When Marshall Islands President Christopher Loeak was in Washington, DC last week, his itinerary included Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ). Flake spent a few weeks on the island of Eru with Maryland Democrat Martin Heinrich, courtesy of the Discovery Channel, to show that two Congressional adversaries could survive “using nothing but their wits and a few tools,” according to Politico Morning Energy.
Loeak’s mission was to “get the United States to throw its weight behind significant carbon restriction at negotiations in Paris and to persuade Congressional Republicans to follow through with Obama’s $3 billion Green Fund commitment,” Wolff writes. “Just as the Marshallese people have fought in defence of the United States, we are now asking the United States to join us in our fight for survival,” the Marshallese president told Politico’s Andrew Restuccia.
Other stops on Loeak’s calendar included Interior Secretary Sally Jewell, White House Senior Advisor Brian Deese, and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), chair of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee.
“The chain of South Pacific atolls is in danger of sinking beneath the waves as climate change causes sea levels to rise,” Wolff writes. “If Loeak is not successful, Discovery may have to call Flake and Heinrich’s next visit to Eru Survivor: Atlantis.”
