Inside Story Americas: When Will Climate Change Make Landfall in the US Election?

October 31, 2012 from Al Jazeera English

With extreme weather events such as Hurricane Sandy and the Midwest drought affecting huge parts of the US, why have the two main presidential candidates been avoiding discussing climate change in the run up to the elections? Inside Story Americas host Shihab Rattansi discusses with guests Rick Piltz, Joe Romm, and Michael Mann.

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Hurricane Sandy

Hurricane Sandy is a massive, late-season tropical cyclone that has affected Jamaica, Cuba, the Bahamas, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the southeastern United States, and is currently affecting the East Coast of the United States and Eastern Canada. Sandy developed from a... Explore this topic

2012 North American drought

The 2012-2013 North American Drought is an expansion of the 2010–2012 Southern United States drought which began in the spring of 2012, when the lack of snow in the United States caused very little meltwater to absorb into the soil. The drought includes most of the US, parts o... Explore this topic

Extreme weather

Extreme weather includes unusual, severe or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. The most commonly used definition of extreme weather is based on an event's climatological distribution: Extreme wea... Explore this topic

US presidential election, 2012

Die 57. Präsidentschaftswahl in den Vereinigten Staaten fand am 6. November 2012 statt. Formal sind am 6. November die Wahlmänner des Electoral College bestimmt worden, die am 17. Dezember ihre Stimmen für die Ämter des Präsidenten und des Vizepräsidenten abgaben. Gleichzeitig... Explore this topic

Climate change

Climate change is a significant and lasting change in the statistical distribution of weather patterns over periods ranging from decades to millions of years. It may be a change in average weather conditions, or in the distribution of weather around the average conditions. Cli... Explore this topic

Mitt Romney

Willard Mitt Romney is an American businessman who served as the 70th Governor of Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. He was the Republican Party's nominee for President of the United States in the 2012 election. Raised in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, by his parents Lenore and Geo... Explore this topic

Barack Obama

Barack Hussein Obama II (/bəˈrɑːk huːˈseɪn oʊˈbɑːmə/; born August 4, 1961) is the 44th and current President of the United States. He is the first African American to hold the office. Obama served as a U.S. Senator representing the state of Illinois from January 2005 to Novemb... Explore this topic

Current sea level rise

Sea levels around the world are rising. Current sea-level rise potentially affects human populations and the natural environment. Between 1870 and 2004, global average sea levels rose 195 mm. From 1950 to 2009, measurements show an average annual rise in sea level of 1.7 ± 0.3... Explore this topic

Drought in the United States

Drought in the United States is similar to that of other portions of the globe. Below normal precipitation leads to drought, which is caused by an above average persistence of high pressure over the drought area. Changes in the track of extratropical cyclones, which can occur ... Explore this topic

Politics of the United States

The United States is a federal constitutional republic, in which the President of the United States, Congress, and judiciary share powers reserved to the national government, and the federal government shares sovereignty with the state governments. The executive branch is head... Explore this topic

Also See

Hurricane Sandy

2012 North American drought

Extreme weather

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