when bill talks, i listen

Anyone who reads this knows that I admire Bill McKibben a great deal. I pretty much post links to every article he publishes, and today will be no different. He has an article in the Jan/Feb 2009 issue of Foreign Policy in which he debunks many of the sayings you hear on the street about climate change.

Why is this so important to make you aware of? Because it is our duty to make sure these myths end. With the proliferation of these stories and fables of climate change, the longer it will take to get going on what needs to get done. There is a call upon the citizenry to make the change, and a good first step is to ensure you are well-versed on the data, so you may challenge the person spewing rhetoric. Memorizing this article might not be too bad of great first step.

Excerpts from the article:

Myth: Scientists are divided
Bill’s response: No, they’re not….. that debate is long since over.

Myth: We Have Time
Bill: That melting Arctic ice is unsettling not only because it proves the planet is warming rapidly, but also because it will help speed up the warming. That old white ice reflected 80 percent of incoming solar radiation back to space; the new blue water left behind absorbs 80 percent of that sunshine. The process amps up. And there are many other such feedback loops. Another occurs as northern permafrost thaws. Huge amounts of methane long trapped below the ice begin to escape into the atmosphere; methane is an even more potent greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide

Myth: Climate change will help as many places as it hurts
Bill: Here’s how that Pentagon report’s scenario played out: As the planet’s carrying capacity shrinks, an ancient pattern of desperate, all-out wars over food, water, and energy supplies would reemerge. The report refers to the work of Harvard archaeologist Steven LeBlanc, who notes that wars over resources were the norm until about three centuries ago. When such conflicts broke out, 25 percent of a population’s adult males usually died. As abrupt climate change hits home, warfare may again come to define human life. Set against that bleak backdrop, the potential upside of a few longer growing seasons in Vladivostok doesn’t seem like an even trade.

Myth: It’s China’s fault
Bill: China has four times the population of the United States, and per capita is really the only way to think about these emissions. And by that standard, each Chinese person now emits just over a quarter of the carbon dioxide that each American does. Not only that, but carbon dioxide lives in the atmosphere for more than a century. China has been at it in a big way less than 20 years, so it will be many, many years before the Chinese are as responsible for global warming as Americans.

Myth: climate change is an environmental problem
Bill: Expecting the environmental movement to lead this fight is like asking the USDA to wage the war in Iraq. It’s not equipped for this kind of battle. It may be ready to save Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which is a noble undertaking but on a far smaller scale. Unless climate change is quickly de-ghettoized, the chances of making a real difference are small.

Myth: Solving it will be painful
Bill: But so far we’ve just been counting the costs of fixing the system. What about the cost of doing nothing? Nicholas Stern, a renowned economist commissioned by the British government to study the question, concluded that the costs of climate change could eventually reach the combined costs of both world wars and the Great Depression.

Myth: We can reverse climate change
BIll: None of that is going to stop, even if we do everything right from here on out. Given the time lag between when we emit carbon and when the air heats up, we’re already guaranteed at least another degree of warming.

The only question now is whether we’re going to hold off catastrophe. It won’t be easy, because the scientific consensus calls for roughly 5 degrees more warming this century unless we do just about everything right. And if our behavior up until now is any indication, we won’t.

The full responses to each myth can be found HERE. It really should become part of your repertoire for cocktail parties when someone drinks too much and starts an anti-climate change diatribe.