Clyde Burnett, Peak to Peak. We have leadership in Congress and the administration that demonstrates lack of education in science. They ignore published scientific facts of global warming, melting Arctic Sea ice, melting Greenland, Antarctic ice, ice from all our glaciers, warming oceans with sea level rise and extreme weather.  (And for extremes see triple digit temperatures, feet of rainfall, acres of floodwater and immense tropical storms. See photo) These demonstrate the planet’s energy imbalance from enhanced atmospheric greenhouse effect, caused by the extra heat trapping of a 48 percent increase of atmospheric CO2 since the industrial revolution.

We have an electorate whose decisions have been dominated by voters who favor the economic propaganda of the fossil fuel industries and their friends. (There may be others who understand the science, but they did not vote.)

In political news, I find little discussion about the scientificically urgent need to stop CO2 emission. We have Democratic presidential candidates who generally promise to reinstate the climate corrections of Obama that were abolished by Trump. But very little talk of further response to scientific need to prevent a disastrous climate for our children and grandchildren. Do candidates and voters understand?  

We had 400 ppm CO2 at the time of my February 2015 column and now 415 in June 2019. To increase another 35 ppm to reach 450 ppm with 2 C and greater disasters we will need only about 10 more years!  So, make a major increase in savings for adaptation to wildfires and floods (but continue investing in solar panels and energy conservation).  

(Originally published in the June 20, 2019, print edition of The Mountain-Ear.)