This editorial is a compilation from a discussion held by the editorial board.

During a news conference at the COP21 climate conference in Paris last Tuesday, President Obama had some words for the Republicans hoping to win his job: “Everyone else is taking climate change really seriously.” In other countries, he said, “They think it’s a really big problem. It spans political parties.”

The fact that Obama has had to say this time and time again is indicative of the complete politicization of an issue that should be anything but.

At this point, it’s time to face the facts. Climate change is real and it is a global threat, one that should certainly span across political parties, borders, etc.

At this very moment in time the Marshall Islands are close to being submerged completely, global weather patterns are changing (leading to natural disasters, droughts and more) and countless species of animals and plants are being totally wiped out. And that is just, pardon the pun, the tip of the iceberg.

The fact that the majority of the Republican Party within America chooses to deny science for their own personal gain is, frankly, ridiculous. In holding the needs of their wealthy, oil-loving constituents above the needs and well-being of the globe as a whole, the Republican party is placing their own monetary gain and reelection above the fate of generations to come.

The Mentor editorial board believes that it’s time that America moves past petty politics and selfish goals and focuses on something bigger and more important than all of us: the planet.

Clean energy sources are abundant and we already have the scientific capability to back away from our dependency on oil and move towards solar and wind power. At this point. politicians chained to big corporations are the weight keeping us from moving forward.

Taking something like climate change, which bears serious ramifications for future generations, and turning it into political fodder is dangerous for the entirety of the American people especially at this particular political juncture. Super PACs, corrupt corporations and their accompanying politicians making climate change a “controversial” issue leads to the possibility that our country could soon be denying climate change’s very existence for nothing more than capital gain.

The capital-centric, highly politicized culture that has grown to control the US must be destroyed in order to have any chance of saving the planet as a whole. After all, money’s value is but a societal construct and if Earth dies, so does it.