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EDITORIAL, JUNE 17, 2012
Can't we agree to do something
about climate change?
By Mike Jones Associate Editor
The resistance to any sort of compromise
in America persists. It is no more evident than
the disagreement over climate change.
In Virginia, it can't even be referred to as
"climate change." It is now "recurrent
flooding." That is the term the Virginia
Legislature came upon in order to agree to
even discuss the problems plaguing the state.
In the last 100 years, the Virginia coast has
seen a 14-inch rise in sea level. That,
combined with some wicked rain, has caused
the flooding. Whether the Virginians
eventually settle their squabble and attempt
to solve their problems remains to be seen. It
does, however, illustrate the problem the
entire country has when it comes to "global
warming," "climate change" or "recurrent
flooding." We can't even decide what we want
to call it.
There are two very stubborn sides in this
debate. There is the great majority of
scientists, including those with the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration and
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, who believe that the Earth is
changing, getting warmer, and believe that
humans have something to do with it.
Changing
The other side, which also claims to have
opposing scientific evidence, says the Earth is
simply going through a natural shift in
climate and humans have little to do with it.
There are some in this camp who deny that
anything is happening at all.
Those are the folks who pointed out in
2010 that the record snow storms that hit
Tulsa prove that the Earth is not warming,
but cooling. They can't quite put together the
fact that warming in other parts of the world
can cause heavy snowfall and flooding in
other parts. Incidentally, I didn't hear much
from that group following the warm winter of
2011-2012.
Which brings us to compromise, or the
lack thereof.
Let's not be naive. Political turbulence has
been a part of this country since its founding.
In fact, there have been some pretty nasty
disagreements, complete with name-calling
and duels, in our history.
On the other hand, there have been some
important compromises that have had
enormous effect on the country. None was
bigger than one of the first. In 1790, the
country was just getting on its feet, or trying.
Historic compromise
One of the pressing topics in postRevolutionary War America was the debt that
states had accumulated over the course of the
war. Secretary of the Treasury Alexander
Hamilton was pushing for the federal
government to assume the debts of the states,
thereby removing the possibility of default to
a foreign country by the states. It was more
complicated than that but I'll leave it at that
for the sake of brevity.
Hamilton was at odds with James Madison,
who controlled the bill in Congress and was
not fond of it. A dinner party was arranged by
Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson at his
home to allow the two to come to what he
hoped would be some sort of agreement - a
compromise.
They did. The assumption bill passed
Congress and, some historians believe, saved
the country.
Of course, there have been others,
including the Missouri Compromise, and
behind-doors finagling by President Lyndon
Johnson that pushed through the Civil Rights
Act, the Voting Rights Act and Medicare.
President Ronald Reagan was renowned for
his ability to persuade his opponents to his
side through compromise.
The disagreement over climate change
does not have the immediacy of the
assumption bill or the Civil Rights Act. The
country is not going to be swallowed by the
ocean next year. The immediacy comes in
starting now to do something about it.
The science, endorsed by NASA and the
NOAA, among other credible scientific groups,
clearly shows that the climate is changing and
that humans, while not the sole reason,
certainly have a hand in it.
The average global temperature has risen
by more than 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the
last century. The NOAA says the decade from
2000 to 2010 was the warmest on record.
Those same scientists say that such changes
and the warming charted over the last 50
years, cannot be explained by natural factors
alone.
Yes, all scientists agree that the Earth is
going through a natural cycle of change. That
cannot be prevented. Humankind has adapted
to such changes since the beginning. But
humans now have the intelligence and the
capability to try to lessen or slow down, or at
least not speed up, the inevitable.
It doesn't take much to make drastic
changes. Every two degrees Fahrenheit of
warming results in: reduced crop production;
an increase in heavy precipitation events,
such as the flooding in Virginia; an increase in
wildfires, as in the Southwest the last few
years, and as much as a 10 percent decrease
in stream flows in some river basins,
including the Arkansas River basin.
Breath in, breath out
It is clear that humans have an impact.
Carbon dioxide is important to the Earth's
natural carbon cycle. We were all taught in
grade school that we exhale carbon dioxide
and that helps plants grow and produce
oxygen for us to breathe. That balances out
over time.
Now, however, other human carbon
dioxide emissions are a part of the natural
cycle. And that is where the problem arises
and where a lot of the disagreement begins.
And this is where I long for common sense
and compromise.
Can't we all agree that, never mind the
amount, humans are contributing to the
change in the Earth? And can't we all agree
that the Earth is going through a natural
cycle?
There are more people on this planet and
that population is growing daily. The more
people, the more cars, the more plants
needed to generate power, etc.
Again, this is not going to dramatically
affect anyone reading this right now. By the
end of this century, it will be noticeable.
I keep hearing the chant that we can't
leave our children, our grandchildren and
their grandchildren with enormous debt to
pay. That's admirable.
Can we live with ourselves knowing that
we had the chance to preserve the Earth for
them and passed it by because we couldn't
agree to call it "climate change" or "recurrent
flooding?"
Isn't the future of the world something
worth compromise?
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