Climate Change: Attitude is everything.

Most have gotten their minds around the concept of Global Warming, for our planet is indeed warming up. Granted, it has taken awhile for scientists and environmentalists to convince the public that this is so and now only but a few of the most entrenched say publicly that Global Warming is nothing but a hoax. (One is the out-going leader of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works.) But many, and that includes the present administration, has not Got It! Present Global Warming is due to mankind’s footprints, that is, industry, fossil fuels being burnt up far faster than the normal carbon cycle.

Why is this important that the education of our public officials, lawyers, and the public go to the next level on Global Warming? Because if you don’t get it that man is causing this present leap in global warming gases like carbon dioxide and methane, then you don’t act. You believe that were just going through a normal climate trend and there’s nothing we can do because climate just changes. (Though, that too is a spurious argument, because regardless of the cause, if our planet is warming up quickly the consequences of that will affect us nonetheless.)
Anyway, it matters that you understand and find evidence that present Global Warming is due to mankind because you will believe that it is possible to reverse the effects. In New York State the effects could mean the lowering of the Great Lakes water level, the reduction of hydroelectric power, having summers like Georgia, the increase of diseases like Lyme disease, malaria, and West Nile Virus, much less snowfall, the possible destruction of the wine and maple syrup businesses, and many more days of temperatures over 90 degrees. [Read: Forcast For New York: Projected Global Warming Impacts & Next Steps, by the Environmental Advocates of New York.]

So, we need to take the threat of Global Warming to the next level. We need not throw up our hands and give up, but realize that our actions—driving cars and heating our by houses—by burning fossil fuels are the cause of the dramatic increase in our planet’s greenhouse gases. And act, by voting for responsible politicians who ‘get it.’ By buying more fuel efficient furnaces and automobiles and educating our friends and anyone who will listen to us that we are living in extraordinary times where we are responsible for the environment that our children will inhabit. Your attitude towards Global Warming in the next ten years will make the difference.

Here’s the beginning statement by the Pew Center for Climate Change SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE OF HUMAN ROLE IN CLIMATE CHANGE GROWS ---Read a concise summary of the latest strong evidence that greenhouse gases released by human activities are the main cause of contemporary global warming The Causes of Global Climate Change (PDF): “During the twentieth century, the earth’s surface warmed by about 1.4 °F. There are a variety of potential causes for global climate change, including both natural and human-induced mechanisms. Science has made great strides recently in determining which potential causes are actually responsible for the climate change that occurred during the twentieth century, providing strong evidence that greenhouse gases released to the atmosphere by human activities are the main cause of contemporary global warming.”

The Vision that changed some of us into environmentalists.

There was that photograph from one of the Apollo trips to the moon, where an astronaut turned and shot a photo of Earth rising at the moon. Thousands saw a new way at looking at our planet, large and brimming with life, off the horizon of its dead moon. But, perhaps a more significant photograph was that that Carl Saga had an unmanned probe take of Earth from much further way in our solar system, which made Earth look like a “Pale Blue Dot.”

This vision of a small, delicate planet in a bad (lots of asteroids) part of our solar system in a distant part of our galaxy, among billions of galaxies, made our planet look tiny and vulnerable. As far as we know, there’s nothing else like Earth. And, there’s nothing else like Earth at this moment in history when conditions are ripe for mankind, which given its four billion-year history, hasn’t been so hospitable.

Granted a vision is just a glimpse, not a comprehensive argument that, for example, our planet is in great environmental trouble. Nevertheless, a small vibrant planet out there all by itself amidst countless suns and dead worlds has compelled some of us to think we ought not to take chance with our environment—which is only a narrow band of all possible environments in which our species can thrive.

So anyway, you can request a transcript of this discussion with the late Dr. Sagan from Science Friday, but you can also listen to the program as a podcast from Science Friday. Or you can order the "Pale Blue Dot : A Vision of the Human Future in Space." Ballantine Books, 1997. –from Amaon.com.

We need more Environmental Studies

One of RochesterEnvironment.com’s stated goals is “To increase independent and objective studies of our environment to find out the affect of industrial pollution, sprawl, invasive species and other assaults that would affect our environment.” –from About Rochester Environment.com. For we cannot possibly solve the question, is our species living sustainably? if we do not know what effects our human footprints are having on the planet. By footprints, I mean the effects of our industrial chemicals, the wholesale changes in our air, the paving over of our planet, etc.

Right now, most of the information we get about the condition of our environment comes from the industries that pollute. That is because most governments cannot afford to conduct emission tests and objective studies that would give us honest, objective feedback about what is actually going into our environment and what effect these chemicals are having. Though, there are hints that massive amounts of chemicals—like the pharmaceutical drugs we dump down our toilets cause endocrine changes in fish and amphibians—are wreaking havoc on various ecospheres. Of course, universities and governments and environmental groups and scientists with grants, also conduct objective studies on our environment.

But along with that, you can help with environmental studies by joining EarthWatch. “Earthwatch Institute is an international non-profit organization that brings science to life for people concerned about the Earth's future. Founded in 1971, Earthwatch supports scientific field research by offering volunteers the opportunity to join research teams around the world. This unique model is creating a systematic change in how the public views science and its role in environmental sustainability.”

I am not associated with EarthWatch in any way; I just think that this group offers an excellent opportunity for ordinary people to be a part of the job of collecting information the rest of us need to make decisions about our environment. The days when we can leave Nature alone to do what Nature does are over. Humans have affected the climate, water quality, and introduced chemicals never before experience by our environment or natural chemicals in concentrations never before experience by our species in the five or seven million years or so since we have been around. Carbon Dioxide, for example, has been in Earth’s atmosphere in higher concentrations in earlier times, maybe billions of years ago, but our species wasn’t breathing it. We need our atmosphere to be where it is today, not where it was billions of years ago.