2014 to Highland - 311

More than ten years ago, I decided to investigate the claims that we were warming our earth with potentially devastating consequences. I spent a long time going through the websites of reputable science organizations like the IPCC, NASA, NOAA AMS, AAAS, ACS, AGU, NAS, and many others.

The results were repetitive and 100% in agreement. The earth was warming. Humans burning coal, oil, and gas were the cause. Temperature records were being set worldwide. If we wanted to avoid extreme weather, the challenge was to transition to energy that does not emit greenhouse gases (ghgs).

When I got into this, scientists' rough timeline for success was to cease emitting ghgs around 2080 to 2100.

 

After months of digging into the issue, the massive accumulation of ghgs plus the tipping points we were triggering, made me skeptical of the scientist's timeline. "When is Mother Nature going to make her run?" I muttered to myself. "It must be soon."

 

The Paris Climate Agreement was signed by nearly all countries in 2015. Ever since then, scientists have been moving up the survival goalposts. The survival goalposts set today are 2030 to half the emissions and 2050 to achieve net zero. I take no satisfaction that my skepticism was warranted. Mother Nature started her run about the time I questioned when she would. The last ten years are the ten warmest recorded, and 2023 was far and away the warmest since man has been around.

I want to make a simple but essential point. Every animal, plant, or fish has a temperature range within which it survives. If it is too hot or too cold, too wet or too dry, it must move or die. The change from ice ages to interglacial ages alternates every 50,000 years and is a natural cycle. It has been a challenge for many earthlings to survive these gradual changes, but most have avoided extinction. (I include all plants, animals, and fish as earthlings, as this is their only home). To survive these global climate cycles, humans and our fellow earthlings moved towards the poles or up the mountains as the earth warmed. They returned towards the equator and down from the mountains when it cooled.  

When analyzing the millions of year-old fossil records, scientists can see other periods where life thrived. There are also periods where earthlings disappear forever—these periods of mass dying occurred when the RATE OF TEMPERATURE RISE WAS TOO FAST. These are referred to as extinction events. The source of rapid heating and the corresponding collapse of life correlates with ghgs accumulating rapidly.

 

Today, our rate of warming is faster than at any identifiable period before. This warming is precisely due to burning ancient carbon: coal, oil, and gas.

 

Let me bring this issue home to us here in the Western UP. We have a controversy. Should a copper mine be allowed next to the Porcupine Mountains and Lake Superior? The Porcupine Mountains are a pristine North Woods Biome, and Lake Superior is a pure cold-water fishery.

 

Here is the bottom line on this treasured lake and park:  This biome and this fishery will not survive the coming climate catastrophe unless we act. 

 

A survival pathway has been laid out. The National Academies of Science (NAS) has laid out the pathway for survival. This, by the way, is why Abraham Lincoln in 1863 signed the NAS into law. Our NAS scientists are tasked with advising us on how to thrive and survive. The NAS pathway to stop climate change is laid out in the publication Accelerating Decarbonization in the United States.

The study says we must create our energy from any source that does not emit ghgs. Those commonly mentioned, but not limited to, are hydro, wind, biomass, nuclear and solar.  A new modern grid will be required to move the clean electricity to our heat pumps, induction stoves, and EVs.

 

The earth is heating rapidly, so time is of the essence. How all the pieces of the transition shake out is yet to be determined. But one thing is known: mining plays a key role in any survival plan. Minerals like lithium, cobalt, nickel, and the mineral most associated with modern electric power, copper, will be needed in massive quantities.

 

It is a shame we are in this predicament. This could have been avoided, but we were tricked. "Liars for Hire" paid by Big Oil tricked us into doubting the warnings our scientists gave us over 30 years ago.  Someday, Big Oil will be held accountable. Unfortunately, the task of cleaning up the climate lies on our shoulders. This may mean supporting a mine where many, and that includes me, would rather not have one.

 

Learning Bonus: The mining dilemma is playing out worldwide. To understand the task at hand, National Public Radio's "On Point" program, hosted by Meghna Chakrabarti, interviewed many experts. The series is called "Elements of Energy." The one that hints at a third way is "The Copper Tradeoff."