WOULDN’T IT BE NICE?

Wouldn’t it be nice if the folks who don’t believe in global warming are right?  If their repudiation of the decades of climate change science is correct?  It would be such a relief that the discovery of a typo in a major scientific publication means that all the other science is suspect. How wonderful if the blizzards that recently paralyzed the US east coast means that the predictions of increasing worldwide temperatures are just plain wrong?

It would solve a lot of problems.  We wouldn’t have to worry about  burning CO2 producing fossil fuels to meet our electrical power and transportation demands.  Not to mention the billions of dollars we spend on oil we buy from people who hate us.  We could continue to ignore the year-after-year increase in global warming gases, in the retreat of ice sheets and glaciers, the massive changes in the chemistry of the world’s oceans.  Wouldn’t that be nice?

It’s hard to blame these skeptics.  It’s comforting for them to believe that a conspiracy of scientists and politicians is behind all this global warming “propaganda.”  It’s much more fun to operate on the theory that a group of scientists with an evil agenda is after us than it is to admit our own complicity.  Believing that the scientists are right, and that we are all responsible, is no fun at all.  Facing up to a global crisis is a bitter pill to swallow.

Factor into this the predictions that our environmental problems are going to get worse – soon.  Day after day we are treated to a collage of bad news about the rate and scope of environmental degradation.  Who wouldn’t want to stick their head in the sand and pretend it’s not happening?

Two problems with that.  One, the sand is polluted.  Next, the science is overwhelming.   The premier scientific organization involved in climate science is the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change.  Some members have been studying atmospheric changes since the 1950s.

 A project of the United Nations Environmenatal Programme, their mission is to provide the world with a clear scientific view on the current state of climate change and its potential environmental and socio-economic consequences.  This group reports yearly on the new scientific studies generated by its members.  These studies are rigorously conducted and “peer reviewed.”  Peer review is the process by which scientists validate the work of their fellow scientists.  It involves reviewing the data produced by these experiments and observations.  This is basic scientific method.  It is transparent and understood by all.  Over time this process produces not only a significant body of valid data, it also produces ever more detailed and accurate descriptions and predictions of the impacts of climate change phenomena.

In the view of many observers we are currently experiencing a global catastrophe.  As we continue to foul our air, water and land we are moving ever closer to a “tipping point.”  This tipping point will mean that most, if  not all, of the dire consequences predicted by the science are inevitable.  In some ways the “catastrophe” claims could be seen as good news.  As a species we are familiar with catastrophic events, induced both by human and natural sources.  We know how to respond to earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts , etc.  However, this catastrophe is different in many important ways.  Most significant is the fact that global environmental changes happen mostly at a glacial pace.  The catastrophes to which we are accustomed happen in the blink of an eye.  Perhaps it is one huge jolt from an earthquake, or a giant tropical storm slapping a coastline.  We have experienced catastrophes such as these.   We know how to clean up, and rebuild,  get on with life.  The climate change catastrophe will play out over decades.  Change will occur slowly, incrementally.  We may not experience the effects until long after when we could have prevented them.

WHAT WE CAN DO

The good news, for non-skeptics, is that we know what to do to deal with global climate change.  The technologies to replace fossil fuel fired energy, with renewable technologies, have existed for years.  Today a home or business owner can pick up a phone, call a solar (water heater, photovoltaic, solar thermal) contractor, or a wind energy installer, and begin the process.  In short order, thanks to high commercial energy prices, state and federal tax credits, municipally-based financing programs, leasing options and other “sweeteners” even skeptics can reduce their commercial energy needs and their “carbon footprint.”  Consumers can also take advantage of incentives offered by publicly and privately owned utility companies.  Credits and outright grants are available for residential and commercial lighting retrofits, energy reduction analyses, weatherization technologies, and more.   A visit to your local electrical utility’s website can be the best place to start.

The bad news about the good news is even though we know what to do we have not yet discovered a way and a will to do it.  Every facet of the energy/climate change issue has been politicized and thus paralyzed.  Due in no small part to the efforts of the skeptics and their bogus “concerns” about the state of the global warming science, we are all held hostage as the situation continues to worsen.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could overcome the bickering and dogma?  Nice indeed.

To learn more about the efforts of serious global climate change scientists visit the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change website.  If you're so inclined, you can view and read the data and papers/analyses produced by the panel.

A Google  search consistently returned a site known as Climate Depot at or near the top of the search results.  This site will get you started on an examination of the skeptic’s point of view.

Here is a link to a Google search on contacting a local solar, wind or other renewable energy provider/installer.