Dot Earth Blog: More On a Quest for Common Ground on Climate Change

In 2011, I wrote about efforts by two scientists with different political orientations to identify common ground in weighing risks posed by global warming driven by greenhouse gases.?The scientists were?Peter C. Frumhoff, an ecologist who directs science and policy for the Union of Concerned Scientists, and?Kerry Emanuel, a veteran climate and hurricane researcher at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Emanuel has a new edition of his short everyman?s guide to global warming, by the way.)

Now, with the help of the artist?Nathan Shields (his company is?draw4.us), they?ve translated their thoughts into a whiteboard animation?titled ?It?s Time to Find Common Ground for Our Common Atmosphere?:

Aaron Huertas, the lead spokesman for the scientists? group, told me the video was inspired by my 2011 post, which was titled, ?Scientists With Different Politics Speak With One Voice on Climate.?

Just to be clear, while Emanuel was long a registered Republican (he switched to independent status last spring, he told me) and Frumhoff is straight from Central Casting if you?re seeking a scientist who?s also a liberal Democrat, they have both long been calling for action to curb emissions of greenhouse gases. So this video hardly represents some ?Hannity and Colmes? style collaboration (that one didn?t do too well, I recall).

But I still think their message is well worth conveying in this new medium. There?s nothing more conservative than the conservation of finite resources.

Their notion that the atmosphere is the ultimate global commons echoes Matthew Fontaine Maury, the American oceanographer who once wrote this line, which I cited in my 1992 global warming book?and many times since:

It is only the girdling encircling air, that flows above and around all, that makes the whole world kin.

Just to be clear, I think it?ll be far easier to find common ground on climate-smart energy choices by focusing directly on energy steps that make sense for both environmental and economic reasons and that have been shown to have incredibly wide support. That?s the most important message I?ve taken from the continuing ?Six Americas? surveys done by researchers at Yale University and George Mason University. Click through the three slides below ? which I titled ?Energy Agreement Hidden by Climate Disputes? ? to see what I mean:

For those who prefer text to video, here?s the Union of Concerned Scientists transcript of the statements by Emanuel and Frumhoff:

Common Ground, Common Atmosphere
KERRY: One of us has usually voted for Republicans.
PETER: The other, for Democrats.
KERRY: But as scientists, we share a deep conviction that leaders of both parties must speak to the reality and the risks of human-caused climate change, and commit themselves to finding bipartisan solutions.
PETER: Scientists have known for more than 100 years that the carbon dioxide in our atmosphere traps heat. And today we know that the excess carbon dioxide accumulating in the atmosphere from human activity ? like burning coal and oil and clearing forests ? is altering our climate.
KERRY: It?s a conclusion based on established physics and on evidence gathered from satellite data, ancient ice cores, temperature stations, and fossilized trees and corals.
PETER: And it?s a conclusion affirmed by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which was established by President Abraham Lincoln to advise our nation?s leaders on matters of science.
KERRY: Unfortunately, as the scientific understanding of climate change has advanced, our nation hasn?t risen to the challenge.
PETER: Science tells us that the extent and severity of climate change faced by our children?s generation depends on the hard choices we must make today. Political leadership is about ensuring that we adults face up to this task.
KERRY: President Obama leads a nation increasingly affected by climate change. He commands a Pentagon that calls climate change a national security threat and presides over federal scientists already working to help states and cities prepare.
PETER: Leaders of both parties need to take seriously what science tells us.
KERRY: Please pass this video along to friends and family?and to at least one person who might have a political view different from your own.
PETER: Then call on your Members of Congress to get to work building bipartisan solutions to climate change.
KERRY: For the sake of our common atmosphere?
PETER: It?s time to find common ground.

Source: http://dotearth.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/10/more-on-a-quest-for-common-ground-on-climate-change/?partner=rss&emc=rss

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