Or How We Learned to Turn a Blond Eye to Avoid Responsibility and Consequences
We’ve all seen the proverb, which is believed to have originated in either ancient Chinese philosophy (avoid focusing on negative thoughts, words, actions) or Koshin, the 17th century Japanese folk-religion (behaving well avoids negative repercussions). Honestly though, today the proverb has more to do with the proverb of the ostrich with its head in the sand (in reality, ostriches don’t do this - that was derived from an ancient Roman myth that gave rise to the metaphor for someone avoiding their problems).
Have I lost you? Well the ostrich and the monkeys are a metaphor for what is transpiring today in the battle between politics and science. If we remove any mention of this or that, ban websites, defund, and erase the written science, the problems will all go away. Never happened. Problem solved. Ignorance is bliss. Let’s all forget about the wild hoaxes and attack the real problems like our fellow Americans and chem trails.
Again, it wasn’t always like this. In 1990, the Senate, in a bipartisan vote of 100-0, passed Senate Bill 169 (which became Public Law 1010-606) entitled the Global Change Research Act of 1990. The act directed the President, through the Federal Coordinating Council on Science, Engineering, and Technology (Council), to: 1) establish the Committee on Earth and Environmental Sciences to carry out Council functions under specified provisions of the National Science and Technology Policy, Organization, and Priorities Act of 1976 relating to global change research, and 2) to increase the effectiveness and productivity of Federal global change research efforts by conducting a climate changes assessment report at least as often as once every four years that all agencies have access to in making informed decisions. It’s the law.
This assessment is relied upon by countless public and private parties who utilize the data in developing not just means and methods of combatting effects, but fostering practices for farmers, ranchers, and municipal water supply planners to adapt to changing conditions. It is an extremely useful tool, if you want real data, real facts. The last assessment, conducted in 2023 has taken it off the website, but if you now do a little digging, it still can be located here: https://nca-atlas-nationalclimate.hub.arcgis.com/
Will we see another before 2027? Problems don’t go away. Ask the ostrich. Instead, pretending the science doesn’t exist is a motto for the three monkeys. Let’s look at some data out of the 2023 Assessment and you be the judge of whether this information is useful or should be erased.
· Since 1970, annual average temperature in the contiguous United States has risen by 2.5 °F and Alaska’s average temperature has risen by 4.2 °F. During that same time, the average temperature for the entire globe rose 1.7 °F. For every additional 1 °C of global warming, the average U.S. temperature is projected to increase by around 2.5 °F (1.4 °C), with greater warming occurring in the northern and western parts of the country.
· At +3˚C, seasonal disruptions of agriculture are likely. Some areas in the Northern Great Plains (N. Dakota) may see swings of 8-10˚F from normal on a consistent basis.
· At +4˚C, Humidity and temperature merge to disrupt agricultural production in vast areas of the country (S. California, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Nebraska, to name a few) with the emergence of heat index values too extreme for human tolerance.
· Precipitation patterns will also be dramatically altered with far stronger storms and precipitation in areas like Texas, the South Eastern US, and Northeast, while other areas suffer extreme drought (Arizona, Eastern Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Texas panhandle, etc).
Ask yourself, is the information helpful? Are you (and your children) better off without the facts being available? Or are you better off being one of the monkeys? We humans are a bright species. We solve problems. We adapt to the ones we cannot. That takes information.