Who is Mike Tidwell

Mike Tidwell is the executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.  On Sunday he had an opinion piece, "To really save the planet, stop going green" in The Washington Post.  Here is the heart of it.

As America joins the rest of the world in finally fighting global warming, we need to bring our battle plan up to scale.  If you believe that astronauts have been to the moon and that the world is not flat, then you probably believe the satellite photos showing the Greenland ice sheet in full-on meltdown.  Much of Manhattan and the Eastern Shore of Maryland may join the Atlantic Ocean in our lifetimes.  Entire Pacific island nations will disappear.  Hurricanes will bring untold destruction.  Rising sea levels and crippling droughts will decimate crops and cause widespread famine.  People will go hungry, and people will die.

Maybe.

One of the things we see is that hurricanes are down this year.  The Greenland ice sheet is shrinking, as are most, but not all, glaciers.  But, if that is so, doesn't it mean that that Greenland will open up for farming, as it did from 800 to 1300 AD?  Would that be a bad thing or a good thing?  All we hear is the Hollywood disaster film version of the future.

But, this is Mr Tidwell's story.  He is tired of half measures.  Here is what he says:

We all got into this mess together. And now, with treaty talks underway internationally and Congress stalled at home, we need to act accordingly. Don't spend an hour changing your light bulbs. Don't take a day to caulk your windows. Instead, pick up a phone, open a laptop, or travel to a U.S. Senate office near you and turn the tables: "What are the 10 green statutes you're working on to save the planet, Senator?"

So, a Congress that can't get out of its way to pass Health Insurance Change is going to quickly pass legislation on climate change just when the public is coming to believe that the Scientists have been cooking the books?  I have faith, but not that much faith.

Worse, I have a suspicion that if the more extreme advocates of AGW (anthropological global warming) are correct, we will need radical change. And if they are wrong and we still go with radical change, hundreds of millions will suffer as a result.  Maybe billions.

This is one of those times when someone needs to call "Academic Situation" and everyone take a break until we sort this out.  Too often in the past we have trusted the experts and they have blown it.  As the skeptics say, Amateurs built the Ark, Professionals built the TITANIC.  The amateurs want a peek at what the professionals are building.

"Trust me" died with the internet, for which we thank Al Gore.

Regards  —  Cliff