[Sosfbay-discuss] Green Talk Column on Climate Change

[Wes Rolley]

The following is my latest submission as the Green Talk 
<http://www.morganhilltimes.com/opinion/default.asp?s=4293> Column in 
the Morgan Hill Times (publication date 10/27/09). Tomorrow is an 
international day of action for climate change. This post explains why I 
think we are losing the battle for the minds of America.

Click on Read more! for the entire OpEd.


      Green Talk on Climate Change

Two events this week prompted me to return to the subject of climate 
change. The first that I became aware of is the fact that the heads of 
18 leading scientific organizations sent a letter to each of the United 
States Senators urging them to take significant action regarding climate 
change. While the entire letter can be read on-line from the American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, it is worth quoting from 
that letter 
<http://www.aaas.org/news/releases/2009/media/1021climate_letter.pdf>.

    “Observations throughout the world make it clear that climate change
    is occurring, and rigorous scientific research demonstrates that the
    greenhouse gases emitted by human activities are the primary driver.
    These conclusions are based on multiple independent lines of
    evidence, and contrary assertions are inconsistent with an objective
    assessment of the vast body of peer-reviewed science.”


The make it very clear that there is no doubt about what is currently 
happening and the conclusions regarding what will happen are unavoidable.

Almost concurrently, the Pew Center for Research released the results of 
a survey <http://people-press.org/report/556/global-warming> that show a 
declining percentage of the public who believe that climate change is 
happening, or that it is in any way connected to human activity. They 
summarize it as follows:

    “The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the
    People & the Press, conducted Sept. 30-Oct. 4 among 1,500 adults
    reached on cell phones and landlines, finds that 57% think there is
    solid evidence that the average temperature on earth has been
    getting warmer over the past few decades. In April 2008, 71% said
    there was solid evidence of rising global temperatures.

    Over the same period, there has been a comparable decline in the
    proportion of Americans who say global temperatures are rising as a
    result of human activity, such as burning fossil fuels. Just 36% say
    that currently, down from 47% last year.”


You begin to wonder what factors are at play when the scientific opinion 
is becoming increasingly certain and the public opinion is becoming less 
so. Conjecture on this question is now a popular blogging topic. Many 
rationales are given and most of them are too simplistic to be the whole 
story.

To begin with, these are times when our current economic problems have 
people fearful of their own future. Those who stand to gain by not doing 
anything about climate change were quick to play on these fears, making 
the connection between regulation of industry to prevent climate 
catastrophe and the loss of the very jobs that people are fearful of 
losing to begin with.

It was most clearly stated an OpEd 
<http://thehill.com/opinion/op-ed/63983-no-harm-from-cap-and-trade-you-lie> 
by Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy, a large coal mining company.

    “Many times I’ve sat in meetings with executives who admit privately
    they doubt the certainty of the science behind global warming
    claims. And they acknowledge that global warming legislation will
    have a devastating effect on their companies in the form of lost
    jobs and lower output.”

It is very clear that one of the companies most affected would be 
Blankenship's. The OpEd was published in The Hill where every Washington 
insider would be sure to see it.

Those journalists whom one hopes would lead us to a version of the truth 
have put on ideological blinders and proceeded to publish erroneous 
information again and again. Writers like George Will will misquote 
sources and cherry-pick data to justify their false conclusions that 
nothing really bad is happening. In Will's case, it is especially 
troubling in that he steadfastly refuses to acknowledge his errors to 
the point where other Washington Post writers have had to apologize for him.

Professional rabble-rousers like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh have a 
great reach into the minds of those who will not look at the data for 
themselves. When NY Times, reporter Andrew Revkin suggested that there 
was a link between population and energy use... and therefore climate 
change, Limbaugh suggested that Revkin solve the problem by killing 
himself. Beck makes light of the issue, equating the weather today with 
the functioning of climate over decades and playing to his audience with 
statements like “The earth and the environment are the progressive 
replacement for God...” Would we be the people about whom it was said 
“In as much as Ye Have Done It unto One of the Least of These..."

We are all in this together. That is why I talk of ecology rather than 
the environment. We have learned to apply systems thinking to the 
management of our businesses. Why have we not taken the next step to 
apply similar systems thinking to the way we live; not alone but in 
communities; not just communities of people but communities of other 
living things.

I don't know how many of you have visited the magnificent groves of 
sequoias that we have. Their fate, locked as they are into 
micro-climates along the Sierras, is in our hands. I don't know how many 
are still around who fought in Vietnam, but that country's fate is also 
in our hands as the most productive agricultural regions, the Mekong 
Delta will be inundated and tens of millions of people will need to find 
new homes. I don't know how many of you follow the California water 
crisis. But here again, for all the special sessions of our legislature, 
they have not even begun to deal with the fact that those famous pumps 
will eventually be pumping salt water.

Do we care so little about this world that we would would risk it all on 
the words of Don Blankenship, Glen Beck or Rush Limbaugh?

Labels: Andrew Revkin 
<http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Andrew%20Revkin>, Climate 
Change <http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Climate%20Change>, 
Don Blankenship 
<http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Don%20Blankenship>, George 
Will <http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/George%20Will>, Glen 
Beck <http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Glen%20Beck>, Massey 
Energy <http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Massey%20Energy>, 
Pew Center for Research 
<http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Pew%20Center%20for%20Research>, 
Rush Limbaugh <http://cagreening.blogspot.com/search/label/Rush%20Limbaugh>

-- 
"Anytime you have an opportunity to make things better and you don't, then you are wasting your time on this Earth" Roberto Clemente

Wes Rolley
17211 Quail Court, Morgan Hill, CA 95037
http://www.refpub.com/ -- Tel: 408.778.3024