This week Al Gore publicly rebuked the president over climate change. In a long essay in Rolling Stone Gore wrote, “President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change.” And last month the National Academy of Sciences — one of our nation’s pre-eminent scientific organizations — made a clear and unequivocal statement about climate change. The academy wrote: “…the environmental, economic and humanitarian risks of climate change indicate a pressing need for substantial action to limit the magnitude of climate change and to prepare to adapt to its impacts.”
There are some people who are being forced to adapt right now — they see the effects of climate change in their own front yards. As we reported in February, the city of Norfolk, Virginia, is getting an early look at what rising sea levels could mean for coastal communities nationwide. In cooperation with The New York Times, Need to Know’s William Brangham reports.
