Something's going on with the weather. Nearly every week there's news of another broken record and of severe disasters from abnormal wind, rain, cold or heat, somewhere on Earth. Recently there have also been a number of reports indicating a general global warming trend.

The first five months of this year were the warmest since records have been kept. Earlier this spring, the temperature of New Jersey's coastal water was reported to be six degrees above normal. Science News magazine discloses that researchers have discovered, with 99.7% certainty, that three years in the 1990s were each hotter than any year for more than six centuries. Science News also reports that 200 square kilometers of Antarctica's ice shelf recently broke off, just four years after a chunk five times its size suddenly disappeared. The Washington Post reports that the Arctic ice sheet has been shrinking at two-to-three percent per decade during the last 20 years. El Nino, which is still affecting the weather over many areas of this planet, is simply a large concentration of slightly warmer ocean water. And fires in Indonesia, Mexico, Florida and other places seem to result from, and may accelerate, this warming trend.

Three years ago, the International Panel on Climate Change, made up of over 2,000 scientists warned that the burning of fossil fuels has pushed the Earth into a period of climate instability which is likely to cause "widespread economic, social and environmental dislocation over the next century."

It took hundreds of millions of years for those fossil fuels to form as plants removed carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and natural processes converted those plant materials into fossil fuels. As carbon dioxide was removed from the Earth's atmosphere, the climate changed.

We are currently reversing the process, dumping that carbon dioxide back into the air in just a few hundred years, that's millions of times faster than it was removed. Not surprising then is the discovery that this rapid change in the concentration of a gas which helps control the flow of heat out of the earth, is having some notable effects. Of course, we are adding many other so-called "greenhouse gases" too. As suggested by climate change theory, more violent and unpredictable weather and changes in the locations of organisms (including those that cause serious human diseases) are occurring now.

Scientific studies, news reports and personal experience all support the current reality of climate change. The world's nations, gathered in Kyoto, acknowledged this view, although the power of our country, which produces one quarter of the world's greenhouse gases, is such that only a very modest, seven percent reduction in the global carbon output could be agreed upon.

People here keep buying larger vehicles, planning more vacations, building bigger houses, widening roads and replacing farms with energy-intensive commercial buildings. This trend is further encouraged by very low-cost crude oil. Forty-two gallons, or one barrel cost just over $11 earlier this week.

The news media faithfully tell us about each penny or two change in the price of a gallon of gasoline. They don't, however, tell us that we pay $20 to $30 per barrel with our taxes to provide military protection for the Persian Gulf (so that oil companies can continue to buy cheap oil there). The media don't report total environmental costs of fossil fuel use or give us the big picture of global warming, either.

This isn't too surprising once we learn that the fossil fuel, automotive, chemical and aluminum industries, the major advertisers in mainstream media, are also spending millions of dollars for a propaganda campaign which includes deceptively-named groups organized by global PR firms. Their purpose is to spread doubt and to delay any action on climate change that might serve the common good, but could hurt profits.

This Sunday marks the Summer Solstice, a good time to be reminded of the importance of the sun and of the possibilities for using its energy directly to satisfy our needs. An organic garden for food, well-placed trees for cooling, south-facing glass for winter warmth and an outdoor line to dry our clothes all provide essential services without producing greenhouse gases. They also can create a place beautiful and interesting enough to keep us near home.

Happy Solstice!

This is Bill Duesing, Living on the Earth

This page and its contents are copyright © 1998 by WSHU-FM, Fairfield, CT, and by Bill Duesing.