Footnotes Issue #91: January 9, 2015 Georgia Officials Out of Touch with Reality of Climate Change climate changeDespite a 97 percent consensus among the worlds scientists that climate change exists and is caused by humans, climate denial fueled by polluter junk science and PR is alive all across the nation and in our state. Although climate change is no longer a debate-- scientific consensus has been reached and has concluded that the warming effect will lead to catastrophic changes in our global climate, which threatens communities, wildlife, wildlands, and life as we know it on our planet. In a recent article by the Atlanta Journal Constitution, more than a dozen of the state’s top elected officials and officials in charge of the protecting the states environment were asked whether they believe climate change is occurring, and also whether they think pollution caused by human activity is a cause. Several didnt respond, many dont believe that climate change is happening. Even worse, for those that did believe it is occurring, they remained unconvinced that human activity is the cause or that they have a responsibility to address it. Finally, none of our top leaders expressed support for federal mandates to reduce the amount of greenhouse gasses produced in our country. The AJC goes on to point out the generous campaign contributions from big polluters to the elected officials propagating climate denial. These positions are out of step with Georgians, though. A poll conducted by Stanford a year ago found that 81% of Georgians believe that climate change is happening and 85% think the federal government should take action. An overwhelming 73% supported reducing emissions from power plants. Georgians also overwhelmingly support the solution to climate change, which is much more quickly transitioning to a clean energy economy, fueled by wind, solar and energy efficiency. A poll the Sierra Club conducted a year ago found that 8 in 10 Georgians support expanding the use of wind and solar. Governor Nathan Deal, who deferred the responsibility of dealing with climate change to federal officials in response to the AJC, has a history of punting on climate. In 2011, he removed University of Georgia professor David Stooksbury as state climatologist, a position he had held for more than a decade. The State Climate Office was moved to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division--a concerning move considering that calls from the AJC to respond to climate questions were not returned by The Department of Natural Resources’ chairman, Philip A. Wilheit, Jr., nor the director of the DNR’s Environmental Protection Division, Judson Turner. There is much work to be done to educate our elected officials on the issue of climate change. One thing is certain: States will be making decisions on issues of critical importance to both our health and the health of our environment. As we enter the 2015 legislative session, please consider contacting your state officials to let them know how you feel about climate change and our environment!
Posted on: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 03:11:31 +0000
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