On December 7, 2009, the EPA issued its finding that the greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change constitute a danger to public health. U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski introduced a resolution that would overturn the scientific determination that certain pollutants cause global warming and will have serious negative impacts on our health and environment.
It is unfortunate that Murkowski has chosen to take this approach given the May 6, 2010 letter in Science magazine, signed by 258 scientists, that expresses their concern about the “recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and climate scientists in particular.”
The scientists conclude that the planet is warming from increased concentrations of heat trapping gases in the atmosphere due mostly to human activities, especially the burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. Warming the planet will cause many other climatic patterns to change more rapidly and dramatically. The combination of these complex changes threatens coastal cities, our food and water supplies, wildlife populations and marine and freshwater ecosystems.
Climate change presents a serious threat to Alaska’s economy, environment and quality of life. Warming streams are threatening our iconic salmon stocks and fishing industries that they sustain. Much of our rich marine food web faces the impacts of ocean acidification (a type of pollution). Forests suffer from insect infestations and stronger wildfires that destroy habitat as well as local economic opportunities, and cumulatively these impacts and others threaten our statewide tourism industry.
It is time for the Senate to pass a climate/energy bill.
Andy Keller