John Wheeler: Americans need to see more change to accept ... - INFORUM

Americans need to see more change to accept climate change - InForum | Fargo, Moorhead and West Fargo news, weather and sports

John Wheeler: Americans need to see more change to accept climate change

Europeans tend to be more accepting, probably because European summers have become noticeably hotter and winters decreasingly cold.

FARGO — Perhaps a big reason (other than political ideology) that so many Americans remain skeptical about climate change is that it is rather hard for many of us to have casually observed any significant change to the climate in a lifetime. West Coasters are more accepting, but climatic changes have been easier to observe there. Precipitation patterns, always erratic, have become even more so; with longer droughts, record heat waves, and increasingly destructive wildfires.

Europeans tend to be more accepting, probably because European summers have become noticeably hotter and winters decreasingly cold. Canadians tends to be accepting as fires increase in their boreal forest. We can measure climate change here in the middle of North America, but the changes have been small so far. Climate change is not uniform around the world, so it makes sense to look globally and not just out the back door. Changes, even here, are likely to be more than just noticeable in future decades and centuries.

ADVERTISEMENT