The Future Is Now

Climate change has always seemed like seem distant science fictional disaster that will happen in the distant future. Well, the future is now. It is 2014, after all.

The National Climate Assessment released Tuesday reports that climate change is already affecting the United States, as well as the rest of the world. It is being manifested not only by rising temperatures across most, though not all, the country (sixty degrees in Alaska in January), but also by increasingly heavy rains (in Florida), deadlier tornadoes that occur earlier in the season, heavier snowfalls (like last winter's, due in part to more water vapor in the atmosphere from reduced arctic ice), flooding in many parts of the country, rising sea levels (hitting Florida again), severe drought in California, the West and parts of Texas, and so on.

Some Minnesota counties have even been declared both flood and drought disaster areas in the same year: last year we got hammered by torrential downpours in the spring, but then it didn't rain for the rest of the summer.

Climate change doesn't just affect the weather: stronger storms are destroying billions of dollars of property and killing more people every year, and higher temperatures are causing more sickness and death due to heatstroke, insect-borne diseases, and asthma.

The response to these events from the right is typical: first they deny that it's happening, then they claim these events are part of the natural cycle, then they claim that humans have nothing to do with it, then they say that increased temperatures and carbon dioxide levels will be somehow "good" for us, then they say it would be too costly to act. Then they say that we'll just adapt if it happens. Well, it's happening. Now.

The Heartland Institute is typical, claiming that higher CO2 levels from burning coal and oil make plants grow faster. This is true by itself, however higher temperatures will decrease crop yields, as well as evaporate water from the soil faster, causing more drought and decreasing yields far more than higher CO2 levels will increase them. The final nail in the coffin is that crops grown in high CO2 levels are less nutritious.

All of these problems are due to our burning fossil fuels faster than the earth's systems can reabsorb the CO2 produced. Yet only 40% of Americans believe that climate change is a serious threat. That low number is due mostly to conservatives, who doubt it for solely economic reasons. Even though dealing with climate change now will save us trillions of dollars even in the short to medium term.

Reducing our dependence on fossil fuels would also reduce the real-world power of bad actors like Putin in Russia, the Wahabis of Saudi Arabia, the ayatollahs in Iran, the nut-jobs in Venezuela, and the Koch brothers in the US, who are trying to buy every election in the country (even going after a zoo in Ohio).

Stanford's decision to divest its endowment from coal companies is a good first step. Coal is the worst source of energy, dirty and deadly at every phase (just ask China, with its mining disasters and pollution problems). We should be phasing out every coal-fired power plant on earth.

Higher CO2 levels are raising sea levels, increasing temperatures and flooding, and causing more powerful storms. Our quest for more oil and gas is even causing earthquakes. Yet many conservatives call climate change a "hoax," at the same time blithely blaming natural disasters on gay pride parades and abortion.

The writing is on the wall: climate change is real, and is happening right now. Luckily, we currently have the money and resources to make the transition away from fossil fuels. But if we wait until the effects of climate change get really bad, we'll be too busy digging out from the latest flood, hurricane, tornado or mudslide, or fighting wars caused by drought, famine and resource shortages.

Yes, we can adapt to future climate change. The future is now. So now is the time to do something about it.