The lead article on the front page of the Sunday New York Times of September 4, 2016 was titled, “Global Warming’s Mark: Coastal Inundation.” The paper reported on major problems with sea level rise in cities along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts.

Of particular concern is Norfolk, Virginia, home to over 240,000 people and Naval Station Norfolk, the world’s largest naval base. That installation is “profoundly threatened” by rising seas, as is the city.

While the Pentagon has built floodgates and other protection measures in certain locations, it attempted in the summer of 2016 to appoint officers dedicated to addressing the climate change threat comprehensively. In a blow to American military readiness, the House voted to prohibit spending taxpayer money on that plan. One Congressman referred to the effort as part of a “radical climate change agenda.” Such blindness to the massive problems confronting not just the military but our country, threatens to diminish both America’s role in the world and our prosperity.

It will come as no surprise that I view climate change as the dominant issue of our time. Therefore, I urge citizens to vote only for candidates who agree that climate change is real and that will support efforts to address it.

The Republican candidate for president has maintained on the campaign trail that climate change is a hoax. He believes it is real, however, when it comes to his golf resort in Ireland; he has applied for a permit to build a sea wall to protect it, citing erosion, sea level rise, and climate change as the reasons. Such behavior exemplifies shameful hypocrisy, to put it mildly. For more about this, see The Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/05/24/donald-trump-calls-global-warming-a-hoax-until-it-threatens-his-golf-course/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/04/science/flooding-of-coast-caused-by-global-warming-has-already-begun.html?_r=0