Climate

Nov. 9 2014

There’s an old joke told by west coast residents when asked about the rain:

“Doesn’t it rain a lot out there?”

“Only rains twice a year.”

“Twice a year?”

“Yup.  Once for two months and once for four months.  Twice a year.”

Today it rained for two months.  At least that’s what it felt like.  But for all that, it’s reassuring that the weather here is sticking close to form, it sure doesn’t appear to be doing that in other places.  The litany of Once in a Century global weather events is long and growing—years of drought in Southern California, record rains in Britain, record heat in Australia,  snowfall in Jerusalem. 

Yet as all this happens, as seas rise and glaciers thaw, we remain embroiled in a debate over whether the climate is changing, and if it is, whether or not human activity is a significant factor.  Really?  The argument is that because there might be a doubt about whether what humans are doing is making matters worse, we’re going to do nothing!  Shouldn’t it be that if there is any chance that humans are contributing to the problem, we should be doing whatever we can to stop?

And if matters aren’t bad enough, after this week’s election in the U.S. there’s a good chance that Republican climate-denial cheerleader James Inhofe is going to be made chair of the Senate Committee on the Environment.  Add this to the inevitability that the Republican Congress will approve the Keystone pipeline to carry millions of barrels of tar sand oil through the American heartland.

Ain’t we a grand species.