Published: August 31, 2014
I recently joined fellow climate scientists in a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott to discuss the threat climate change poses to our state. We appreciated the opportunity to have a dialogue with the governor, but we left the meeting with concerns about his willingness to take meaningful action to address this problem. This is a leadership moment for Scott, since Florida is ground zero for the impacts of climate change.
We explained to Scott that the fundamentals of climate science are not complicated. Global temperatures are now at record highs. Sea level is rising. Oceans are more acidic. We are responsible.
That said, global air temperatures have remained more or less constant for the past 15 years. Yes, it?s true! They haven?t changed much since the record-setting year of 1998. And skeptics, including Tampa Tribune columnist Tom Jackson (?Climate professors and Rick Scott?s sphinxian agenda,? Aug. 24, Metro), are eager to discredit the overwhelming majority of climate change scientists and the vast troves of data indicating the severity of human-induced climate change.
Their underlying message is that if the Earth isn?t warming as fast as we think it should be, we can continue our carbon-guzzling ways.
So what?s going on?
The key fact that Jackson and others ignore is that the oceans control the planet?s temperature: 90 percent of the heat is stored in the oceans, and its heat content continues to rise at a rapid rate. Thus, the skeptics miss the elephant and focus on the mouse.
Water holds a lot more heat than air. Your high school physics teacher would say water has a high heat capacity. And she?s right. So although global air temperatures haven?t changed much over the past 15 years, warming of the deep oceans has been unprecedented over the past 50 years and is accelerating. Warming of the oceans causes them to expand and, along with melting ice, causes sea level to rise. And that matters to Floridians.
So, what to do? The costs for inaction increase with every year as sea level rises, streets in Miami are flooded with sea water, fresh drinking water is contaminated by rising seas, intensity of storms increases, and our coral reefs die off. This will cost us all dearly in terms of taxes, insurance, infrastructure needs as well as human health.
But our message to Gov. Scott is actually good news: Solutions are close at hand.
The Clean Power Plan released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in June calls for the reduction of carbon pollution by 38 percent over the next 15 years.
How can we do this?
The governor?s office should embrace a transparent process to develop and implement a state plan to reduce carbon pollution. Florida should:
♦ Phase out coal-burning power plants. Many of these plants are inefficient, and they are the biggest source of human CO2 emissions.
♦ Ramp up energy efficiency. It is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions. Setting meaningful efficiency goals for big utilities will save communities money and reduce harmful emissions of heat-trapping gases.
♦ Advance renewables such as solar power. Solar is an excellent solution for the Sunshine State. The costs for solar have come down dramatically. Germany ? with the cloud cover of Alaska ? produced half of its electricity from solar power one day this June. Why not here in sunny Florida while creating new jobs?
As scientists, we are the map makers. We describe the territory, and provide a sense of the different routes to travel. The policy makers, including the governor and his staff, are the navigators. They choose which route is best.
It is clear ? and the best science is telling us ? that we need to travel a different route.
I hope that Gov. Scott heard our counsel and will work with his staff to put Florida on track to meet our required 38 percent cut in carbon pollution. Taking this action will put our state on a path to meeting the threat posed by climate change.
We look forward to a continued dialogue on how to make that happen.
David Hastings, Ph.D., is a professor of marine science and chemistry at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.
http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-commentary/david-hastings-what-i-didnt-say-to-gov-scott-about-climate-change-20140831/
I recently joined fellow climate scientists in a meeting with Gov. Rick Scott to discuss the threat climate change poses to our state. We appreciated the opportunity to have a dialogue with the governor, but we left the meeting with concerns about his willingness to take meaningful action to address this problem. This is a leadership moment for Scott, since Florida is ground zero for the impacts of climate change.
We explained to Scott that the fundamentals of climate science are not complicated. Global temperatures are now at record highs. Sea level is rising. Oceans are more acidic. We are responsible.
That said, global air temperatures have remained more or less constant for the past 15 years. Yes, it?s true! They haven?t changed much since the record-setting year of 1998. And skeptics, including Tampa Tribune columnist Tom Jackson (?Climate professors and Rick Scott?s sphinxian agenda,? Aug. 24, Metro), are eager to discredit the overwhelming majority of climate change scientists and the vast troves of data indicating the severity of human-induced climate change.
Their underlying message is that if the Earth isn?t warming as fast as we think it should be, we can continue our carbon-guzzling ways.
So what?s going on?
The key fact that Jackson and others ignore is that the oceans control the planet?s temperature: 90 percent of the heat is stored in the oceans, and its heat content continues to rise at a rapid rate. Thus, the skeptics miss the elephant and focus on the mouse.
Water holds a lot more heat than air. Your high school physics teacher would say water has a high heat capacity. And she?s right. So although global air temperatures haven?t changed much over the past 15 years, warming of the deep oceans has been unprecedented over the past 50 years and is accelerating. Warming of the oceans causes them to expand and, along with melting ice, causes sea level to rise. And that matters to Floridians.
So, what to do? The costs for inaction increase with every year as sea level rises, streets in Miami are flooded with sea water, fresh drinking water is contaminated by rising seas, intensity of storms increases, and our coral reefs die off. This will cost us all dearly in terms of taxes, insurance, infrastructure needs as well as human health.
But our message to Gov. Scott is actually good news: Solutions are close at hand.
The Clean Power Plan released by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in June calls for the reduction of carbon pollution by 38 percent over the next 15 years.
How can we do this?
The governor?s office should embrace a transparent process to develop and implement a state plan to reduce carbon pollution. Florida should:
♦ Phase out coal-burning power plants. Many of these plants are inefficient, and they are the biggest source of human CO2 emissions.
♦ Ramp up energy efficiency. It is the fastest and cheapest way to reduce carbon emissions. Setting meaningful efficiency goals for big utilities will save communities money and reduce harmful emissions of heat-trapping gases.
♦ Advance renewables such as solar power. Solar is an excellent solution for the Sunshine State. The costs for solar have come down dramatically. Germany ? with the cloud cover of Alaska ? produced half of its electricity from solar power one day this June. Why not here in sunny Florida while creating new jobs?
As scientists, we are the map makers. We describe the territory, and provide a sense of the different routes to travel. The policy makers, including the governor and his staff, are the navigators. They choose which route is best.
It is clear ? and the best science is telling us ? that we need to travel a different route.
I hope that Gov. Scott heard our counsel and will work with his staff to put Florida on track to meet our required 38 percent cut in carbon pollution. Taking this action will put our state on a path to meeting the threat posed by climate change.
We look forward to a continued dialogue on how to make that happen.
David Hastings, Ph.D., is a professor of marine science and chemistry at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg.
http://tbo.com/list/news-opinion-commentary/david-hastings-what-i-didnt-say-to-gov-scott-about-climate-change-20140831/
