I had the pleasure of watching climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe address the Nov. 29 BYU Forum. She started with “I’m a climate scientist because I’m a Christian.”
“It’s not about saving the planet; we need to save us.” The most vulnerable to climate disasters are the poorest people on earth. Global warming is increasing the economic gap between the world’s richest and poorest countries … something to ponder as Christmas approaches.
She is an articulate, engaging speaker who backed up her talk with effective visuals. While climate change is the most polarizing issue in politics, a thermometer doesn’t give us different answers based on how we vote. Extreme weather doesn’t care about politics.
Climate change is a threat multiplier. Extreme weather happened in the past but droughts, floods, hurricanes and other natural disasters are now more intense due to “global weirding” as Hayhoe puts it. In the 1980s the U.S. experienced extreme weather events every four months; now they occur every three weeks. Note the recent unprecedented 6 feet of snow in Buffalo, New York.
All the individual actions we take (driving an electric vehicle, adding solar panels, etc.) are helpful but only address one-quarter of the problem. The remaining three-quarters require systems changes. Talk with family and friends, focusing on what they care about most: their children’s future, hotter and drier summers with more wildfires and air pollution, the disappearing Great Salt Lake. Let politicians and other decision makers know our concerns.
We need to talk about climate change. Start by watching Hayhoe’s inspiring talk.
Jean M. Lown
Logan