The real threat of climate change

The burning of fossil fuels first powered the Industrial Revolution, then helped create our modern societies. Along with all the positive impacts for our quality of life, carbon power has also created consequences now posing threats to all life on Earth.

Even if climate change consequences are not considered, millions suffer and tens of thousands die each year from fossil fuel’s impacts on our air and water – oil spills that drench sea life with oil, oil rig explosions, pipeline ruptures and mining accidents.

Dramatic changes in climate predicted by scientific computer modeling are already being observed. Air emissions are contributing to ocean acidification, threatening all sea life, which you can see now in fragile coral reefs.

So it is distressing that society continues to fiddle while people die and Earth burns.

The rise in average global temperatures and sea levels, the loss of ice mass, and animal migration due to habitat loss are all consistent with predictions from these models. More frightening is the evidence that feedback mechanisms are accelerating the changes, increasing the need for immediate action.

Seventy percent of physicians say they already see negative health impacts due to climate change. The World Health Organization says 250,000 people will die as a result of climate change each year from 2030 to 2050. Rising sea levels are threatening all coastal populations and facilities, including Bay Area airports. Wildfires and drought are on the increase.

Carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere has increased from 2.8 in every 10,000 molecules to 4.0 in 10,000. Some say humans are incapable of changing atmospheric composition, but consider the numbers. Human production of CO2 over the past 200 years is comparable to the total amount of CO2 in the atmosphere, and as a result has already raised the CO2 percentage by 40 percent.

Antarctic ice core samples dating back 800,000 years show peaks of Antarctic temperatures similar to or even slightly higher than the present. Carbon dioxide concentrations paralleled and enhanced those temperature changes, which were driven by sun and orbital cycles. The current situation is entirely different as human-produced carbon dioxide is about to double the amount of CO2 in the air – even for periods of high Antarctic temperatures.

The science is extremely strong that this increase (similar to putting an extra blanket around the Earth), along with other gases such as methane, will cause detrimental temperature increases.

But many are so blinded by ideology that they ignore overwhelming evidence that human-caused climate change is real.

I fear they haven’t seen the evidence. An extensive Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies survey reveals that most climate-change naysayers fail a climate-change knowledge test while advocates have a high pass rate.

Naysayers can believe what they want, but opinions should not be confused with conclusions drawn from data and evidence.

Even as climate change endangers the lives of their grandchildren, the actions and influence of the naysayers are inhibiting efforts necessary to confront challenges we must overcome.

A better understanding of climate change is the most important step in meeting the challenge.

Society often acts only in times of observable crises. Unfortunately, the causes of climate change have been accumulating for 200 years and will take decades to reverse. If we wait until this crisis is full blown, it will be too late to avoid the terrifying consequences.

For climate-change believers, saying “I told you so” won’t be gratifying.

Fossil fuels are harmful in many ways and must be phased out. Climate change just amplifies the need for urgent action. Cap and trade is a significant step, but we need a discussion about the merits of a carbon fee and dividend as promoted by the Climate Change Lobby in Modesto and across the nation.

Start by requiring solar panels for all new construction.

In very short periods of time, the Manhattan and Apollo projects achieved improbable goals. It is time for our country and the world to start a project that would seek alternatives to fossil fuels. A couple of potential examples are nuclear fusion and artificial photosynthesis.

We need to increase our understanding of climate change (mark your calendar for a minisymposium on climate change at Modesto Junior College on April 15). Most climate change advocates are ready and willing to have civil discussions of the issues.

A Native American proverb says, “We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children.”

We are returning the Earth in poor shape to our children. We need to take action to make it right.

This story was originally published September 22, 2015 at 2:57 PM with the headline "The real threat of climate change."