INSURRECTION. That’s a word being tossed around like never before. The word, insurrection, came (of course) from the French, insurgere meaning “to rise up.”
The United States has had a couple of “insurrections” in its history, from the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791-1794 (Kentucky distillers refusing to pay tax turned a bit ugly…whisky never calms things down), Nat Turner’s Slave Rebellion of 1831 in Virginia, the American Civil War, the Greenwood New York Insurrection of 1882 (an uprising over the refusal to pay railroad bonds for a railroad that was never built), to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot. Each of these were found by our courts to have constituted not mere riots but an insurrection.
But I never heard of the latest insurrection that was proclaimed just yesterday: Environmental Insurrection.
Every crime must meet certain elements. For insurrection, they are spelled out 18 U.S.C. §2383:
Anyone who "incites, sets on foot, assists, or engages in any rebellion or insurrection against the authority of the United States or the laws thereof, or gives aid or comfort thereto," is guilty of the crime.
This is serious stuff, punishable by up to ten years in prison, penalties or both.
So, yesterday in a social media pronouncement, a certain someone announced that everyone who believes or asserts that climate change is a thing, is henceforth labeled an Environmental Insurrectionist. Never mind the irony of the utterance of that term…it labels every reputable scientist and the vast majority of Americans insurrectionists for believing in fact.
How did this come to be? The basis for the claim was that in advance of the major winter storm that now grips a majority of the states, that cold snap disproves climate change. Don’t laugh, a certain someone really said that. But, it always comes down to knowledge. Knowledge that weather is not climate. Climate is not weather. Climate change does not mean only warming. NOAA defines the difference as: “Weather refers to short-term changes in the atmosphere, climate describes what the weather is like over a long period of time in a specific area.”
Climate change can be viewed as a disruptor. As the atmosphere heats (and it has been on a steady, unabated trajectory for 50+ years), the atmosphere has greater energy (heat = energy). That results in stronger storms, greater droughts, and most importantly, new normals.
Take the western United States, as of today, the USGS and National Climate Center shows measured precipitation and snowpack across the west at between 30-45% of normal…and this has generally been the pattern for the last 25 years. That long term pattern is climate (not weather). And, the problem is not confined to one region. Colorado statewide ranges from 25-46% of average. Arizona is between 7-37% of normal. Even Oregon is suffering between 4-39% of normal. Those are sobering statistics for the end of January.
The statistics forecast another dangerous wildfire season, another tough economic season for farmers and ranchers who end up with half the water they need and twice the economic headaches they deserve.
What I’m trying to drive home here is that the agitators or “environmental insurrectionists” are not the country’s scientists, water planners, engineers, educators, farmers, and ranchers. The truth and facts are sometimes unwelcome. It’s another divisive term used to disparage fellow Americans. But hey, I think there’s a future economic play here for someone wanting to print bumper stickers and pins for those that want to identify as Environmental Insurrectionists. I know I’d buy one.