Senators Grapple With Politics of Global Warming

By J.R. Pegg

WASHINGTON, DC, March 4, 2004 (ENS) - The burning of fossils fuels is changing the climate and this change will have profound impacts on humanity and the Earth's biodiversity, a panel of scientists told the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. The combined testimony of the panelists demonstrated the clear scientific evidence that supports that message, but whether it is enough to convince the elected officials of the U.S. government to take action is far less certain.

"The question of how and when we deal with the threat of global warming is one of the great tests for our generation of elected officials," said Senator Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut Democrat. "The question is do we have the courage to begin to bring about the changes to protect us, our children and grandchildren?"

Senator John McCain says he is convinced by scientific evidence that climate change is a pressing issue of global importance. (Photo courtesy Office of the Senator)

The legislation would require some sectors of the U.S. economy to enact mandatory reductions of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Of the six most damaging greenhouse gases, CO2 is the most abundant.

The bill was defeated in the Senate last October by a vote of 53 to 44, but supporters of the legislation said the vote was a watershed moment in the U.S. debate over the issue of global warming.

It was the first action on the issue by the Senate in six years.

McCain, who is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said he is determined not to abandon the proposal.

"This is an issue of worldwide importance," McCain said. "We will get another vote and see if there is any temperature change in the Senate this spring."

It is the changing temperature of the Earth that has McCain and others worried. The vast majority of climate scientists note that human emissions have already caused temperatures to increase slightly. They predict that if greenhouse gas emissions are left unchecked, surface temperatures on Earth will rise between 1.7 to 4.9 degrees Celsius by 2100.

Higher temperatures caused by the increased levels of greenhouse gases are expected to result in rising sea levels, the melting of the polar ice caps, erratic and severe weather patterns, and a host of other environmental problems that could have far reaching economic and social impacts.

It is politics - not science - that is prohibiting action on global warming, said Senator Frank Lautenberg, a New Jersey Democrat.

"The failure of some of those in office to acknowledge these impacts is at best myopic, at worst irresponsible," Lautenberg said. "If we ignore 30 years of scientific data, we are putting ourselves in jeopardy."

"We have to do more than study global climate change," Lautenberg said. "It is time for action."

But the Bush administration does not agree and neither do many of its Congressional allies. They have consistently questioned the validity of the science behind global warming and argued against mandatory reductions of greenhouse gas emissions.

The burning of fossil fuels is a key culprit in climate change. (Photo courtesy New Mexico Solar Energy Association)

Global warming skeptics should take a look at the Arctic, said Dr. Robert Corell, a senior fellow at the American Meteorological Society and the chairman of the Arctic Climate Impact Assessment (ACIA).

The ACIA is an international team of 300 scientists, experts, and indigenous residents of the Arctic region who are preparing a comprehensive analysis of the impacts and consequences of climate variability and changes across the region.

"The trends are absolutely clear," Corell said. "The climate is changing in the Arctic rapidly."

In Alaska and western Canada, the average winter temperatures have increased by as much as three to four degrees Celsius over the past 60 years.

During the past 30 years, Arctic sea ice extent has decreased, on average, by about 10 percent, and this change has been 20 percent faster during the past two decades.

Continued melting of sea ice will lead to significant changes in the surface reflectivity, cloudiness, humidity, exchanges of heat and moisture, and ocean circulation, in particular along coastlines and near ice margins.

"Indigenous people have been observing these changes for some time," Corell told the Senate committee.

The cultures, livelihoods and health of the indigenous people of the Arctic are under threat from global warming, Corell said. Warmer climates could bring insects with diseases these people have never known and the species they depend upon, such as the polar bear, are unlikely to survive if global warming continues unabated.

The fate of the Arctic is as a "window into the future" and a preview for what the rest of the world is likely to see over the next generation, Corell said.

Dr. Lee Hannah, a research fellow with Conservation International, told the committee that climate change is the "major new threat to global biodiversity."

"Even a perfect conservation effort cannot save species from extinction in the face of unchecked climate change," Hannah said.

The lives and cultures of indigenous Arctic communities are being changed by global warming. (Photo courtesy Arctic Power)

The viable options, Mahlman said, are mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions, adaptation to the effects of climate change, or doing nothing - business as usual.

It is the third of these choices that "appears to be the unstated national and international policy," Mahlman said.

McCain questioned Mahlman about allegations that the Bush administration pressured him to tone down his message about climate change at past hearings.

"The real pressure was to make sure that I was not testifying something about the science that was embarrassing to the administration," said Mahlman, who added he avoided the concern by testifying as a private citizen.

McCain acknowledged that there is little, if any support for his bill in the U.S. House of Representatives.

"My proposal was widely touted but it is really an incredibly modest proposal," McCain said. "But we need a beginning."

McCain's bill would set a nationwide cap on industrial emissions of C02 and reduce those emissions down to 2000 levels by 2010 through an emissions trading system.

It does not address the C02 emissions from the nation's automobiles, which represent some 20 percent of the U.S. total.

By contrast, the 37 other industrialized nations that have ratified the Kyoto climate protocol are committed to reducing their CO2 emissions an average of 5.2 percent from 1990 levels during the five years from 2008 through 2012.

With less than five percent of the world's population, the United States is responsible for about 22 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions.