How would you answer the question? I see the pending disaster in Southwest Florida as additional evidence of climate change. To me it’s obvious. Others, however, would answer by asking me to give them a break. They would remind me that hurricanes are nothing new. They would also ask me for evidence of a direct causal connection between climate change and hurricane Ian. Unfortunately, I don’t think that’s possible. Even Al Gore would struggle to find a credible answer.
So why do I think Hurricane Ian is telling us something? It’s because we have had a year of heat waves, forest fires, and record cold snaps. We have also had a year of video showing the Greenland ice cap melt and listened to scientists talk to us about the sea level rising.
The message about climate change has been received by the Democrats. The so-called Inflation Reduction Act includes large appropriations to address climate change. I applaud President Biden for his win on the bill.
Republicans, unfortunately, did not get the memo. Have you read Republican Leader McCarthy’s “Commitment to America?” It is supposed to be a set of promises to the American people to be delivered on if the Republicans win control of Congress. When I read it, I looked for something on climate change. I didn’t find one. Republicans want America to energy independent and build a wall on the Mexican border in the hope of stemming illegal immigration. Climate change, to them, is less important that those and the other issues addressed in the plan.
For several years I have wondered what it will take to get conservatives to accept the reality that climate change is an existential threat to our future. Do we need a category six hurricane? Or more “heat domes?” I don’t know but am struggling to continue to believe that some time soon, some time before it is too late, that a national consensus will emerge that will prompt government action that will make last month’s Inflation Reduction Act look small.
In thinking about climate change this week, I also thought about what issues have trumped it this past year. The answer is Trump, his big lie, and efforts to those responsible for January 6 accountable. I wonder, had Donald Trump simply walked away from the presidency after losing the 2020 election, would the nation have had a different conversation, a conversation about climate change, racial equity and justice, and public health? I suspect we would.
I have also noticed the last couple of days that there is more news about Hurricane Ian than there is about Trump. Even the final hearing of the House Select Committee on the January 6 Attack on the Capitol has been postponed.
I had planned to spend this afternoon watching the January 6 hearing. I was looking forward, in a perverse sort of way, to watching the teased excerpts of Roger Stone’s documentary about January 6. I expected to see more “bombshells” proving Trump’s involvement in the insurrection. Instead, my TV will be tuned to the Weather Channel. I dread seeing storm surges of up to 12 feet in an area of Florida that I visit regularly.
I will be thinking about climate change. Hurricane Ian is telling us that there something out there even more important than holding Trump and others accountable for their crimes. That something is addressing climate change.
J.E. Dean is a retired attorney and public affairs consultant writing on politics, government, and other subjects.
Deirdre LaMotte says
It is not either/or. One saves our democracy, the other the planet. I think we are capable
of doing both.
John Dean says
Thank you for your comment. I agree. We are capable of doing both.
Bob Moores says
Of the seven people in my regular emailing circle, two always vote Republican no matter the issue. Both think that climate change (global heating) is no more than a normal cycle which will, at some point, reverse to being a cooling cycle just as it has done in the past. The more-scientific-thinking friend believes that human activity may contribute to the problem in a small degree; the other thinks humans do not contribute at all. Both are deeply religious Christians who believe that God created Earth to be our home with some sort of long-term warranty contingent solely upon belief, not in ecological caretaking.
Why should climate change be a partisan issue? I don’t get it. How can people deny that global heating and its associated effects are occurring? Is it the frog-in-the-cooking -pot syndrome, where the effects are coming on too slowly and are not dramatic enough to affect you personally? If you care to check the science, how we humans are heating Earth (increasing the greenhouse effect) by burning fossil fuels and cutting down trees you would understand that WE are the problem.
We can do something about it, but only if enough of us recognize it and care enough to address it by whatever means we are capable.
You’re right, John. All the news items that dominate our attention day-to-day pale to insignificance compared to the threat we face from our planet-heating activities. The question is: Do we care about our human descendants? The bacteria will be just fine.
Patricia Heaps says
Well, I guess even a hurricane can have a silver lining if it alleviated your TDS and “insurrection” anxiety.
To say it’s just Republicans who don’t find it “important” is disengenuous. In the Monmouth University poll of September 25 , climate change came in tenth in a list of twelve issues important to voters. The top five issues were inflation, crime, elections & voting, jobs/unemployment and immigration. Ask anyone if they are doing better now than they were two years ago and that’s where you’ll find what’s important to voters. Contrary to what you want to believe, climate change and Trump are not that important when you’re struggling to fill your car and feed your family. You didn’t specify how “large appropriations” included in the Inflation Reduction Act (snicker) are going to combat climate change but given the times we live in and the administration in charge, one can only wonder. We can be glad it’s not “top of mind” for most voters.