Environment Global Warming
Global Warming
What Global Warming?
Written by Shawn Dell Joyce Thursday, 25 February 2010 14:52
I’m writing this in the midst of yet another snow storm, with a few inches still piled up from the last one. Many people have taken this opportunity to wag their fingers and say “What global warming?!”
Pulitzer prize-winning columnist Thomas Friedman coined the term “global weirding” last week to replace the misleading phrase “global warming.” While the earth has warmed a degree, and is projected to warm quicker than natural over the next century, most of us are not feeling very warm today.
Our weather is indeed weird with massive snow in the South, and rain at the Winter Olympics in Canada. Australia is having a record 13-year drought, and Texas ended a drought this winter with massive snow storms. As a matter of fact, Texas got snow this year before New York did.
What does all this prove or disprove? Nothing. “Climate is what we expect and weather is what we get,” according to NASA. We have only been collecting data on weather for the past 100 years, and trends in climate are measured in thousands of years. A single weather event; like a hurricane, or a spell of unusual weather; like snow in Texas, may be unprecedented; but still within the “normal” range.
What is actually happening to our climate is right in line with predicted climate change models; some parts of the earth are experiencing drought while flooding happens elsewhere simultaneously. Storms are more severe, summers are hotter, spring comes earlier, and polar ice is diminishing.
Many old timers in my region of New York remember waist-high snow drifts and ice skating to school on frozen rivers. We haven’t seen a REAL severe winter in a while if you talk to those who actually lived through them. Some of us tourists (residents who haven’t lived here 20 years yet) quake in fear at the thought of a N’oreaster.
Climate change cannot be proven or disproven by unusual weather patterns.
Whether one actually believes in human-driven climate change, or not, has become irrelevant. The truth is that we all have to eat, and breathe, and both things are becoming more difficult as our population swells and resources become tight. If you care about clean air, water, and food security, than we have enough common ground to rebuild our country with green energy and localized economies.
We sorely need industry in our country, and unfortunately, most of it has been outsourced overseas. Renewable energy, energy efficiency, Cultural Tourism, and other similar industries are the only ones that can’t be completely outsourced because they are place-based. You can’t wrap up an apartment building and send it to China for weatherization. That is something that has to be done here, by a trained local person.
Friedman writes; “I suspect China is quietly laughing at us right now. And Iran, Russia, Venezuela and the whole OPEC gang are high-fiving each other. Nothing better serves their interests than to see Americans becoming confused about climate change, and, therefore, less inclined to move toward clean-tech and, therefore, more certain to remain addicted to oil.”
Let’s stop debating each other and actually do something for a change. Let’s get America back on her feet and into the green millennium so that our kids and grandkids stand a chance. Support renewable energy, and move our country away from imported oil. Create jobs here by supporting small local businesses and farms.
Shawn Dell Joyce is an award-winning columnist and founder of the Wallkill River School in Orange County, N.Y. You can contact her at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . To find out more about Shawn Dell Joyce and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.
International Day of Climate Action
Last Updated on Sunday, 22 November 2009 16:57 Written by Shawn Dell Joyce and GHV Sunday, 22 November 2009 16:32
The number 350 seems so innocent, so small, so prime, and human-scaled you can picture it in your mind. Not like those inconceivable numbers; the trillions which measure the national debt, or billions which measure world population, or millions which measure the carbon in the atmosphere.
350 parts per million (ppm) is the "safe" level of carbon emissions in the atmosphere according to NASA scientist James Hansen. We are currently at 385ppm. “Safe” meaning avoiding the most disastrous effects of climate change like sea level rise that swallows the world’s coastlines, and a radical redistribution of ground water making farmlands into deserts. Basically, we are making our home inhospitable to humans and most other species on our planet.
In Hansen’s words; “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385ppm to at most 350ppm.” What Hansen is warning us about is that we have overshot the climate’s ability to maintain the temperature range our species needs to thrive.
Saturday, October 24, was the most widespread day of environmental action in the planet's history. "The International Day of Climate Action covered almost every country on earth, with big rallies in big cities, and incredible creative actions across the globe: mountain climbers on our highest peaks with banners, underwater demonstrations in island nations threatened by sea level rise, churches and mosques and synagogues and ashrams engaged in symbolic action, star athletes organized mass bike rides—and hundreds upon hundreds of community events raised awareness of the need for urgent action," according to organizers.
These 3700 actions in 162 countries highlighted the number 350, and the message that we must find creative ways to reduce carbon in the atmosphere now. "We are like the patient who goes to the Doctor and is told his cholesterol is too high," says the 350.org website. "We don't die right away, instead, we change our lifestyle to get back down to the safe zone."
For a carbon-fat country like ours to get back to the 350 safe zone means transforming ourselves. "It means building solar arrays instead of coal plants, it means planting trees instead of clear-cutting rainforests, it means increasing efficiency and decreasing our waste," says the 350 organizers.
Part of the impetus for the International Day of Climate Action was the global treaty currently being hashed out in time for signing at the United Nations Climate Negotiations in Copenhagen this December. Copenhagen may well be the pivotal moment that determines whether or not we get the planet out of the climate crisis, and many activist believe the current treaty to be too weak to reduce current emissions to the 350 safety zone.
"People need to understand that 350 marks either success or failure for these climate negotiations," note organizers. "We think the voice of ordinary people will be heard, if it's loud enough."
Want to find a 350 action near you or start one up? Visit 350.org.
Embracing Climate Change
Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 September 2009 18:37 Written by Shawn Dell Joyce Wednesday, 02 September 2009 18:37
After twenty-five years of denial and debate, Congress is finally drafting a climate change bill in response to the largest outpouring of grassroots activism since the civil rights movement.
Green Stimulus Plan for the New President
Last Updated on Wednesday, 02 September 2009 18:54 Written by Shawn Dell Joyce Tuesday, 01 September 2009 19:56
Forty-nine of the world's developing nations pledged to curb emissions in a move that should make the U.S. blush at our own recalcitrance. China, which surpassed the U.S. as the world's largest CO2 emitter in 2008, is now the world's leader in reforestation and other carbon-reducing strategies. Probably the most optimism was reserved for the U.S. delegation and the fact that our country has been absent from the negotiating table for much of this process.
