Climate change activist enters survival mode

[pscot]

Mike Tidwell heads the Chesapeake Action Network. His oped apppeared in the Washington post. As always, the comment thread is illuminating.

I'm changing my life again. Today, underneath the solar panels, there's a new set of deadbolt locks on all my doors. There's a new Honda GX390 portable power generator in my garage, ready to provide backup electricity. And last week I bought a starter kit to raise tomatoes and lettuce behind barred basement windows.
I'm not a survivalist or an "end times" enthusiast. When it comes to climate change, I'm just a realist.

I haven't given up the cause. I still work overtime to promote clean energy, and I take solace when top climate scientists say we can still avoid the worst effects of global warming if we move quickly. It's just that, well, we're running out of time.

The proof is everywhere - outside my front door, in my neighborhood, on the news. After a decade of failure to address climate change at the national and international levels, our weather has gone haywire. In the Washington region alone, in barely a year, we've annihilated all records for snow accumulation, we've seen appalling power outages associated with year-round thunderstorms, and we've experienced the hottest summer in the 140 years we've been measuring. Winston Churchill's oft-quoted warning on the eve of World War II now applies directly: "The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/25/AR2011022503176.html

[Myrina]

1. Sure was a whole lotta shopping going on for a 'survivalist' ...

:shrug:

[gateley]

2. Even this activist has adopted the Frank Luntz term "climate change". They are

really good at what they do, aren't they. :grr:

[snappyturtle]

3. I didn't realize that 'climate change' is a Luntz' term. Actually, I like it better

than 'global warming'. Too many who just don't get it love to heckle, "What's this? Global warming in midst of record snows."

In defense of the author of the linked article, he uses both terms, climate change and global warming.

[w4rma]

4. Climate change is the correct term, not global warming. It is *not* a rw-pollster created term. (nt)

[gateley]

6. ...

Although Luntz later tried to distance himself from the Bush administration policy, it was his idea that administration communications reframe "global warming" as "climate change" since "climate change" was thought to sound less severe. Luntz has since said that he is not responsible for what the Bush administration did after that time. Though he now believes humans have contributed to global warming, he maintains that the science was in fact incomplete, and his recommendation sound, at the time he made it.<8>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Luntz



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/5005994.stm

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change was created in 1988

http://www.ipcc.ch/organization/organization_history.shtml

The term goes back long before Luntz got his hands on anything.

[gateley]

8. I stand corrected - thanks. But I'll still blame Luntz for getting it into the general

lexicon in order to soft soap the real situation. :7 :hi:

[Barrett808]

5. Earth will be fortunate to have any multicellular species...

...for the next several million years, after what we've done to it. The most common form of multicellular life probably will be jellies.

"The future is bright for dinoflagellates." -- Jeremy Jackson

[txlibdem]

9. I hope you're wrong

But it might be a struggle for the unlucky surviving humans. What a stupid society we have! Can I resign my membership in the human race?