Sowers: Another (better) story about climate change

The idea that climate change is just natural is wrong. Not when it is happening as fast as it is now.”

Dr. Arthur E. Sowers is a retired research professor in the departments of Biophysics and Pathology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. He is a resident of Harbeson.

I would like to praise Beth Chajes’ excellent Opinion, “Drivers of climate change differ over time,” compared to Dr. David R. Legates’ contrived, misinformed and misleading Opinion, “Which came first, CO2 or air temperature?” Chajes made reference to earlier details of climatology and geology, which roughly agree with what I recall from my own prior readings. Chajes was rightly supporting the idea that climate change is serious and the idea that it is man-made. My Opinion, here, is aimed at the same two ideas but travels over a different starting path to get to the same conclusion. You only need about a half-hour to look at five things from the internet to prove that climate change is a serious problem and, currently, is man-made.

Three things are graphs of data for the last 50-100 years. These are: (1.) measures of carbon dioxide concentration increase in the atmosphere, (2.) global average temperature increase, and (3.) sea level rise. These graphs are easy to find, and all you need to do is type in keyword strings into your web browser. The first word in the keyword string should be “image” (or “graph”), and you will get those graphs. They are all curving upward, instead of going straight. It means things will get worse sooner.

You can get the fourth thing with an internet search on the string: “climate change insurance crisis.” The links will connect you to websites on recent vastly increased damage from climate change-induced storms and other extreme weather, which is already here. The insurance sector of our economy is really getting a bad jolt from this. Lots of people can no longer afford insurance because rates have gone up a lot.

The fifth thing is opposition to efforts to control climate change. It is based on misinformation and disinformation on the internet (see desmog.org). Opposition to renewable energy projects will just slow down our transition to a low- or zero-emission energy economy. This will make life worse, and worse sooner, for future generations.

The idea that climate change is just natural is wrong. Not when it is happening as fast as it is now. Out of global temperature graphs (off the internet) going back 1 million years, the fastest temperature changes are all less than 1 degree Celsius in 10,000 years. We are now experiencing a more than 1 degree rise in less than 200 years. The natural cycle has been in near balance for many, many years. Climate deniers just cannot seem to understand that, in the last 200 years, the burning of gazillions of tons of coal, oil and gas has caused the artificial addition of gazillions of tons of extra carbon dioxide to that natural carbon cycle.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.