Climate Change

For the past several weeks I have been preparing for a panel discussion on Climate Change - a panel discussion that I will moderate for the United Nations Association. I mention this because it is through this research, and preparation that I am compelled to write this post.

I remember, quite vividly, the first Earth day celebration. It was a milestone event for the environmental movement. I was living in Pittsburgh at the time - a city that has a long history of severe environmental pollution - to the air, the water, and the soil. Steel mills, iron furnaces, coke ovens, and various chemical factories spewed toxic gasses into the air, and dumped poisoned water into the three rivers that Pittsburgh is known for.

As a young child my dad would take my mother and me for periodic nighttime rides in the Oldsmobile, along Ohio River Boulevard, which ran north following the Ohio River. To our left were a series of islands - each heavily industrialized. When we reached the point where the town of Aliquippa was to our left, across the Ohio River, we could see the molten slag being poured over the steep slope that made its way to the river. (slag is the waste product from the smelting of iron ore). This was a beautiful site; the molten slag, glowing bright red like lava flowing from an erupting volcano. And if one timed it just right - arriving just as the slag was being dumped, one could watch the initial flow before it was clouded by the intense rise of steam as the slag reached the water. 

Throughout Pittsburgh, as well as surrounding areas like Aliquippa - which is about 18 miles north of pIttsburgh, slag mounds became prevalent. In fact, to give you a sense of scale, once the steel mills and iron furnaces were shut down, a shopping mall was constructed atop one of the slag mounds - aptly named: “Century Three Mall”. 

As a sidenote of irony, if you have ever seen the Netflix series: “Manhunter”, it was filmed in the now defunct Century Three Mall.

But since that first Earth Day celebration not much progress has been made. Yes, pollution has been abated. Using Pittsburgh as an example, the once “Smikey City”, known for its dreary skies and oil-slicked rivers, is now a beautiful city embraced by the now clean waters of the Three Rivers it is known for.

Yet, even with cleaner air, and less polluted waters, the climate still continues to change - in ways that are not good. Global temperatures continue to rise, causing ice flows and glaciers to melt at alarming rates, which is causing sea levels to rise around the globe. Tornados, hurricanes, tropical storms, wildfires all seem to be increasing in their frequency and in their intensity. 

In the five decades since the first Earth Day Celebration, there is more information available, and an abundance of research data; yet we seem to be more divided, more confused, and feeling more hopeless than ever. Why? And How can this be? One would think that with all of this data, we could get control over the influences that create such catastrophic damage to our environment. But it appears that the opposite has occurred… and this is - in large part, due to mis-information - and, I believe, a great deal of mis-direction. Much like the great magicians use mis-direction to achieve their illusions, so do politicians, corporations, and other entities bent on keeping their agendas in place.

So how do we change these paradigms?

We change them through information, and that is how I am approaching this panel discussion. I am bringing together experts from as many factions as possible - and from as many viewpoints as possible,  to bring clarity to the facts. 

In a recent blog post: The Importance of Tribalism, I talked about micro-tribes, and the dangers of being so myopic. The environmental movement - and [more specifically], the Climate Change/Global Warming movement has become myopic - regardless of which side of this fence one is on. It is my belief that this myopic mindset has allowed so much of the mis-direction to take hold… and again, this mis-direction is on both sides of the fence.

What we must do, instead, is to open our vision - and our dialogs, to acquire [all] of the facts, and squarely debate them through open, and respectful dialog. Through this approach, I believe it is possible to find compromise, and through this compromise we can find solutions that benefit the entirety of the planet, as well as all of its inhabitants.

You can join me in the In Search of America Members Cafe’ for a discussion on Oil Dependence.