By Norm Buss and Peter Gately  

Guest Column

The World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) State of the Global Climate 2023 report (dated March 2024) showed that records were once again exceeded for greenhouse gas levels, surface temperatures, ocean heat and acidification, sea level rise, Antarctic sea ice loss and glacier retreat.

So, what’s going on? The preponderance of climate scientists agree that human-induced activities are responsible for global heating and associated climate impacts. The main culprit is the influx of greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane and nitric oxide) into our atmosphere, mostly from burning of fossil fuels. Naturally occurring water vapor is also a greenhouse gas. Unfortunately, as the earth warms, more water evaporates in the form of water vapor. For every 1C rise in temperature from man-induced activities, an additional 1C rise occurs due to increased water vapor.

So, what’s the impact? The rise in greenhouse gases is already increasing air and sea surface temperatures, increasing sea surface temperatures, decreasing polar ice caps, and ultimately raising sea levels. Perhaps most impactful are extreme weather events: regional droughts, regional flooding, and more frequent and destructive tropical storms and hurricanes. The ultimate concern is reaching a tipping point in global temperatures, or a point when crossed, that causes irreversible changes in the climate system. Examples are the collapse of the Greenland ice sheet or boreal permafrost collapse.

At what cost? The WMO report indicated world-wide climate-related finance flows reached $1.3 trillion in 2021/2022. To achieve climate objectives, the estimated need is $10 trillion of international investment annually through 2050. The cost of inaction is even higher. When aggregated over the period 2025-2100, cost of inaction is estimated at $1,266 trillion.

What the heck are the politics? Climate change emerged as a political issue in the 1970s. Due to effective lobbying and political contributions from the oil, gas and coal industries, Congress did little to address the issue. In 2015, the United States entered the Paris Agreement with non-binding goals to keep global warming below 2 degrees C. President Trump repeatedly called climate change a “China hoax” and exited the agreement in 2019. President Biden subsequently rejoined the accord on his first day in office. The Inflation Reduction Act included investments in clean energy. We are making progress. Wind and solar produced more U.S. power than coal during the first five months of 2024.

So, what’s ahead? If Donald Trump is re-elected, the tenets of Project 2025 will be enacted. The document proposes to remove regulations that reduce environmental harm, reduce or eliminate the EPA, and reduce funding for renewable energy while expanding Arctic oil drilling and western coal mining. And their plan would once again remove the United States from international climate change agreements.

Project 2025 awareness: As more organizations, media and citizens have been made aware of Project 2025, the right-wing establishment and the Trump campaign are running away from any association with the document. “I have no idea who’s behind it,” Trump disingenuously claimed. But at least 140 people from the Trump administration had a hand in the project, including six of his former cabinet secretaries. So, don’t believe Trump and his minions.

The future is in our hands now. We have a choice in November, we can vote for candidates whose plans and policies address human-induced climate change, or we let Trump and the MAGA right destroy our planet for future generations merely for the price of short-term U.S. gas and oil profits. The choice seems obvious to us.

Norm Buss and Peter Gately are residents of Bridgton.