Wednesday, June 14, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
Looking
Outward
Dan Glode, Columnist
Climate change is
not an unsettled
question
...you don’t need to be a
weatherman to know which
way the wind blows.
— Bob Dylan, Subterranean
Homesick Blues 1965
I am deeply concerned
about our planet as I watch
our steady environmental
regression. So many hide
their heads in the sand about
the issue. I read with inter-
est one of Craig Rullman’s
recent columns entitled
“Red-teaming the climate
question” and I realized it
may be a long time, if ever,
before sufficient consensus
is reached and, more impor-
tantly, we begin taking action
before we arrive at the tip-
ping point from which there
is no return.
I enjoy Craig’s columns
and have agreed with many
things he says — but I have
to differ on this one.
Rullman says: “But not
every scientist believes in
climate change, and even
among those who do, argu-
ments rage endlessly about
the cause. Is it human
caused?”
He makes it sound as if
it’s pretty much an unsettled
issue. He is right in the fact
that there is no absolute,
complete consensus on the
issue, but the proof seems to
be way beyond a reasonable
doubt.
NASA, in their global
climate change publication,
Vital Signs of the Planet,
states: “Multiple studies pub-
lished in peer-review scien-
tific journals show that 97
percent or more of actively
publishing climate scientists
agree:
Climate-warming trends
over the past century are
extremely likely due to
human activities. In addition,
most of the leading scien-
tific organizations world-
wide have issued statements
endorsing this position.”
These are not light-
weights, but formidable orga-
nizations. The U.S. National
Academy of Sciences,
the Geological Society of
America, Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change,
etc. The list goes on, but you
get the point: Climate change
is real and human activity is
a big factor.
Is there a debate? Rullman
makes it sound like a raging
tug-of-war between equal,
competing factions. As one
commentator graphically
put it, it is like having 100
climate scientists in a large
room. There are 97 on one
side and three on the other.
The media, too, encourages
this as they want to have
equal time for each side
when each side is hardly
equal. So when we hear a
climate scientist discussing
serious concerns about our
planet, for some reason the
media thinks they have to
present equal rebuttal when
the sides are not equal.
In all fairness, for every
97 climate scientists who
present their views there
should only be three deniers
given an opportunity to
counter the majority. That
would be balanced.
In Oregon it is considered
sufficient proof beyond a
reasonable doubt if 10 of 12
jurors concur in a criminal
case. The standard of proof
is high, and yet a 100 percent
consensus is not required. In
the area of climate change,
as in life, we rarely get com-
plete agreement before we
make decisions and take
action.
Sometimes it is impera-
tive to act — and act deci-
sively — and this is one of
those times. The New York
Times recently published a
three-part series on the col-
lapsing Antarctica ice sheet
and mentioned the cataclys-
mic consequences including
a sea-level increase of six
feet, which would destroy
some major coastal cities
and compress habitable land.
We are losing shoreland at
an increasingly accelerated
rate. Storms are getting big-
ger overall. The last 13 years
have each set records for ris-
ing temperatures. Glaciers
are disappearing. Seasons
are changing. The jet stream
is becoming more unstable.
The list goes on.
It is one of those large-
scale, worldwide events
where you just have to ask
anyone if climate is chang-
ing. They will tell you. You
don’t have to be a weather-
man. There is no issue more
compelling on this planet
than saving it.
The current administra-
tion likes to tout the fact that
there is not complete agree-
ment. They are correct, it
is not complete, only 97
percent complete. The new
EPA director, Scott Pruitt, is
someone who had to be hard
to recruit as he is aligned
with the three percent minor-
ity of deniers. Environmental
regulations, many of which
ensure clean air and water,
are being gutted and not
enforced. And, with Trump’s
recent decision to pull out
of the Paris Climate Accord
the administration’s ignorant
march to the climate dark
ages is complete.
Amazing, we now join
Syria and Nicaragua as the
only nations on the planet
not willing to work together
to curb climate change. That
accord was meaningful not
only as an attempt to collec-
tively reverse the ravages of
climate change but it served
17
as a realization by all nations
that we needed to begin
working now. Was it perfect?
No. Was it comprehensive
enough? No. But it was a
beginning.
Finally, there was the elu-
sive consensus so necessary
to planetary change. We are
the largest carbon producer,
and now we no longer pro-
vide world leadership. We
are now a sea anchor on the
sea of change needed to deal
with the world’s climate. In a
few short months Trump has
taken us from the status of
world leader to the position
of the world’s most igno-
rant nation. He has given me
many angry moments over
the past few months. He is
beyond incompetent.
As George Will put it so
well: “…the problem isn’t
that he does not know this
or that, or that he does not
know that he does not know
this or that. Rather, the dan-
gerous thing is that he does
not know what it is to know
something.”
He is beyond ignorant on
climate change and he has no
idea of the consequences. I
guess destroying our demo-
cratic institutions was not
enough for him; he will
destroy the world. Bravo,
Donald!
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