Sometimes the Sky is Actually Falling

Chicken Little may be a crazed, hyper-reactive, fear monger, but occasionally that bump on the head actually is a piece of the sky. Unfortunately, a history of apocalyptic prophets have made her voice difficult to hear. Doom sayers have been calling our attention to impending catastrophe since the beginning of time. I remember being mortally afraid that killer bees were going to swarm through the United Sates, killing everything in their path. It was on all the TV shows. It was terrifying, but it never happened. Remember Y2K? Now what are we supposed to do with all this bottled water and canned goods. There are many other examples just like the bees and the computer bug, disasters that never happened, wolves that didn’t turn up.

These constant warnings of the world’s end have installed a good degree of skepticism in most of us. We may believe in the importance of an issue. We may see the point in flu vaccine research and a telescopic search for earth killing asteroids, but we aren’t anticipating judgment day just yet. We understand there are vital issues facing us, but we really aren’t sure they are that vital.

Global warming and climate change fall in this category. Anyone with even a tiny bit of intellect understands that the world is heating up and that we might just have something to do with it. The vast majority of us think this is a pretty big deal and are willing to go out of our way to do something about it. Many of us even feel that it is the most important issue on the table. However, when some crazy comes around talking about feedback loops and tipping points, flooding, famine and the end of the world as we know it, we start to hear the Chicken Little cluck we have learned to block out. Yes, it’s bad, but come on, its not that bad. Something is falling, but it isn’t they sky you stupid chicken.

Well, it turns out that the role of the chicken is currently being played by the chief climatologist at NASA. That’s right you starry-eyed green geeks, James Hansen. According to the LA Times, Hansen just released a particularly “panicky poultry” scientific paper in which he lays out some pretty dire portents. Check out this little tidbit:

If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and ongoing climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm.

Wow, now that is some hard core rhetoric for a scientific paper. I mean, you have to keep in mind, this isn’t some hermit, climate nut named Rainbow who has been measuring the temperature of the glacial lake next to his secluded cabin and recording the results in homemade walnut ink on the walls (not that I have anything but the highest respect for Rainbow’s work). This is the head climatologist for NASA. This is a guy with a big budget and a lot to lose by being over the top.

According to the folks over at www.350.org, we have hit a new carbon high at 387 ppm. This is the highest levels the earth has seen in 650,000 years and unlike most records, it is not one of which we should be particularly proud. In fact, if NASA’s top man on the issue is right, it could be a sign that we are soon to have some serious stratosphere raining down on our heads.

So, what do you think? Is the sky falling? Are we actually toying with some serious consequences or is the boy crying wolf? Is this real or just some more clucking from the frightened chicken? I, for one, am thinking about dusting off my Y2K bunker and christening it something more appropriate like The Basement of the Greenhouse. Use the comments to tell me why I’m over reacting.

Nic Darling is more afraid of bees than they are of him.