Global Warming

Huntington Beach Rep. Dana Rohrabacher hasn't been in step with President Bush on issues such as immigration, but he stuck closer to Bush last week in his comments on climate change. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger hobnobbed with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in Long Beach last week to talk about how to reduce emissions that some consider responsible for global warming. In response, Rohrabacher's office sent out a press release offering his take on "the myth of human-caused global warming."

Looking at the big picture this Thanksgiving. As we sit down to a luscious turkey dinner with all the trimmings and give thanks for our many blessings in our safe and secure homes, let's not forget about the biggest threat that civilization has ever faced: global warming. The onset of global warming has been subtle, and hard to detect among the ups and downs of normal weather fluctuations. But it's all around us. We saw the effects of global warming in this past season's record hurricanes.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher slammed warnings of climate change as bad science and alarmism in a speech on the House of Representatives floor Thursday. In a lengthy speech condemning former Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” the International Panel on Climate Change, as well as previous environmental cause célèbres such as fears about holes in the ozone layer and acid rain, Rohrabacher claimed large parts of the environmental movement were mere “pseudoscience” to justify increased government regulation.

Two weeks ago, the Independent ran a shocking article in which our elected representative to the U.S. Congress, Dana Rohrabacher, claimed that it is a myth that humans are causing global warming ("Rohrabacher cold to global warming," Aug. 10). He claimed that termites in the rain forest are more responsible for global warming than humans, and that we should bulldoze the rain forest if we're concerned about it. This denial of reality is appalling, but at least it represents progress.

While he was dying, a man named Philip Simmons wrote a book about living titled "Learning to Fall: The Blessings of an Imperfect Life." Its prose is poetic, I'm tempted to say flawless. Read aloud, it rings with a clarity reminiscent of a note played on fine leaded crystal. Days after seeing the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth," I came across a bit of wisdom Simmons' borrowed from an Indian yogi and tacked to his office door. "Before speaking," the reminder read, "consider whether it is an improvement upon silence."

Of all the issues Debbie Cook and Dana Rohrabacher disagree on in their congressional campaigns, perhaps the most stark are their stances on the environment. Democrat Cook, the mayor of Huntington Beach, has earned a reputation as an environmentalist while GOP incumbent Rep. Rohrabacher for years has ridiculed global-warming theories. So it comes as little surprise that Cook recently received a second big environmental endorsement in her campaign. The California League of Conservation Voters announced it is joining the Sierra Club in backing Cook in the election, citing the candidate’s fight to preserve the Bolsa Chica Wetlands and stop the Orange County Sanitation District from dumping partially treated sewage off the Huntington Beach coast.

Some things take time. Eight years ago, conservative Christian broadcaster and former Republican presidential candidate Pat Robertson plunked down a sizable bankroll in hopes of reviving a has-been oil refinery east of Los Angeles. According to documents cited by Communities for a Better Environment — the California nonprofit environmental health and justice organization that filed a federal lawsuit to stop him — the Robertson Charitable Foundation invested $75 million in the venture.

Do your part to reduce global warming I was very impressed with Leonardo DiCaprio’s powerful documentary titled “The 11th Hour.” The film depicts the devastating impacts of global warming, including droughts, hurricanes and flooding of coastal areas. It features interviews with the brightest minds on our planet about the causes of this man-made environmental crisis and possible solutions. A powerful solution was suggested last November in a report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.

U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher slammed warnings of climate change as bad science and alarmism in a speech on the House of Representatives floor Thursday. In a lengthy speech condemning former Vice President Al Gore’s “An Inconvenient Truth,” the International Panel on Climate Change, as well as previous environmental cause celebres such as fears about holes in the ozone layer and acid rain, Rohrabacher claimed large parts of the environmental movement were mere “pseudoscience” to justify increased government regulation.

Vic and I attended the Newport Beach Film Festival this past weekend. Naturally, Vic and I focused on environmental documentaries. We saw three films, "A Fierce Green Fire,""Last Call at the Oasis,"and"Bitter Seeds. " "A Fierce Green Fire" is based on the book of the same name. The film explored the history of environmentalism from John Muir's failed attempt to save the Hetch Hetchy valley north of Yosemite from being dammed, up to today's battle to slow global warming.

How many pets will be eaten by coyotes in Huntington Beach (and all of O.C.) until each respective city efficiently alerts its residents? Most people are not aware, thinking their small dog or cat is lost and will come home. It will take the killing of a small child innocently walking or a toddler or infant in a playpen in someone's yard or patio. It is irrelevant if adults are present or chasing the coyote away. This morning in my small walled-in townhome community near the beach in Huntington, residents were trying to scare and chase a coyote away, and within minutes it had a calico cat in its mouth (too late for this domestic pet, ignorantly kept outside)

Britain's Guardian newspaper reported recently that the construction of many new fossil fuel-burning power plants may prevent the world from keeping global temperature increases at a safe level. A manageable temperature rise is thought by many scientists to be an increase of 2 degrees Celsius, or about 7 degrees Fahrenheit. According to the Guardian article, the International Energy Agency (IEA) warned that if new international climate action isn't taken by 2017, people won't be able to keep future temperature increases at that so-called safe level.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) National Climatic Data Center's "State of the Climate: Global Analysis for Annual 2010" makes for some pretty sobering reading. Vic and I waded through the nine-page document over the hot Fourth of July weekend. Looking at the combined global land and ocean surface temperatures, scientists determined that 2010 tied 2005 as the hottest year ever. That was for the whole world. But when they looked at just the Northern Hemisphere, there was no tie. For those of us living north of the equator, 2010 was the hottest year on record.

Our column this week comes out April 22, which is the 40th annual Earth Day. I can clearly remember the first Earth Day, in 1970. I was an environmental biology major at the University of Colorado at Boulder. At that time, issues with air and water pollution were of prime importance, as was the concept of endangered and threatened species. Even then, the world was changing, and the populations of many plants and animals were dwindling. As a result of that first Earth Day and a raised environmental awareness on the part of the public and politicians, several important laws were enacted.

Temperatures climbing, climates changing and sea levels rising aren’t the only consequences of global warming, students at eight high schools learned Feb. 4 and Friday. About 20 freshman and sophomore students at Marina High School took part in a Ocean Acidification Lab on Feb. 4 in the Crystal Cove Park and Marine Research Facility. The program is put on by the Crystal Cove Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoration, conservation and education at the Crystal Cove State Park District, as part of the alliance’s first ever Science and Nature in the Park “SNAP!

Regarding “Specific plan reopened,” Nov. 19: I drive 30 to 45 minutes from Fullerton to enjoy your beaches. In raising the parking rate to $15, fewer visitors, much fewer, will park in the lots. (I am one.) In fact, I was there Saturday, and there were a scant few cars parked on a glorious day. You are doing a disservice to the entire beachgoing community and the city of Huntington Beach. Why? Would you all like to pay $15 to park, even for a 60-minute jog on the beach?

Five years ago, 86% of global energy production centered on coal, natural gas and petroleum. The bulk of the remaining 14% was nuclear energy at 8% and a minuscule 6% effort for all others, including solar, biomass, geothermal and wind. In the past five years, little has changed. The U.S. has 25% of global coal reserves. Accordingly, we are still blowing off the tops of mountains in Appalachia ? never mind the toxic sediment finding its way into Appalachian streams. After all, we need it for our electric generating plants, more than 50% powered by coal.