As
the world celebrates Earth Day and the signing of the Paris Climate Accord, as
well as the 30th anniversary of Chernobyl and the 5th of
Fukushima, I write this to summarize some of my thoughts and beliefs that have
evolved over the past 40+ years. I have
been very fortunate to have had incredible teachers, mentors, and colleagues,
and friends who encouraged me to not only read and learn, but to think
holistically about the environment and the sciences that defined my lifetime
academic career.
This
serious reflection began, when Susan and I were at a special dinner
engagement. I was talking to a couple
from San Diego who were visiting their daughter going to HSU. The woman said I looked familiar, and (what
happens a lot) we figured out she took a class from me at College of the
Redwoods in 1975. She said I, and the
class, had a tremendous impact on her life; mainly because she had written a
paper for the class on which I had given her an “A.” She went on to explain the significance of this in so many ways. The title of the project was “global warming
and climate change.” Now this was 1975,
pre-Internet, and pre-Al Gore! The only
way to do research then was to go to the library and physically search through
the available scientific journals and published papers. There were no books written about this,
though she remembers being overwhelmed by the amount of “scientific” material
available. The consensus she concluded
was that the burning of fossil fuels, namely oil, coal, and natural gas,
released excess carbon into the atmosphere that impacted the heat exchange
balances in the global environment; and this man-made activity threatened
serious known and unknown changes that could impact our current
civilization. All this research was
coming from the top scientists at most of the global oil companies and trade
associations, with little coming from governments or NGO entities.
Fast
forward to today, or actually 1990, when the first UN Intergovernmental Panel
on Climate Change report came out actually delineating the magnitude of causes
and impacts of climate change. I was
extremely interested, since I had a tiny part in the writing of this huge
document (my colleague Peter and I were hired to researched potential aspects
of renewable energy…I looked into hydrogen.)
I remember watching the Today Show when a spokesman for the ICPP tried
to summarize the enormous diversity of information in under three minutes. The program then shifted to another
scientist who basically said all HIS research proved that the IPCC was totally
wrong and they were just trying to scare people. This was the infamous Pat Michaels, then a professor at the
University of Maryland, later at University of Virginia, and now chief
spokesman for the Heritage Foundation.
He was/is one of the 3% or so of “experts” who have received millions of
dollars from Exxon/Mobil, the Koch Brothers, The American Petroleum Institute,
etc. to lie, misconstrue, mis-state…whatever it takes/took to confuse and
brainwash the public as to the real dangers of climate change, and the
positive, economically and socially benefiting ways it could be mitigated.
This
was the beginning, and it’s all coming to light today, with not only
Exxon/Mobil, but Shell, BP, most of the fossil trade organizations, and a myriad
of “non-profit” policy associations slowly being identified and called out for
their callous terrorist actions on the global population. It truly is the “greatest hoax on mankind.” All to protect profits. A handful of
individuals…the Kochs, Lee Raymond, Roy Tillerson, and other big money
conservatives pooled their wealth and power and literally bought and paid
politicians, the media, and anyone else they felt they could use…it’s pretty
well laid out in the recent very interesting book “Dark Money” by Jane
Mayer.
My
student and I talked some time about this…it is so overwhelming. That paper in my class had a huge
impact. The concept of how chemicals in
our environment can impact life processes led her to eventually get a Master’s
in chemistry and a 30-year career in environmental chemistry work. Her husband is a medical researcher, and
their daughter is studying natural resources at HSU.
Does a butterfly flapping its wings in Brazil
impact us here on the Northcoast? What
if I had given her a “C” on the paper?
