of their views on climate change,â says the campaign.
They are also selling an Obama quote on the environment for $20.
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