LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas — All week long, CBS and other major news organizations are joining together for a project entitled "Covering Climate Change Now."
And I think now is a good time as any to bring up Mohamed Bouazizi and the Arkansas Levee Task Force.
Before you close your app, just hear me out.
In 2010, Bouazizi was a Tunisian vegetable seller. Unfortunately, he didn't have a permit to sell so the Tunisian government confiscated his vegetables.
To protest, Bouazizi set himself on fire and eventually died 18 days later. Tunisia during that time was experiencing a massive drought and the people of that country were incensed that the government would confiscate vegetables at a time when the people were starving.
The ensuing revolution toppled the Tunisian government and would set off what we now know as Arab Spring.
Arab Spring would overthrow governments, create refugees that would destabilize Europe and even impact the United States. All because a government did not respond to climate change.
The real evidence of what's happening on our planet is not so much the numbers, it's the increasing pressure on governments worldwide to respond to hurricanes, typhoons, tornadoes, floods and fires.
Now this brings me to the Arkansas Levee Task Force, which was put together to answer questions like, "What can we do to reinforce our levees?" or "What can we do to produce a coordinated sustained statewide effort to better protect our citizens?"
It's our state government attempting to stay ahead of the intense, chaotic patterns we're seeing break out planet wide.
Those are the right questions, but we also need answers and action. The sooner, the better.
But we have begun the process.
Growing up in Arkansas means being tied to nature and almost intuitively knowing what needs to be done, that we never make the mistake of confiscating vegetables.