BY FORD TURNER Of The Patriot-News
Climate change, a one-time fringe topic that stirs plenty of disagreement among midstate residents, has moved into the mainstream.
The state Senate has approved a measure that would require Pennsylvania to conduct a study of how global warming could affect the state. The action represents, to some, a turnabout.
“In the halls of Harrisburg two years ago, you couldn’t have uttered the words ‘global warming’ without getting laughed at,” said Nathan Willcox, a spokesman for PennEnvironment, an environmental advocacy organization.
The Senate bill is to be sent to the House, according to a statement issued by the office of state Sen. Edwin Erickson, R-Delaware, who crafted the bill.
Last month, the House approved a similar measure.
The new level of seriousness in Pennsylvania mirrors a national shift in attitude toward climate change.
Data that shows the earth is warming has become, to many, too compelling to ignore.
“There really is not very much scientific uncertainty about it,” said Alan Taylor, a professor in the Department of Geography at Penn State University.
Bernd Haupt, a computer modeling expert at Penn State’s Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, said the earth’s temperatures have never risen as fast as they have in the past 10 years.
Pennsylvania ski area operators worry that, years from now, the slopes will be denuded of snow.
Anglers ponder the possibility of troutless mountain streams.
Forestry experts speculate on which tree species will retreat to the north and which will expand from the south.
Ed
Perry, a retired aquatic biologist who lives near Boalsburg, has become
global warming outreach coordinator for the National Wildlife
Federation, which, he said, has “focused almost the entire resources of
the organization on global warming.”
Still, central Pennsylvania residents are divided as to whether human-induced climate change is really happening.
“I
don’t know if I believe these people who are shouting, ‘Global
warming!’ ” said Shirley Hensler, a retired hotel worker who lives in
Camp Hill. “Two years ago, you didn’t hear anything about it. I am not
sure I believe all the hype. Can the hype be doctored?”
Rich and Kathy Bowers of Newberry Twp., both of whom work in health insurance, said they firmly believe in climate change.
Pete
Alfano of Hampden Twp., who graduated from Bucknell University this
year, said, “I don’t know how extreme it is going to be, but I
definitely feel something is happening.”
Annette MaCoy, a
certified master gardener with a background in geology who works in the
Carlisle area, said she does not take an alarmist view.
“I don’t
think the scientific evidence is there to prove that the current
increase in temperature is caused by man and will continue unabated
until the earth is destroyed,” she said. “In Earth’s history, the
climate is always changing and there have always been warmer and colder
periods which can last thousands of years or longer.”
Climate
change is a “critical issue” for Trout Unlimited, according to Frank
Viozzi of West Hanover Twp., president of a midstate chapter of the
national conservation organization. An increase of a “degree or two” in
air temperature could shatter the already fragile set of conditions
that support trout.
Ski resort operators consider themselves to be the “canaries in the coal mine” when it comes to global warming.
“We
are going to be the first industry, the first businesses that will be
affected,” said Eric Flynn, general manager of Liberty Mountain Resort
in Adams County. “Each year it is going to be harder to make snow, to
do what we do.”
The Senate bill passed this week requires the
state Department of Environmental Protection to publish a report on the
impact of climate change in Pennsylvania.
Among other things, it
is required to reflect the “diversity of views” in the scientific
community about the potential weather changes brought on by global
warming.
The bill also called for a listing of possible effects on health, the economy, forests, wildlife, fish, recreation, agriculture and tourism.
