Global warming and society

Platitudinous, yes, but global warming is a truth. It is a truth aside from politics, aside from persuasions, religion, academics. The earth has been proven to be warmer now than ever before in our discernible history, and so be it.

It's troubling that while all the discussion is going on about whether humans caused it, and while we sit back with our feet up and a pint in hand having a great debate over it, while we waste valuable time, the earth is warming further, and the issues that cause warming are getting more pronounced and regulations are going away, and business is getting the upper hand again.

I learned the other day that part of the reason that global warming is not as important a topic for US'ns is because it is not as frequently in the news. This really frightened me, because with all the effort people make to show themselves as independent thinkers -- you know, tattoos, piercings, fancy cars, symbols of success, expensive glasses, witticisms -- this would indicate that people are sheep, and the media is the sheepdog, and I needn't explain that further.

Troubling to think that we can be influenced into thinking that global warming is either more or less serious than it is. Today I noted an interview on CNN with a man who plans to row to the north pole. When asked why, instead of give the reason why, he chose to mention his mother and her inspiration that made him do everything 110%. He attempted later in the few-minute long interview to explain that part of the reason he is doing it is because he can, which he said briefly is a really big problem. He should not be able to row to the North Pole, and the interviewer moved on and did not pursue the frightening fact that he can get there in open water during the summer.

Richard Rood noted on To The Point (radio program) about global warming that one of the problems with global warming is the ability of those who profit from the industries that cause it to demonstrate the controversy over whether it is real or not. The reason that this is possible, he posited, is because scientists spend so much time controverting each other on the subject, and so the 'deniers' have an easy time of pitting those scientists against each other in campaigns designed to encourage disunity in the effort to stop global warming.

In reality, most - and by 'most', I mean at least 80% - (but more often quoted numbers in the 97% range are probably more accurate) - of scientists agree that global warming is real. Richard Rood suggested that those 97% should be concentrating on one thing, making the public aware that global warming is here and that no matter what they believe about the cause, they agree that it exists and is heading us into a perilous journey into deep water.

Another wonderfully poignant point that was made in this program was simply that the environment is one thing. There is no climate without global warming versus the climate we actually live in. There is one climate, the one in which global warming is a fact. This might help to unify scientists and to bring the issue into a clearer fact of current life. The question was put to another guest on the show, Elizabeth Kolbert of the New Yorker asking why it is so difficult to attribute increased major weather events to global warming. She answered in essence that statistics indicate that storms are getting worse, floods and droughts have gotten worse, melting is increasing, but no scientist has the ability to directly attribute one particular storm to Global Warming. This would be the equivalent to attributing the incorrect tightening of a bolt during manufacture of a car to an accident 10 years later. The bolt might have loosened on it's own (whether it should or not), or it might have loosened because of originally being tightened incorrectly. It is difficult or impossible to determine either case, yet the result of the bolt coming loose may have caused the accident. While it is clear that the accumulated severity of weather in the last decade is clearly explained by global warming, honest scientists can't attribute individual storms to global warming and can only suggest that they are likely caused by increased moisture in the warmer air. There is no direct and obvious cause and effect.

Lastly, the suggestion by the guests on Olney's show is that the evidence that the earth is warming is incontrovertible. However, they attribute the lack of action to a combination of bickering, distraction, a coordinated effort to deny global warming, and a powerful business interest in the status quo. In essence, some of the most powerful companies on the planet are not interested in either selling less oil, or in spending money to clean up emissions or to increase efficiency. It is against their purpose of making money, while sadly also against the interests of humans and the planet.

I can't urge people enough to remain involved and vocal about the fact of global warming, and to remain vigilant in doing all you can in any way to save energy, to eliminate waste and to encourage increased regulation of energy use.