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Wednesday, July 11, 2018 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon
O
P
I
N I
O
N
Climate change is
everyone’s problem
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By Steve Nugent
Guest Columnist
Welcome
Quilters!
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Letters to the Editor…
The Nugget welcomes contributions from its readers, which must include the writer’s name, address and phone number. Let-
ters to the Editor is an open forum for the community and contains unsolicited opinions not necessarily shared by the Editor.
The Nugget reserves the right to edit, omit, respond or ask for a response to letters submitted to the Editor. Letters should be
no longer than 300 words. Unpublished items are not acknowledged or returned. The deadline for all letters is noon Monday.
To the Editor:
This whole gun debate we are having in this
country just bothers me. I must admit that one
could categorize me as peace and love, having
been a hippy in my youth, RN by profession
and one who finds spirituality in the outdoors.
Having said that, I have raised three amaz-
ing adults. One of my sons has always had an
interest in guns although believe me I tried my
best to discourage him. He has an arsenal that
I wouldn’t reveal to any of my life.love.yoga.
friends. Yet he is probably one of the most
gentle, caring men I know.
I always look forward to reading the
Bunkhouse Chronicle in The Nugget. I know
that the columnist and I don’t see eye-to-eye
(myself being much more liberal, of course)
but always after reading his articles I have a
different perspective to consider and always
try to do so.
I don’t understand his stand on gun rights.
When the Second Amendment was written, I
know that we didn’t have high-capacity ARs at
our disposal, which is what he said he would
shoot to celebrate Independence Day. Contrary
to how he might portray me as someone who
wants to “control” and once we eliminate
semi-automatic weapons then the “slippery
slope” will lead to all gun removal. Nothing is
further from the truth.
Gun violence in this country is at an unac-
ceptable level and we have to start some-
where! Not to minimize the killing of just one
person, but if a person wanted to shoot into a
See LETTERS on page 24
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The Nugget Newspaper, LLC
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The average citizen has
no idea what is causing the
climate to change, how fast
it is changing or how this is
impacting them. Many peo-
ple believe that CO2 emis-
sions from power plants
are the primary contributor
causing the atmosphere to
act like the glass on a green-
house. The reality is that
the CO 2 emissions from
cars are essentially equal
to that of power plants in
the U. S. This makes every
driver of an internal com-
bustion engine vehicle a
contributor to the problem.
Car CO2 emissions do not
just dissipate on the ground,
they migrate up to the lower
atmosphere where they can
persist for up to 1,000 years.
Many people do not
understand the difference
between weather and cli-
mate. Weather happens
real-time, where climate is
a measure of land and ocean
temperatures over a long
period of time. People tell
me that if the planet is really
warming then it should be
warm everywhere. This is
nonsense because the poles
will always be cooler and
it will always be colder
in winter. The jet-stream
is moving more errati-
cally now, bringing cold
fronts down to Florida and
recently extreme heat to the
east and mid-west. Because
the oceans are warmer now,
hurricanes are more fre-
quent, extreme and occur
earlier in the year. More
moisture is in the atmo-
sphere, so severe floods,
hail storms and deep-snow
are more common.
Flooding events are
occurring somewhere in the
U.S. almost every week.
Maryland just had 1000-
year floods for 2 years
in a row. Texas just had
record hailstorm damage,
costing over $1B. High-
temperature records are
broken every year across
the U.S. Wildfires are larger
and more common now.
These are not freak events
of Mother Nature. They
are caused by long-term
human activity. The debate
whether climate change/
global warming is caused
by humans is OVER. It is
proven science verified by
experts worldwide.
Climatologists now have
analytical tools that attri-
bute individual weather
events to climate change.
The severe flooding that
was caused by hurricane
Harvey in Houston has
been 100 percent attributed
to climate change. The eco-
nomic damage that climate
change is causing in the
U.S. is rising every year.
The estimated cost to the
U. S. economy in 2017 is
$300B, half the budget for
the U. S. military.
Even those that live in
areas unaffected by hur-
ricanes and tornadoes are
being impacted, including
in Central Oregon. Besides
the recurring wildfires here,
the cost of food has been
increasing due to crop fail-
ures in Florida and lack of
water in California. Water
supplies are being poisoned
by toxic algae, including
Salem’s. FEMA payouts
for weather disasters con-
tinue to increase each year,
increasing our tax bur-
den and the national debt.
Ocean warming is causing
many wild fish and shellfish
stocks to be endangered,
including the wild salmon
fishery off the west coast.
Many west-coast rivers
don’t have runs anymore.
The incidents of insect-
borne diseases including
West Nile Virus, Zika,
Dengue and Spotted Fever
have TRIPLED in the U.S.
from 2004 to 2016.
Air pollution is respon-
sible for 200,000 deaths in
the U.S. each year, more
than cigarettes or wars.
Global warming is now
accelerating because we
have reached a “tipping
point,” caused by effects
that reinforce warming.
Shrinkage of the ice caps
reduces the heat reflected
back into space. Thawing
permafrost releases meth-
ane gas, a greenhouse gas
27 times more potent than
CO2. Forests, which along
with the oceans are the
ONLY absorbers of CO 2 ,
are shrinking at an alarm-
ing rate due to wildfires and
deforestation for farming.
Global warming is one of
the top threats to mankind.
It’s time for everyone
to take this seriously at the
ballot box and in your per-
sonal choices.
Opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the writer and
are not necessarily shared by the Editor or The Nugget Newspaper.