I published a post on my blog yesterday that I want to share here.
Dr. Steve Running is a member of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which in 2007 won the Nobel Peace Prize. He is an Earth Scientist and professor at the University of Montana in Missoula. He has continued to work and speak on climate change research.
Saturday evening, he was the keynote speaker at the Montana Audubon annual festival in Missoula, and presented a speech entitled The Latest Science (and Politics) on Global Climate Change.
Saturday night was Running's 'inaugural speech' after reading a book called 'Don't Be Such a Scientist: Talking Substance in an Age of Style', by Randy Olson, a scientist-turned-filmmaker. He spoke from the heart (and gut and one other organ [please check out the link to the book for more details]). He recognizes that what doesn't work to motivate the people who need motivating is 'more graphs.'
Steve didn't present a slide show. He's trying a new approach, one that doesn't include graphs and the latest data. There is nothing new in the science of climate change at this point, anyway, just the addition of data points to established trend lines, confirming what we already know.
Running says, and the vast majority of the other 2000 Earth Scientist agree, that we cannot sustain the [energy-use] path we are on for 50 more years. "We really are playing poker with the whole planet."
Audubon Society members are quite similar to the Dailykos community. There are some scientists among the membership (and there may have been a few more than usual in the audience the other night because Dr. Running was speaking.) But most of the membership is just crazy about birds, natural history, and the environment. Most of them want climate change and energy legislation to move forward. Most of them live with as light a carbon footprint as they can. I think Running's message to the Auduboners can resonate for us here at dailykos as well.
So, we are part of the solution, but it's not enough. The 10-15% of the adult U.S. population who are global warming deniers aren't worth attempting to get on board. It's the roughly 40% of the U.S. adult population who are disengaged from the whole climate change battle that must be reached, educated, engaged.
Running believes the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico presents a teaching moment for the uninvolved middle. And it's not the graphs from "Steve Running's slide set" that are going to get them engaged. Rather, pictures of oil-covered brown pelicans is what will catch their attention. We must use this time to provide the momentum to move on climate and energy issues.
For Audubon types, and for dailykossers, the action item is: we need to get going now. It's going to take time. We need to act now, in this generation. The course we are on is unsustainable.
Running spoke specifically to the Montana audience. Our state is dependent on dirty coal and oil for jobs and energy. We are a rather poor state, economically. And these are hard economic times. When we reach out to our friend, neighbors, and family to encourage them to support climate and energy legislation and action, the first concern many people have is for their jobs. For people we know who are employed in the 'dirty energy' sector, we need to assure them that their jobs are not at risk. It's going to take time to transition to clean and renewable energy sources, and their jobs will continue to be necessary in the short term. But we have to get started now. We are running out of time. We have to start changing in this generation. It's their children who will living and working in a new way under a climate and energy bill we pass now.
The U.S. uses 2 times the energy of Europe; this is not sustainable. The rest of the world is waiting for America to act. We have to make hard decisions now; we don't have any time to lose. We are out of time.
Edited to change Nobel Prize in 2007 not 1997.
p.s. I wrote this blog from notes I took from Steve's presentation. The few quotes I've provided are word-for-word. I believe the remainder of the diary represents what he was truly trying to convey the other night. The message is: it's urgent; we must act now; we are out of time.