An open letter to southern Utah’s climate-change deniers
By Steve Hogseth
Having lived in Kanab for seven years, the most amazing “awakening” for me was not the awesome beauty found in the surrounding red hills; nor has it been hiking the fabulous backcountry within the national parks and the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument; nor was it being astonished in observing the majority of the region’s citizenry endorsing the actions of city, county, state, and federal politicians as they effusively praised Donald Trump and Ryan Zinke in downsizing both Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument and Bears Ears National Monument, seemingly unaware they were jeopardizing their own livelihood and in effect shunning tourism.
No, my most amazing awakening has been, and still is, witnessing the staunch obstinacy of the conservative faction within this region, denying the undeniable; their refusal to study and learn the science that the root cause of climate change is directly attributable to the actions of mankind; that the hockey-stick correlation of CO2 and global temperature escalation these past two centuries is lock-stepped with mankind’s fossil fuel consumption. The science has it nailed! Yet most cling to denial like a baby to a pacifier.
To some degree, I understand the “mind lock” political ideology imposes on us humans, and I understand how the echo-chamber effect thwarts some from peeking above the walls of their ideological trenches. What I do not understand is when politics prevents intelligent people from accepting rock-solid, bona fide science.
The world’s climate scientists are 98–99 percent in agreement with the facts! Yet this does not seem to connect with America’s conservative faction as most unashamedly choose to ignore the experts and follow a man who probably does not know the physics as to why water boils — and ditto for the Fox News pundits. With my background in science and engineering, such denial is mind boggling. If 50 doctors diagnosed a patient as having cancer but one doctor said “no,” would any reasonable person dismiss the 50?
Having observed the majority of southern Utah continually rejecting the mounting evidence of proven scientific facts has imposed culture shock upon me. The inane echoing of “the climate is always changing” rings as a community-mortifying admission of scientific illiteracy.
Having written several letters to the editor on this topic and many dozens of emails to my list of over 200, my views have been challenged many times in this community, but never scientifically! Often, the “best” challenges have been via immature namecalling letters of rebuttal and even face-to-face, fire-in-the-eyes anger (I am not exaggerating!), as to how I could be “so stupid” as to “believe” in climate change. Unlike them, I earned my “stupidity” via decades of a science-based education and career. This issue is not about beliefs but factual chemistry and physics.
I can count on three fingers when a climate-change denier approached me with civility, seeking to understand. It is clear that the vast majority seem more comfortable keeping their heads buried in the coral pink sand.
Six weeks ago, I read an article in which banking giant HSBC of London, with 3,900 offices in 67 countries and assets exceeding $2.7 trillion, announced that it will no longer fund oil or gas projects in the Arctic, tar sands projects, or most coal projects. With the World Bank leading, HSBC is aligned with the tenets of the Paris Accord. What they are saying is that there is no future in fossil fuels.
It seems the dominant mindset within southern Utah puts more faith in the pompous bellowing of nonscientists like Trump and Hannity than in the body of esteemed international climate scientists within the 197 nations of the Paris Accord. The USA sits alone, an embarrassment to itself and to the world.
The onslaught of fossil-fuel-funded think tanks in the USA pump hundreds of millions of dollars annually to “create doubt” on climate change, and it has succeeded via the inflexible, conservatively stuck mindset. Sadly, those who refuse to learn the science invite great risk to their posterity. Are you of that mold?
Those who want to keep denying the obvious, go ahead! Science will win; ignorance will lose. Those who buy the “hoax” mantra of Trump, Pruitt, Zinke, McConnell, Ryan, et al, go ahead! The banks believe the science, not the GOP’s heart of denial, and with each year the money will double down on the science. Go ahead and cheer the anti-science guy, and swallow his clueless rhetoric, his MAGA banter, which includes going down the rat hole for “beautiful clean coal.” Go ahead and high-five each other while America “paints itself into a corner,” drilling for more oil while the rest of the world is applying keen scientific research and development to advance solar, wind, and other renewable energies. Go ahead and scoff at China, Germany, and other leading nations while they progress and we regress. There will be a future day when some of you might look back at 2018, and ask yourselves, “What the hell were we thinking?!”
As we all know, the truth often hurts, but truth is a powerful awakening! I challenge you to read and learn. A good place to start is skepticalscience.com.
Whereas southern Utah has a bounty of wonderful people, I wish you all the very best!
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Put a sock in it Stevie. You global warming (Oh excuse me, climate change nitwit). When you contribute a good portion of your monthly income for climate change investigation to the one world order money bank, install a off the grid power system and quit trying to sound like a expert, we’ll be glad to read you next expert advice opinion.
Also, if you despise Utah so much and are sorry you moved here, you know where the door is genius.
Thanks Steve , ignore the ignorant
To Jarmi.
Unfortunate that your anger has clouded your rational thinking. Steve and I are both scientists, and have been for decades. Since we both have done scientific research and published scientific papers, we understand how the processes work. It seems from your comments, that you have done neither, and furthermore are angry and distrustful of science and scientists, which is presumably why you like to lash out and be insulting. Your reference to “…the one world order money bank” is an indication of misguided paranoia. Global warming is a proven fact. Human contribution to this warming is supported by a vary large amount of scientific research, carried out by scientists from many different countries, and from many different branches of science. To assume they are all in collusion is ludicrous, and indicates a serious lack of awareness on your part. The arguments against global warming are put forth by people who have a strong vested interest in maintaining the status quo. Vast amounts of money are at stake, and the energy companies, and the groups and individuals they support, do not wish to loose that money. They misinform, just like Tobacco Companies, Tetra-ethel lead manufacturers, Pesticide manufacturers, automobile manufacturers and so on have done since the 1950’s.