Quote:
Originally Posted by lars
Clearly the science is far from conclusive. Besides that you can't get anything accomplished from a govt stand-point unless the public supports it. So unless you believe that science is the only thing that counts..it really doesn't matter what science says unless you have public support to get policies enacted. At this rate the public opinion that 'doesn't matter' is moving farther and farther away from agreeing that anything should be done.
From a very practical stand-point public opinion counts more than anything else..Green you should understand this.
|
Actually, you have a fair point here, though I do think the science is pretty conclusive. The folks who are concerned about what climate change will bring rightfully rely on science, but people need to see the impacts on the ground to be persuaded.
For me, it's stuff like this:
* I spend three weeks in Alaska among Native folks who are seeing animals their storied peoples have no names for, and the tree line moving farther north.
* Smallmouth bass -- a warm-water fish -- are moving farther upstream in the Yellowstone River, a world-renowned trout stream. Yeah, insert your bass-boat joke here, but I can tell you the many people who make a living off folks who come here to Montana to fly-fish are concerned. Oh, and bass are being seen in the lower reaches of the Middle Fork of the Salmon River for the first time.
* People in the wine industry in Oregon are seeing earlier buds and later harvests. I can tell you they are adjusting their futures the reality of climate change.
* People are successfully growing wine grapes in the Gallatin Valley of Montana for the first time.
* Grizzly bears in Yellowstone are denning later and emerging sooner. And 70 percent of the whitebark pine in the Yellowstone area is dead or dying. These are high-elevation trees that are being killed by beetles surviving the winters because they aren't cold enough to kill them anymore.
Does this prove anything? Nope. But, like Redwing says, when people on the ground starting seeing, then it's believing. Interestingly, some of the most ardent climate change skeptics here in the West are beginning to embrace the idea, though purely for exploitative reasons: They want to build more dams to impound more water, and they want to log trees before they die.
Also, studies in western Oregon show that climate change will actually enhance forest growth. So, not all a disaster, depending on your perspective.
No flaming intended. Just my 2 cents.
