Climate change — ho hum — who cares?

by Leigh Pomeroy

”They went on playing politics until their world collapsed around them.” — U Thant, former secretary general of the U.N., in a statement to the U.N. General Assembly in 1970.

As I write this, it’s a beautiful day in southern Minnesota. Eighty degrees, low humidity, nearly perfect.

But not too long ago there were record high temperatures along with high humidity, which made me think: Has Minnesota become Louisiana?

Not quite. But our weather this summer has been predicted by climatologists for almost two decades. In fact, an article from a Minnesota Public Radio story from April 8, 2003, leads with: “A climate change study released Tuesday by the Union of Concerned Scientists predicts that summer temperatures in Minnesota could rise by as much as 16 degrees Farenheit [sic] by the end of this century, meaning Minnesota’s summers would be more like those experienced now in Kansas.”

The article continues: “The study predicts that within their lifetimes, Minnesotans will see more frequent storms and heat waves, less ice cover on lakes, and possibly more frequent droughts. All those effects will be driven by increasing temperatures.”

Sound familiar?

Now this from June 15, 2021, again from MPR: “The hot weather hits just keep on comin’ in the steamy summer of ‘21. Our early-season heat wave continues to pile up records across Minnesota. In fact, the first 13 days of June in the Twin Cities and much of Minnesota were the hottest on record.”

Within weeks, Minnesota was also experiencing record smoke levels due to burning forests in Canada.

So now comes the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change/United Nations report. From the press release: “Scientists are observing changes in the Earth’s climate in every region and across the whole climate system, according to the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Report, released today. Many of the changes observed in the climate are unprecedented in thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of years.”

And: “It has been clear for decades that the Earth’s climate is changing, and the role of human influence on the climate system is undisputed.”

In response to the report, Secretary General António Guterres of the United Nations stated: “The alarm bells are deafening, and the evidence is irrefutable: greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuel burning and deforestation are choking our planet and putting billions of people at immediate risk. Global heating is affecting every region on Earth, with many of the changes becoming irreversible.”

Yet all this received about one day in the news cycle. Just another boring report on how bad the climate is going to become: More heat. More floods. Sea level rise. Stronger hurricanes. Ho hum.

Meanwhile, some politicians scream about all the poor families and children trying to get into the United States across the southern border. While not all these folks are seeking to come here because of heat waves, flooding and failed crops, these events have destroyed livelihoods for many. And this migration crisis is just an inkling of what’s coming in the future.

In Europe, the future has already arrived with a huge influx of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa. Imagine what’s going to happen when the summer temperatures in the Middle East, Pakistan, India and elsewhere make living in certain areas impossible?

When Bangladesh becomes flooded because of sea level rise? When crops fail as they did in Syria, leading to the Syrian civil war? Where will all these people go?

In Minnesota, we’re fairly well suited, provided you don’t mind droughts, flooding and no ice fishing during the winter. Heck, there could be worse weather than Kansas. Perhaps Phoenix during the summer? Or Miami during hurricane season?

Speaking of Arizona and Florida, I learned a new term on my trip to California this summer. Instead of snowbirds, they have “firebirds” — that is, folks who are buying or building homes elsewhere to escape to during fire season. Seriously.

Having an escape home is great provided you’re among those few who can afford such extravagances. But if you can’t? Make sure you have your emergency evacuation bags packed, that you have friends or places where you can stay, and that nonprofits and the government (socialism?) can help you out.

Most of us reasonably say: This is too much for my poor brain to deal with. I’m too busy with my job, my family and just trying to make ends meet to deal with something like climate change that is so fuzzy and (hopefully) far in the future.

I’ll just jump into my gas-guzzling SUV and not look for ways to save energy and keep on voting for politicians who don’t give a rip beyond anything besides their next election.

And wait till the next IPCC/UN report that states unequivocally (again) that what climate scientists have been saying for decades: That it’s us, stupid, who are causing the planet to heat up. Meanwhile, we ask: Honey, can we crank up the A/C a bit? Can we afford it this month?

Leigh Pomeroy is the chair of the Southcentral Minnesota Clean Energy Council, which conducts monthly energy forums on clean energy issues.