Climate Change: Which Way Does the Wind Blow?

When I was in Antarctica in 2004 one of the most striking things I experienced, beyond the unimaginable beauty of that part of the world, was the sustained cacophony of ice breaking off icebergs.  The ocean is warming up.

When the ocean covers 72% of the planet, any change that is sustained in the ocean affects the globe.  As Mayor Bloomberg voiced this week, whether this warming of the oceans is due to carbon emissions in our atmosphere or not, we need to pay attention to it and what science can tell us about it. I know, we are not a country known to be governed by science, but we need to make amends in that arena.  Our ability to stay competitive on a world stage depends on it.  It is ironic that we are known throughout the world as innovation leaders and yet 46% of Americans still believe in creationism.

One thing that is clear is that warmer ocean water will translate into more favorable conditions for hurricanes.  I laugh when opponents to climate change say that the aftermath of a super hurricane is not the time to talk about it--we are a world that is all about what is in the headlines now.  If not now, when?  Should we continue to keep our heads in the sand?  Or is it more nefarious than that?  There is just too much money in oil and coal to give it up, politically speaking.  If you want to get to Washington and stay there, you need to follow that money and renewable energy is just not going to be the wind beneath your sails as a candidate, so to speak.  So until we have no fossil fuels left we are likely stuck with them. 

So what to do in the meantime?  One is to stop subsidizing our decline.  Reduce then eliminate tax breaks for oil and coal production.  Study and then enforce clean water standards on the oil fracking industry--make sure they don't use all our potable water for dirty energy.  Water is the next crisis on the planet, so plan for the future.  Increase subsidies to green energy--something that the GOP has sneered at, but it needs to be done, none-the-less.  In Iowa we generate almost 20% of our electricity with wind.  You can too.  And then let's fix the energy grid in this country--update it, make it more amenable to sharing resources and less vulnerable to failure or sabotage.  Finally, let's bury the power lines.  If hurricanes aren't going away, let's at least plan for them.