The Nugget Newspaper - News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon

The average citizen has no idea what is causing the climate to change, how fast it is changing or how this is impacting them. Many people believe that CO2 emissions from power plants are the primary contributor causing the atmosphere to act like the glass on a greenhouse. The reality is that the CO2 emissions from cars are essentially equal to that of power plants in the U. S. This makes every driver of an internal combustion engine vehicle a contributor to the problem. Car CO2 emissions do not just dissipate on the ground, they migrate up to the lower atmosphere where they can persist for up to 1,000 years.

Many people do not understand the difference between weather and climate.

Weather happens real-time, where climate is a measure of land and ocean temperatures over a long period of time.

People tell me that if the planet is really warming then it should be warm everywhere.

This is nonsense because the poles will always be cooler and it will always be colder in winter.

The jet-stream is moving more erratically now, bringing cold fronts down to Florida and recently extreme heat to the east and mid-west.

Because the oceans are warmer now, hurricanes are more frequent, extreme and occur earlier in the year.

More moisture is in the atmosphere, so severe floods, hail storms and deep-snow are more common.

Flooding events are occurring somewhere in the U.S. almost every week. Maryland just had 1000-year floods for 2 years in a row. Texas just had record hailstorm damage, costing over $1B. High-temperature records are broken every year across the U.S. Wildfires are larger and more common now. These are not freak events of Mother Nature. They are caused by long-term human activity. The debate whether climate change/global warming is caused by humans is OVER. It is proven science verified by experts worldwide.

Climatologists now have analytical tools that attribute individual weather events to climate change. The severe flooding that was caused by hurricane Harvey in Houston has been 100 percent attributed to climate change. The economic damage that climate change is causing in the U.S. is rising every year. The estimated cost to the U. S. economy in 2017 is $300B, half the budget for the U. S. military.

Even those that live in areas unaffected by hurricanes and tornadoes are being impacted, including in Central Oregon.

Besides the recurring wildfires here, the cost of food has been increasing due to crop failures in Florida and lack of water in California.

Water supplies are being poisoned by toxic algae, including Salem's.

FEMA payouts for weather disasters continue to increase each year, increasing our tax burden and the national debt.

Ocean warming is causing many wild fish and shellfish stocks to be endangered, including the wild salmon fishery off the west coast.

Many west-coast rivers don't have runs anymore.

The incidents of insect-borne diseases including West Nile Virus, Zika, Dengue and Spotted Fever have TRIPLED in the U.S. from 2004 to 2016.

Air pollution is responsible for 200,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, more than cigarettes or wars.

Global warming is now accelerating because we have reached a "tipping point," caused by effects that reinforce warming. Shrinkage of the ice caps reduces the heat reflected back into space. Thawing permafrost releases methane gas, a greenhouse gas 27 times more potent than CO2. Forests, which along with the oceans are the ONLY absorbers of CO2, are shrinking at an alarming rate due to wildfires and deforestation for farming. Global warming is one of the top threats to mankind.

It's time for everyone to take this seriously at the ballot box and in your personal choices.