Changing our ways before warming ‘tipping point’

By KELLY DECKER

Don Snyder (“Global warming is a hoax,” Feb. 13) presents some facts about climate and weather, but they in no way add up to a credible refutation of the findings of climate scientists from the IPCC, the National Academy of Sciences or the American Geophysical Union.

Dr. Lonnie Thompson at Byrd Polar Research Institute at Ohio State University has taken ice cores from glaciers and has determined the age of the ice to be 650,000 years old. He has collected ice cores from all over the world. The air bubbles in the ice can be used to determine atmospheric CO2 levels over time. The CO2 levels correspond with global mean temperature. Ice cores from the Himalayas and from Antarctica agree. At no time in the last 650,000 years have atmospheric CO2 levels been higher than 300 parts per million. Current levels are around 375 ppm.

Whereas it’s true that local weather patterns are complex and are due to multiple factors such as the El Niño Southern oscillation, what is not in dispute among scientists studying climate from many different angles (ice cores, sea surface temperatures, etc.) is that global climate change is happening. Scientists agree that the phenomenon is partially due to the burning of fossil fuels.

James Hansen (NASA-Goddard Space Center) spoke in December at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. He estimated that we have 10 years before the effects of global climate change reach a tipping point and become irreversible. We have the opportunity to mitigate global climate change now. Green city initiatives are popping up all over the United States. People are tired of waiting for the federal government to begin the change and are taking the situation into their own hands.

As part of the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement (www.ci.seattle.wa.us/mayor/climate), more than 200 cities across America have made specific emission reduction goals. This program offers concrete advice and assistance to cities as they assess their current emissions and work on realistic and effective reduction goals. Vallejo and Sonoma are on this list, but Napa is not.

The good news is that many of our current city council members are committed to this very real challenge. Furthermore, many local businesses are voluntarily making changes. The bad news is we have a city tight budget. In order for upgrades in city efficiency, we must tell our city council and mayor that we favor green city initiatives as a priority as Napa grows and flourishes.

Step up, Napa, it’s up to us.

(Decker is senior research scientist at CSU Monterey Bay/NASA Ames Research Center. She lives in Napa.)

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