Published in the February 4-17, 2015 issue of Morgan Hill Life
Human industry is largely responsible for recent climate change on our planet. Photo courtesy United States Environmental Protection Agency
It’s a safe bet that “courage in action” is not a phrase most Americans might use in describing members of Congress. But that’s an apt phrase in characterizing members of the United States Senate for stepping up and supporting the science of global warming last month. They voted 98-1 to approve a symbolic amendment stating: “It is the sense of the Senate that climate change is real and not a hoax.” Perhaps one day, the senators will stand courageously together again and approve an amendment asserting that the force of gravity is also a reality.
This vote is a major step for many elected representatives in the Senate, politicians who, from their statements in the media, don’t seem to understand the basic principals of science, let alone climate science. It’s scary to think the people who are creating policy and passing legislation don’t get the fact that as the world grows increasingly warmer, the changes in climate will have a dangerous impact on the quality of life for the citizens these officials were elected to serve.
Sen. James Inhofe, a Republican from Okla., co-sponsored the amendment with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat from Rhode Island. Inhofe wrote a book published in 2012 titled “The Greatest Hoax: How the Global Warming Conspiracy Threatens Your Future.” So it’s a big deal the outspoken senator can admit the warming of our planet is not some evil plot concocted by a diabolical cabal of thousands of scientists bent on world domination.
Inhofe did do a bit of grandstanding after passage of the amendment by telling his fellow senators: “The hoax is, that there are people who think they are so arrogant to think that they are powerful that they can change the climate. Man can’t change climate.”
There are more than seven billion people on our planet. A vast number of us enjoy the benefits of an industrial civilization that is highly dependent on fossil energy resources. Burning this fuel releases carbon dioxide molecules that are a major greenhouse gas player in the trapping of the sun’s heat. It seems that where the arrogance really rests is in people like Inhofe who choose to ignore the scientific consensus that industry burning fossil fuels during the past 150 years is resulting in the high number of record-breaking years in global temperature. The year 2014 was the hottest on record.
The consensus of professional climate scientists is that the current extreme rapidness (in geologic time) in the warming of the Earth is the result of anthropogenic causes resulting in the increase of heat-trapping gases. These scientists have discovered human “fingerprints” in the changes that we’re now seeing in the climate system, including the increasing heat content of our oceans, increased precipitation and atmospheric moisture, and the significant reduction of Arctic sea ice.
Historical records show that the level of the sea water in the San Francisco Bay has risen seven inches in the past 150 years. In 2009, the California Climate Action Team Report projected that, relative to 2000 levels, the bay’s sea level will rise between 11 and 18 inches by the year 2050 and 23 to 55 inches by the end of this century. Extreme weather conditions — including the scary possibility of decades-long droughts for California — will hurt our local economy and ultimately social structure as people face starvation and diseases spread by climate changes.
Part of the problem in getting Americans to understand the reality of global warming and the part industry plays is the low scientific literacy level of many our citizens. The mainstream media has also made a habit of pitting pundits against scientists and calling it a debate.
More than likely, members of Congress are so set in their legislative roadblock that they will never take real action on climate change issues until it’s too late. Symbolic amendments seem to be the best they can do. The true leadership — the leadership that results in “courage in action” — needs to come at a local level. And we’ve seen that over the years here in Morgan Hill with elected officials promoting energy efficiency programs, such as LED streetlights, and solar energy in our community facilities and schools. We encourage our city council members and board of trustees for the Morgan Hill Unified School District to continue this policy of environmental and energy conservation.
Devastating worldwide climate change is a reality, not a hoax. Like it or not, no one can change with a symbolic amendment the nature of the reality of global warming — and that reality is that we human beings play a significant role in climate change.
