Opinion
A4
Saturday, August 21, 2021
OUR VIEW
The two
languages of
climate change
T
he latest update by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change contained few
surprises. The average worldwide tem-
perature will continue to creep upward. However,
it will increase more slowly as the production
of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide and
methane is reduced.
What is notable is not the contents of the report
so much as the reactions to it. Scientists agreed
that there wasn’t much new in it and said so. A
few pointed out the need to plan for ways to off set
the impacts of a warmer planet.
Politicians, however, seemed to be leaping for
the panic button. They wanted drastic action now
or the end of the world as we know it would soon
be at hand.
It was as though they had read two diff erent
reports.
For example, Cliff Mass, an atmospheric scien-
tist at the University of Washington, pointed out
that as the average temperature rises, the snow-
pack in the mountains will likely decrease even
as precipitation increases. The key for irrigated
agriculture, he said, is to increase the amount of
water storage.
“We can deal with it with more reservoir
capacity,” he told Capital Press reporter Don Jen-
kins. “We’ve been lazy. We’ve used the snowpack
as a reservoir.”
Such an analysis seems reasonable. We have
long advocated more water storage across the
West in the form of reservoirs and aquifer
recharge. With smaller snowpacks likely, that
only seems prudent.
“The world isn’t going to end,” he said. “The
report’s really quite underwhelming. It’s not as
hyped as the headlines.”
Politicians, on the other hand, seemed to read
much more into the report and responded in a dif-
ferent language.
“This groundbreaking report makes it clear
that the extreme weather now being felt around
the globe and across Washington state will look
mild compared to what’s ahead if we don’t act,”
Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., said in a press
release. “The next generation deserves to be able
to enjoy the bliss of a Puget Sound summer day,
not be trapped inside by triple-digit temperatures
and smoky skies.”
To their credit, scientists such as Mass are
most interested in the facts and initiating a dis-
cussion of what we all can do to minimize the
impact of climate change on everyone, including
the farmers and ranchers who produce our food.
And the politicians? Well, they have their rea-
sons to go to their grab bag of hyperbole to pro-
mote drastic measures and push through political
agendas.
Instead of addressing the major causes of cli-
mate change — such as China, which produces
28% of the world’s carbon dioxide — and seeking
out the best ways to cope with climate change,
they want to drop everything to pursue paths that
at best will only slow climate change, not stop it.
The U.S. produces 15% of the carbon dioxide
and its carbon footprint is shrinking, while Chi-
na’s is growing.
Providing constituents with a Chicken Little
version of science will not solve the problem. It
will only cause more confusion, mostly among
the politicians.
Sheriff Bowen does not speak for me
KRISANDRA
KELLOGG
OTHER VIEWS
n open letter to Sheriff Cody
Bowen.
I am writing to let you
know how beyond furious I am upon
reading your recent letter to the gov-
ernor. You can feel however you
want to feel about mandates, but it is
unacceptable for you to write a letter
saying that “we the people of Union
County, Oregon, have had enough!”
as if you speak for all of us.
I can assure you that you do not
speak for me, nor for so many other
people in our community on this
matter any more than you feel that
Kate Brown speaks for you. Writing
a letter to the governor stating
your opinion is fi ne, even stating
that many citizens here agree with
you is fi ne, but pretending that you
are doing so on all of our behalf is
abhorrent and unexcusable.
Rights are not being violated with
these public safety mandates, and
behaving like wearing a piece of
cloth on your face is worthy of out-
rage is absurd. COVID-19 is running
A
rampant in our community and in
our country and it is aff ecting more
children than ever due to the high
contagiousness of the delta variant.
Anything that we can do to protect
our children and our community,
especially when it is something as
simple as wearing a mask, should
absolutely be done without turning it
into a political issue.
Saying that families should be
able to choose whether or not their
children wear masks in school is
unfair to the people who are trying
to be responsible in preventing
more spread of this virus. If there
are some people in close quarters
who choose not to wear masks, it is
nowhere near as eff ective at slowing
the spread of COVID-19 than if they
do. Masks work best when used
both ways: I wear mine to protect
the community, and the community
wears theirs to protect me. When we
all wear them, there is the highest
level of protection for us all. Poten-
tially sacrifi cing the health of others
during a pandemic because you feel
like your rights are being infringed
upon by a minor inconvenience is
simply unethical.
Claiming that wearing masks
does far more harm to children than
CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES
U.S. PRESIDENT
Joe Biden
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20500
Comments: 202-456-1111
U.S. SENATORS
Ron Wyden
221 Dirksen Senate Offi ce Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510
202-224-5244
La Grande offi ce: 541-962-7691
Kate Brown
160 State Capitol
900 Court St.
Salem, OR 97301-4047
503-378-4582
Bobby Levy, District 58
900 Court St. NE, H-376
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1458
Rep.BobbyLevy@state.or.us
Cliff Bentz
2185 Rayburn House Offi ce Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-6730
Medford offi ce: 541-776-4646
SENATOR
Greg Smith, District 57
900 Court St. NE, H-482
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1457
Rep.GregSmith@state.or.us
Bill Hansell, District 29
900 Court St. NE, S-415
Salem, OR 97301
503-986-1729
Sen.BillHansell@state.or.us
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the virus ever could is disgustingly
disrespectful to people who have
lost loved ones. While it may not
have killed as many children as it
has adults by far, it has indeed killed
children, and most of the more-than
600,000 adults in the U.S. that the
virus has claimed had children who
loved them. What has wearing a
mask done that is worse than that?
No matter how you look at this
problem, you have hurt our commu-
nity with your letter. Best-case sce-
nario: You have created more of a
divide between those who believe
that the mask mandates go against
their rights and those who believe
that wearing masks is responsible.
Worst-case scenario: COVID-19
ends up being the winner in all of
this, infecting and killing far more
people than it had to.
Either way, our community suf-
fers. I can only hope that it suff ers
from the divide rather than a horri-
fying health crisis, but it didn’t have
to be this way.
———
Krisandra Kellogg lives in La
Grande where she attends Eastern
Oregon University and is a mother
of four, who are all students in the
community.
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