Published: Goldendale Sentinel, 2/14/24
In his letter to the Feb.7th edition of the Sentinel, Darby Hanson of Goldendale made a series of factual errors in trying to correct what he saw as factual errors in a previous letter from Steve Heitmann regarding climate change/global warming. Perhaps Hanson cherry-picked his reference to the University of Alabama -Huntsville (UAH) data because “For some time the only available satellite record was the UAH version, which (with early versions of the processing algorithm) showed a global cooling trend for its first decade. Since then, a longer record and a number of corrections to the processing have revised this picture, with both UAH and RSS measurements showing a warming trend.” (Wikipedia- Microwave Sounding Unit temperature measurements.) Science is an ongoing learning project with ever better satellite measuring devices and better algorithms that leads to better information and knowledge.
The slow rise in global temperatures that has been firmly established by science has created changes in weather patterns that have made hurricanes and tornadoes more numerous and fierce; fires bigger and more difficult to contain; droughts more severe in some places and atmospheric rivers dumping too much water in other places. You only have to turn on the tv and believe your eyes, even if it isn’t happening in Goldendale. Or check with insurance companies who are increasing rates or denying coverage in certain disaster areas.
And, yes, juggling energy needs is difficult while we are transitioning from the fossil fuel era that has given us incredible energy riches while at the same time bestowing havoc on our atmosphere, our groundwater, our lungs, and our children’s future- to an alternative energy era. But the shift from whale oil to ground oil must have been difficult for the sailors and ship owners back then. It’s only been since 1859 when the first oil well was set in Pennsylvania. That’s 165 years of spewing increasingly massive amounts of those black gold particles into our atmosphere with reckless abandon. Biden is trying to juggle both eras by increasing US oil production to the highest levels ever (yes, check it out) while passing the most comprehensive alternative energy incentives so that China won’t beat our butts in the race to the future. Your children will thank him even if you (and the progressive wing of the Dems) won’t.