The Political Climate: an ongoing commentary on the NH Primary and Climate Change

NASA’s revision of the top ten hottest years in the U.S. does not alter the climate change debate whatsoever.  TPC usually does not waste time engaging in disputes about the legitimacy of climate change.  Oh well, we are today.  Canadian blogger Stephen Mcintyre of Climate Audit discovered a mistake in the yearly U.S. temperature calculations conducted by NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Sciences.  The error was corrected and the new calculations found that 1934, not 1998, was the hottest year in America.

Global warming skeptics seized upon this error as proof of their usual charge that global warming is a hoax.  What they conveniently did not mention (it could have just been another case of acute amnesia) was that NASA’s miscalculation was fairly insignificant on a global scale.  In no way does this debunk the legitimate climate change evidence found in scientific reports like the Intergovernmental Panel of Climate Change.  James Hansen explained that the correction in U.S. temperatures only altered global averages by one-one-thousandth of a degree.

To quote a favorite Mitt Romney tag line: ”They don’t call it America warming, they call it global warming.” -July 2 Blog

Blogging skeptics, like Noel Sheppard of Myth Busters, were shocked to hear that “a government agency is actually participating in a fraud against the American people by withholding information crucial to a major policy issue now facing the nation.”  What a shock!

But wait, this sounds all too familiar…government withholding information from the nation…hmm.  That sounds similar to something else I heard in the news recently about how Dr. Richard Carmona, the former Surgeon General was not allowed to talk about the danger climate change poses to public health.  The past twenty years of strategic global warming denial is comprehensively outlined in a Newsweek article “Global Warming Deniers: A Well-Funded Machine.” 

With student marches and rallies crowding the climate action calendar in the Granite State over the past week, we want to make sure that two key international events do not go unnoticed to our readers. 

The New York Times reported at the end of last week that Russia had reached the North Pole on a mission to plant a flag on the bottom of the Arctic Sea and lay claim to the land.

Russia may be listening to the broad consensus within the scientific community that the polar ice caps are receding due to global warming.  The possibility of Russian Arctic drilling is another example of why the president of the United States needs to engage all international partners in a cooperative effort to combat climate change.

The Arctic news broke at the same time as President George Bush announced that the U.S. will host the leaders of the world’s major economies for a conference on climate change on September 27-28.  The Washington Post reported that Bush insisted that the U.S. ”is committed to collaborating with other major economies on a new global framework for curbing greenhouse gas emissions.”  Critics believe that he is undercutting other international efforts to avoid emissions caps and specific targets, although others say the fact that Bush is facilitating international discussion is an important signal.

The final line of the Washington Post article predicted that “Bush is likely to be out of office by the time any post-Kyoto deal is clinched.”  This means that it will be up to the next president, one of the many candidates who are flooding New Hampshire, to engage all nations.

If you want to see all of your hard work and sacrifice succeed in combating climate change, then get out there and ask the candidates how they will engage international partners.

With high school graduations upon us, it’s not surprising that in New Hampshire commencement season combines with the spirit of the primary season. Yesterday, Senator Hillary Clinton was in the Granite State delivering the commencement address to Manchester Central High School’s class of 2007.  After overcoming her nerves about following past prestigious speakers such as comedian Adam Sandler, Clinton encouraged students to remember that “Global warming caused by pollution halfway around the world can affect our climate here at home.”  Global warming may seem like an atypical topic for a commencement address, but Clinton’s assertion seems appropriate for the youth of New Hampshire who will be most affected by climate change.  TPC commends Clinton on stressing the importance of global warming to our youth who, as Granite Staters, have the unique ability to discuss it with all of the candidates during the primary.

As Senator Clinton heads north today into the heart of the maple syrup country, perhaps she will notice some of these effects already taking place here at home in the Granite State.  Maine AP reported today that maple syrup production in NH is down 6% from last year along with record lows all over the New England region.  We can’t help but wonder if record temperatures and global warming has anything to do with these drastic changes.

 Far away from maple syrup country, Gov. Schwarzenegger continues to lead the charge against climate change.  Even after the recent steps made at the G8 Summit, this California governor says that “the federal government is asleep” in combating global warming.  He emphasized “We know we have global warming.  We know already we’re in danger … Let’s act now.”  To read more about Gov. Schwarzenegger’s comments, click here. 

Two different industries share similar headlines in today’s NH newspapers: “Ski Industry Officials Disappointed with 2006/2007 Season” and ”NH Syrup Production Off.”  The culprit?  “Bad weather.”  The ski industry suffered from a “snowless November” and a ”lackluster Christmas week” (remember the 70 degree day in January?), and the maple syrup industry took a hard hit from last month’s nor’easter that knocked down trees and broke sap lines.  Scientists don’t attribute one poor winter season to global warming, but the trend is worrisome.  Timothy Perkins, director of the Proctor Maple Research Center at the University of Vermont, explains: “right now, the season is starting earlier throughout New England than it did 40 years ago, and it’s ending about 10 days earlier than it did.  Over 40 years, we’ve lost a net of 3 days of the season” (read the entire article from the New York Times here.)

And even with these economic hits, the Bush administration is still unwilling to enter into international agreements that will address climate change, because the proposed “cap on greenhouse gas levels is too low and reaching the target would be too expensive.”  But it seems like the price of inaction seems to be increasing…Recently leaders in the European Union have been pushing the US to enter into international agreements.  Peter Ainsworth, a top environmental lawmaker in the UK, says “the fact the current American administration has not participated willingly or positively in that process is deeply unhelpful when it comes to seeking to persuade China and India and Brazil to get on board.”  Others, equally frustrated, believe that once the US does decide to take action on climate change “it will be dramatic.”  Dirk Forrester, a former aide to President Clinton, said “Americans are good at this kind of stuff.  We’re actually good at environmental controls.  We’re actually good at innovating and market-based solutions.”  If this last winter season was any indicator, the US is certainly ready for a change of course. (Read the entire article from Greenwire here.)