Global Warming: Through a Glass Darkly

The Washington DC Sierra Club Symposium on Climate Recovery brought more alarming news about global warming. More carbon is being consumed and increasing amounts of CO2 are being emitted. Temperatures are rising, as is the sea level. Plant and animal species are dying. The pace of deforestation and desertification is increasing. Humans are threatened with extinction. The question that vexed the symposium participants was how best to convey this horrendous information to the Obama administration; how to get them to take action when they are consumed by other problems.

Recent polls indicate that while Americans are concerned about the environment and global climate change, it’s not their primary focus. The latest Pew Research poll shows environmental concerns ranked 16th after “Strengthening the nation’s economy,” “Improving the job situation,” “Defending the country from future terrorist attacks,” and other issues. Human life is in peril but we aren’t paying attention.

Given current public sentiment, it might be argued that environmentalists should wait their turn until the Obama Administration works its way down its list of priorities and eventually gets to number 16. The problem with this passive approach is that by the time global warming’s number comes up, irreparable damage will have been done. For example, once the artic ice cap is gone, devastating climate changes will be unleashed: vast areas of the US will be rendered uninhabitable and horrific storms will be far more frequent.

As the Sierra Club Symposium participants wrestled with this grim reality, they recognized two important synergies. The first is that the issue of global warming is tightly coupled with national energy policy.

Smirking Chimp