By Jeb Bladine • President / Publisher • 

Whatchamacolumn: Presidential campaign ignores climate change

Here’s a bit of political contradiction:

A majority of Americans (52 percent), taken from a September 2023 opinion survey by The Chicago Council on Global Affairs, “see climate change as a critical threat to the vital interests of the United States in the next 10 years.”

And yet, after a presidential debate in which neither candidate had much to say about greenhouse gas emissions or bolstering clean energy, climate historian Leah Aronowski was quoted by ABC News saying, “I think what we learned last night is that climate really is not on the ballot this fall.”

Here in the Northwest, where climate-driven catastrophes are rare, we still can mourn the loss of life, property destruction and community devastation from Hurricane Helene. We can be shocked by reports this week that FEMA lacks sufficient funding to get through the current hurricane season.

Whatchamacolumn

Jeb Bladine is president and publisher of the News-Register.

> See his column

But is climate change even on our personal or lifestyle radar? The most important question this year asks why our two major political parties have such divergent levels of angst over climate change?

Key findings from the 2023 opinion survey include:

Seventy-five percent of Americans feel it is somewhat or very important for the United States to be a world leader in combating climate change; 70 percent favor making businesses pay for environmental modifications in their operations; two-thirds or higher favor mandates on such business practices as recycling, packaging only with recyclable materials and sealing methane gas leaks from oil wells; most support humanitarian, economic and disaster aid to countries disproportionately affected by climate change, while splitting 50-50 on support for accepting climate refugees (51%).

That’s understandable, given decades of communications such as this from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration:

“There is unequivocal evidence that Earth is warming at an unprecedented rate. Human activity is the principal cause … The current warming trend is clearly the result of human activities since the mid-1800s, and is proceeding at a rate not seen over many recent millennia. It is undeniable that human activities have produced the atmospheric gases that have trapped more of the Sun’s energy in the Earth system. This extra energy has warmed the atmosphere, ocean and land, and widespread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean, cryosphere, and biosphere have occurred.”

Here, from the Chicago survey, is where things get weird:

“Eight in 10 Democrats (82%) see climate change as a critical threat, while just 16 percent of Republicans see it the same way; Independents meet them in the middle, at 51 percent. This is the greatest partisan divide (a difference of 66 percentage points) in the perception of the threat posed by climate change ever noted in a Chicago Council Survey.”

Please read that paragraph one more time.

Republican leaders — Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon — championed environmental causes up to the 1970 creation of the federal Environmental Protection Agency. GOP support for those causes, driven by expensive impacts of EPA regulations on business, waned, and opinions about climate change became strategies to retain political power instead of universal concerns about the future of humanity.

For reference, here is the Biden Administration climate page: https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate/. And being unable to locate an official Trump position on climate change, here is one news agency’s report: https://tinyurl.com/TrumpOnClimate.

Americans agree; politicians not so much.

Jeb Bladine can be reached at jbladine@newsregister.com or 503-687-1223.

Comments

Moe

Whatchamacolumn: Presidential campaign ignores climate change

Fair enough. But there can be no legitimate discussion of climate change with including climate engineering:

https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/hurricane-helene-and-frequency-transmissions-90-second-alert/

https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/the-dimming-full-length-climate-engineering-documentary/

https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/uvc-the-sterilization-of-planet-earth-part-one/

mikes

Regarding the Dem vs Rep split. The generational difference on the issue is also pretty wide. Our youth are worried. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2021/05/26/key-findings-how-americans-attitudes-about-climate-change-differ-by-generation-party-and-other-factors/ The old folks may buy that it's the gov-mint that is engineering and controlling the weather. I hope the kids will not be fooled.

Moe

Again, there can be no legitimate discussion of climate change without including climate engineering. While geoengineering can cause local & temporary effects, the overall effect is global, and long term. And in fact, the situation is out of control now, accelerating with earth feedback loops triggered, which are by definition highly nonlinear - meaning changes coming blindingly fast.

The collapsing ozone layer is certainly global, and factors such as rocket launches also contribute. This by itself is an existential threat due to increased UVB & now the appearance of UVC:

https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/uvc-the-sterilization-of-planet-earth-part-one/

There may be some regional differences in perceptions, where the northeast has been kept anomalously cool and wet, while the west, especially the southwest, bakes and is in drought under engineered high pressure heat domes.

Fiddler

Will it matter in 30 years? We’re running out of oil and water. Oregon is running out of water. Farmers are poisoning waterways, the ground, and us. This one we can fix faster than climate change, but limiting water usage for farming, golf courses, lawns, car washes (at home, too), and so on. Once we get a handle on conserving water, we can wrestle with climate change. Although, in earth’s long ago past the methane situation was much worse and we’re still here. We won’t be next time if we don’t have water.

Otis

Current atmospheric CO2 levels are at around 420ppm. Pre-industrial age CO2 levels in ice cores are about 280ppm. Amounts of CO2 in your house can be measured easily by anyone that cares to do it by purchasing a meter on amazon.com

You can build a spreadsheet and track your own CO2 levels in your house if you wish.

If you care to see 50+ years of accurate measurements from Mauna Loa then take a peek at

https://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/

Also, shouldn't there be a massive uptick on this curve showing the effects of when climate engineering began?

Moe

Hurricanes & Geoengineering! Douglas McGregor & Dane Wigington

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OqZUZADO5E

Moe

Pay attention:

Geoengineering Watch Global Alert News, October 12, 2024, #479

https://www.geoengineeringwatch.org/geoengineering-watch-global-alert-news-october-12-2024-479/

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