Fluctuations in the global temperature are normal. Over time, the Earth has passed through ice ages and warmer periods in a normal progression, but the rapidly accelerated global-warming trend of recent years is no natural trend.
Last week scientists at the annual conference of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science announced they had found striking similarities between the observations recorded at sea and the predicted
indicators of global warming developed by
climatologists.
“The debate is over, at least for rational people,” said Tim Barnett, a research marine physicist at Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, Calif. and the study’s co-author. “And for those who insist that the uncertainties remain too great, their argument is no longer tenable. We’ve nailed it.”
This is not some abstract threat to cute sea mammals and big chunks of ice. Other scientists at the conference showed warming could stifle cleansing summer winds across parts of the northern United States during the next 50 years and worsen air pollution.
Further warming of the atmosphere, as is happening now, would block cold fronts that bring cool, clean air from Canada. The process would allow stagnant air and ozone pollution to build up over cities in the Northeast and Midwest.
“If this model is correct, global warming would cause an increase in difficult days for those affected by ozone pollution, such as people suffering with respiratory illnesses like asthma and those doing physical labor or exercising outdoors,” said Loretta Mickley of Harvard University’s Division of Engineering and
Applied Sciences.
In the words of Barnett: “The debate is no longer, ‘Is there a global warming signal?’ The question is, what are we going to do about it?”
The future of the planet depends on the
public policy of this nation, and the Bush
administration’s inaction and readiness to ignore scientific findings have been disturbingly sweeping.
Bill Holbrook, spokesman for the White House Council on Environmental Quality, summed up President Bush’s priorities
succinctly after hearing the news from
the symposium.
“Our position has been the same for a long time,” he said. “The science of global climate change is uncertain.”
Last week, 141 nations signed the U.N. Kyoto Protocol, which is aimed at cutting the production of gas emissions that fuel global warming. The United States, which produces the most pollution of any country, was noticeably absent from the treaty.
This country can no longer afford to stiff-arm environmental policy. We must demand that elected officials make the future of our planet a priority. We won’t need to worry about Social Security reform or education policy when our children can’t breathe fresh air. We need to look at the big picture: Put the earth first.

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