Say You're Sorry

I found this commentary while perusing the Internet tonight. Written by Peter H. Gleick of the Pacific Institute, I thought the editorial summed up many of my feelings nicely.

"My kids deserve an apology from the global warming “skeptics.” For longer than my kids have been alive, these skeptics have intentionally muddied the climate change debate, confusing the public, misleading policymakers, and successfully delaying any meaningful action to develop solutions. Thanks to their actions we are now at the point where my children – not to mention the rest of the world – are committed to a radically changed planet.

Their world is going to be hotter than our world, unbearably so in some places. The weather is going to be more violent and less predictable. Precipitation patterns will be different, leading to increased flooding in some areas and droughts in others. Snowpack in the mountains is going to shrink and glaciers are going to disappear. It will be harder to grow enough food or provide enough fresh water for all. Entire ecosystems will be threatened; with humans, animals, and plants struggling to adjust. Indeed, global climate change is already here and it looks worse than we anticipated.

Climate scientists have sounded the alarm for decades. Mostly a restrained and careful lot – they overemphasize uncertainties and are reluctant or inexperienced when it comes to talking to policymakers. But some have risked careers to stir politicians out of their complacency. Yet for every vocal climate scientist there has been a well-orchestrated response from a small, well-funded band of self-described skeptics. This response hasn’t played out in the scientific literature, a forum of research and data and debate, but on Shout Television and in other forums that substitute quips, showmanship, hyperbole, and conjecture for substantial discussion.

Skeptics have engaged in a deliberate effort to cast doubt on climate models, on actual data from measurements, and even on the integrity of climate scientists themselves. Their efforts have had an effect: a March ABC News/Time/Stanford poll reported that 64% of the American public believes that scientists disagree with one another about global warming. Even more telling, while 46% of Democrats and 45% of independents are certain that climate change is happening, only 26% of Republicans feel that way. It is the worst example of the politicization of science.

My kids deserve an apology from policymakers as well. In the past few years we’ve seen our government let political hacks edit scientific findings, censor government scientists, and redirect research funds away from efforts to understand the impacts of climate change.

No amount of Wite-Out can hide the evidence that continues to pour in demonstrating that humans are dramatically changing the climate. Actual observations are showing that the problem may actually be much worse than we thought it would be. In our effort not to over-exaggerate the problem, we may have greatly understated it. Changes in the Arctic and Antarctica are accelerating. Sea levels appear to be rising faster than anticipated. There isn’t a single oceanographer or coastal zone hydrologist who thinks that a sea-level rise of even a few feet is a good thing, but almost all of them agree that a more extreme rise of 10 to 20 feet – now apparently a serious possibility – would be a global catastrophe. Instead of an aberration, New Orleans may be tragic foreshadowing for other coastal cities and towns.

If there is any good news, it is that the tide of opinion is slowly changing. Despite skeptics’ best efforts a large majority of the American public – 88% – now thinks that global warming threatens future generations. It is not too late for our leaders to follow this sentiment. I’d accept real action in lieu of an apology from our politicians. As for the skeptics, my kids’ apology is overdue."