I know many of you listen to this show because you like
hearing about the natural world, learning things you didn’t know before, and
getting insights into the amazing mysteries of nature. I know this show, and
this radio station as a whole can serve as a respite from the 24 hour news
cycle, the information overload and the go go go culture we are awash in, even
here in eastern Maine. And I know that
after the last two weeks we’ve had, I should be offering you a show about
kittens and puppies, just to provide something distracting, hopeful, sweet and
kind.
I think you know what is coming. I can’t do that. Not yet
anyway. I’m in the camp with the majority of those casting votes in the last
election who are not happy with the results of the election. There are so many
reasons, but one especially relevant to this show is the appointment of Myron
Ebel to lead the Trump administration’s transition at the Environmental Protection
Agency, an appointment that many presume will lead to Ebel’s nomination to lead
that agency after the transition of power.
Ebel is a known and vocal climate skeptic who directs policy
on energy and the environment at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a think
tank that both the New York Times and the National Review characterize as
libertarian. While he says that he believes human caused climate change is
real, he follows that up with the belief that it isn’t really a big deal, and
certainly not something we need to worry about or more importantly, spend any
money on right now. The main targets of his derision are the models and
forecasts developed and constantly honed by climate scientists, in an attempt
to predict the near climate future. And I quote:
*“…
the scientific consensus is not based on known scientific facts. It is
based on discredited climate model projections, such as the ones promoted by
Gavin Schmidt at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, and fantasy
reconstructions of past climate history, such as the infamous hockey stick.”*
Climate models to have a degree of
uncertainty, and scientists work tirelessly to revise the models, using “back
casting” as a way to test them (can they run and accurately predict the climate
trends we have already experienced? If so, than then you can have a relatively
high degree of confidence in the model, within the strict limits of what it is
designed to test). The International Panel on Climate Change reports take great
pains to report confidence intervals with each of their predictions and
prioritizations of climate related problems. So while Ebel seems to delight in
denigrating what he calls unfounded climate alarmists, many of the forecasts he
is critical of are coming with acknowledgements of the uncertainty.
Ebel’s think tank’s most recent policy
position promotes anti regulation legislation, and that seems to be at the
heart of this issue. Lowering the regulatory threshold is one of the main
pillars of the Ebel’s career, and with climate change, the easiest way to do
that is to deny the problem that the regulations are supposed to be addressing.
If climate change isn’t really a problem, of course there is no need for the
Clean Power Act, or the Paris Climate Treaty. It seems that the answer to when
was America Great in the first place is the time before industry faced any kind
of regulation. Annoying regulations like the Clean Air Act, and the Clean Water
Act.
So for all the reasons to be concerned
about the ramifications of the recent election, and there are many, incredibly
serious ramifications, this one might be the most important. Climate change
doesn’t just screw it up for us in America, it screws it up for everyone on
this planet.
Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency isn’t technically a cabinet level position, but it is high
enough in the ranks to require Senate approval. We’ll get back to the
trees and fungus and forests, plankton and algae and whales, the plants that
run our lives, the winds that bring the weather and yes the kittens and puppies
make us smile in the coming weeks. But in the mean time, call your senators.
Tell them how you feel about someone who doesn’t take climate change seriously
leading the agency tasked with protecting the environment we all share and
depend on.
Senator Angus King: Augusta Office: 207 622 8292,
Scarborough office: 207 883 1588 https://www.king.senate.gov/contact
Senator Susan Collins: Augusta Office: 207 622 8414, Bangor
office: 207 945 0417 https://www.collins.senate.gov/contact
References:
The New York Times profile of Ebel: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/12/science/myron-ebell-trump-epa.html?_r=0
The Competitive Enterprise Institute, where Ebel is Director
of the energy and the environment policy
division https://cei.org/
The Cooler Heads Coalition,
a group of climate skeptics and deniers Ebel leads http://www.globalwarming.org/about/
*Source of the quote from the show: Myron Ebel’s blog post
about a New York Times article attacking the climate scientist Willie Soon: http://www.globalwarming.org/2015/02/27/new-york-times-repeats-scurrilous-greenpeace-attack-on-willie-soon-without-checking-the-facts/#more-23224
The Clean Power Plan https://www.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan/clean-power-plan-existing-power-plants
Where he said that he thinks anthropogenic climate change is
real, but that its not a big deal: http://web.archive.org/web/20161111000552/http://www.eenews.net/stories/1060041292
Really, here it is: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2016/climate-trends-continue-to-break-records/
