While the leaders of our country are busy bickering about climate change as part of their never-ending political campaigns, other countries are taking climate scientists' warnings about climate change seriously — countries like the Marshall Islands.

Meanwhile, we're cutting funding for research — even with the understanding that melting glaciers can, and will, affect our coast. ("Our" being North Carolina's.) We're buying more SUVs and more useless plastic-wrapped crap while we, in general, keep our heads tucked so far up our own asses, our ears plugged so full of shit and our eyes on sparkly gadgets that when things finally do go to hell, we can shrug and claim to not have known what was happening.

Wake the fuck up, people; the future's on the line. And then wake your political representatives up, too. Tell them to stop dickin' around with our world and do what's right for America.

From The New York Times:

The Marshall Islands has an annual budget smaller than those of some American city school boards. But its leaders hope that when it comes to climate change, what the small cluster of Pacific Ocean coral atolls lacks in economic clout it can make up for in moral authority.

Last year, the Marshall Islands promised to cut its emissions 40 percent in the next decade. That's 40 percent of almost nothing -- the country, according to U.N. statistics, emits 99 metric tons of carbon dioxide each year, compared to China's 6.5 billion and America's 5.8 billion. It has a national energy policy that makes solar a priority, and is vying to install solar panels in every household.

As countries get ready to meet in Cancun, Mexico, this month for another U.N. climate change conference, and with the major emitters still sparring over positions, Marshall Islands Foreign Minister John Silk said his nation's message is unambiguous: If the Marshall Islands can do it, America and China can, too.

Read the rest of this article, by Lisa Friedman, here.

Rhiannon "Rhi" Bowman is an independent journalist who contributes snarky commentary on Creative Loafing's CLog blog four days a week in addition to writing for several other local media organizations. To learn more, click the links or follow Rhi on Twitter.