Republican meteorologist on why climate change has nothing to do with Al Gore
A Minnesota-based meteorologist has called for an end to party political polarisation over climate change, saying climate change has become a “bizarre litmus test for conservatism”.
Writing for Bloomberg, Paul Douglas, a Penn State meteorologist who has founded several forecasting-related companies, identifies himself as “a moderate Republican – a fan of small government, light regulation and market solutions”. He says:
“If you know anything about American politics these days, and follow the climate war at all, you might anticipate with some confidence that I agree global warming is a hoax. That’s a shame, and I hope it changes soon.”
Douglas explains he became interested in how climate and weather might be linked in the 1980s:
“In the 1980s I was skeptical that an upward blip in global temperatures was the result of manmade gases. Then the blips persisted. By the mid-90s I began to see them as unsettling changes. The weather was becoming erratic and even more unpredictable than usual. Storms were more frequent and intense. Curious, I began including climate statistics in daily TV weather segments, like annual trends in flash-flooding, hail, summer humidity, fewer subzero nights and decreased snowfall.”
Douglas says his “mixing climate and weather” in his TV slots and newspaper columns often came under attack – both from the public and the TV bosses, saying he was a “lightning rod” for skeptics.
He bases his interest in the links between weather and climate on his observations of an “accumulation of coincidences” over the past 30 years. He says:
“We’ve pushed the bell curve of ‘average weather’ in a new and more extreme direction. There are simply too many coincidences [such as increased incidences of droughts and wildfires, and less consistent winter snow cover] not to take this seriously.
[…] Pieced together, reveal the full puzzle: There’s more heat and moisture in the atmosphere, and our emissions are largely responsible for keeping it there.”
We note that investigating the link between climate change and weather events is a new and hotly-contested area of climate science. While some scientists claim there is evidence to suggest climate is affecting the intensity and frequency of some weather events, others’ position is not as clear cut.
He also lists more comprehensively researched changes scientists have noticed such as a 71 per cent drop in Great Lakes’ peak ice since 1973, ocean acidification and the fact that 95 per cent of land-based glaciers are losing mass. He says:
“Greenhouse gas levels are at their highest in 800,000 years. Less heat is escaping the top of the atmosphere in the wavelengths of greenhouse gases. For the first time, scientists have recorded both hemispheres are warming – and the global temperature spike can’t be linked to an astronomical trigger, such as solar variability.”
Douglas moves on to the stalemate on climate policy in US politics, and the hardening on climate within the Republican party:
“Extremes are becoming more extreme. And none of it has anything to do with Al Gore.During a 2007 homecoming banquet for Iraqi war vets I asked my personal hero, Senator John McCain, if he thought this could all be some cosmic coincidence. He rolled his eyes. ‘Paul, I just returned from the Yukon, where a village elder presented me with a tomahawk that had just melted out of the permafrost. The answer is no.’
“How did so much of the Republican Party enter perpetual denial? We’ve turned climate science into a bizarre litmus test for conservatism. To pretend that heat-trapping gases can be waved away with a nod and a smirk is political fairytale. No harm. No foul. Keep drilling.”
Finally, Douglas explains how his faith has given him a sense of responsibility toward the natural world:
“I’m a Christian and ultimately come to Christ through faith. With climate change no faith is required. There is a large and growing body of evidence. The way nature works applies the same to Republican and Democrat, Christian and Muslim, animal, tree and stone. Why do people who profess to love and follow God roll their eyes? Luke 16:2 says ‘Man has been appointed as a steward for the management of God’s property, and ultimately he will give account for his stewardship.'”
He ends:
“It’s a message that my father put succinctly: Actions have consequences.”