Halting Climate Change Catastrophe
We Can’t Afford To Be Silent
By Tracey MacDermott
Board Chair, GPHC, Inc.
On Dec. 12, 2015, the Paris Agreement was adopted by 195 countries. It was signed on Earth Day, April 22, 2016, in New York City.
The goals are to hold the global average temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. Additional goals are to increase the ability to adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change and foster climate resilience and low greenhouse gas emissions development, and to make finance flows consistent with a pathway towards low greenhouse gas emissions and climate-resilient development.
Ultimately, the agreement is designed to prevent catastrophic effects of climate change by limiting the increase in global temperatures.
As someone who grew up in Parker, southeast of Park Hill, I had the most breathtaking view of our mountain range stretching from Colorado Springs to Longmont from my parents’ front porch. I have watched the snowpack appear later and later in the year and watched it disappear earlier year after year. Colorado’s economy depends on its snow. Imagine what less snow will do to our own personal enjoyment of our state and for the visitors who come to enjoy what some of us take for granted.
Yet Colorado is one of the fastest warming states in the country. Not only are our winters getting hotter, so are our summers. Our state has already warmed 1-2 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 30 years. Denver is retaining more heat due to the urban island heat effect. Increase in heat will lead to an increase in air conditioning usage, more electricity being used, stressing the energy system and potential power outages. Could this also lead to more ozone beware days?
With less snowpack we are experiencing a long and sustained drought. At the same time, our population is expected to double in the next 40 to 50 years, which will increase water consumption further stressing the available water supply. Less snowpack, drought and yes, wildfires, are part of our new normal.
Our wildfire seasons are increasing in length and number of fires. In 2013 Colorado was listed as the third most wildfire prone state. That same year our neighbors in Boulder were experiencing a heatwave. Yet on Sept. 12 that year, the clouds opened, and Boulder recorded 9.08 inches of rain in one day. When the storm finally stopped, the total rainfall was 17.8 inches. In the Fourmile Canyon Creek area through which this storm blew, there had been wildfires in previous years. The lack of groundcover contributed to the rapid runoff and resulting devastation from the subsequent torrents.
If you don’t notice the effects of climate change from your own backyard take a trip up to our majestic mountains. There, observe the pine beetle devastation. It is heartbreaking. In our lifetimes the trees can’t grow back fast enough for each of us to experience the mountains the way we used to. Children being born right now may never see it.
There are some things we will never get back due to climate change, but we can work towards stopping further destruction. We all must work to secure the future for the next generations. The first step is to make changes in your own life and then to hold our elected officials accountable on this issue.
Will you make that commitment this year, on this Earth Day? We cannot afford to be silent. I never viewed our environment as a political issue, but do view it as a moral issue. We have a responsibility to those that will come behind us to do our best and avert the worst.
We can’t allow the United States to abandon the Paris Agreement. We must require our politicians to not only stand behind this agreement but to exceed it. We have a chance to lead and we must.
Tracey MacDermott is chair of the board of Greater Park Hill Community, Inc. She has been active in the Registered Neighborhood Organization for many years, and was the 2012 recipient of the Dr. J. Carlton Babbs Award for Community Service.