Page 27 - Flathead Beacon // 12.7.16

UNCOMMON GROUND MIKE JOPEK JOB OF MAJORITY
GUEST COLUMN RUSS DOTY
PLEASE DON’T RIP UP PARIS
TO GOVERN
ACLIMATE ACCORD N OPEN LETTER TO THE PRES-
ISPENT SOME OF THE SUNNY MORN- A Newt Gingrich-era Congress ing outside spreading leaves to mulch passed the NAFTA trade agreement and bare land, protecting it from the cold imported lumber ooded the market.
ident-elect:
Perhaps we can help you bring
us together on the most important issue facing humankind. More than 97 per- cent of climate scientists have given you a ying start. They’ve proven that global warming is real, and we are causing it by burning too much fossil fuel. Backed by that scienti c consensus, hopefully you can demonstrate your leadership ability by bringing climate change deniers and doubters onboard. Eighteen U.S. sci- enti c organizations and the National Academies of Science from 80 countries want to help you. They already support the consensus view.
Their scientists are joined by every major religious faith in o cially acknowledging that human-caused cli- mate change is not a hoax. Scroll down to see if your faith is among them at www. mtcares.org/welcome-to-mtcares/. Cli- mate change and our reinforcement of it no more requires a “belief” to be real than does gravity. The damage we’re doing to the planet has not and will not spare the children of deniers, Democrats or Republicans. Since, faith leaders want to see the country unite, joining with them on this issue would be a good place to begin.
In your own political party, four (Republican) former Environmental Protection Agency administrators also know human-caused climate change is not a hoax. Please bring the rest of your faction together with them.
And those secret brie ngs you’ll now get? Many of us respect the gen- erals involved. Their studies advise of threats to U.S. national security within the next 20 years posed by global warm- ing: political instability, mass refu- gee migration, terrorism, or con icts over water and other resources. They conclude that human-caused climate change is at least as great a threat to our security as terrorism. Surely we can be duty-bound together in support of our military and intelligence professionals from the National Intelligence Council (NIC) (classi ed study for Congress), Council on Foreign Relations, Center for Navel Analysis, CIA, U.S. Defense Department, and Institute for Strategic Studies.
Nobody wants to see projections from the World Bank and the UN Inter- governmental Panel on Climate Change come true. They warn that unless we put
the brakes on global warming, more eco- nomic migrants will be clamoring at our door as increased deserti cation and higher seas from melting ice help drive hundreds of millions from their homes to ours.
Oceans provide more than $20 tril- lion each year in goods and services. This bounty depends on the tempera- ture of warming oceans and the con- centration of acidifying carbon dioxide in them. Surely you do not want to see increased ocean acidi cation continue to destroy food sources for millions, or bleach more coral reefs adjacent to lux- ury hotels.
And the Paris Climate Accord you vowed to scuttle – the one all 195 par- ticipating UNFCCC member states and the European Union came together to unanimously support? Please don’t rip that togetherness apart! All but Iraq, Syria, Uzbekistan and Nicaragua have followed-up by signing it. As of Novem- ber, 114 nations completed the process with rati cation. They comprise 78.96 percent of global CO2 emissions.
We understand we owe a debt to fossil fuel workers who built our world econ- omy. They should not be disadvantaged because the world is transitioning to an economy where electricity from the wind and sun is now cheaper than elec- tricity generated by fossil fuel. The Pew Research Center’s May-June 2016 poll indicated support for renewable energy is overwhelming. It found 89 percent of us want more solar farms; 83 percent want more wind farms. Thus, fossil fuel workers will need climate justice along with those in countless areas becoming dryer or more riddled with the stron- ger cold and warm weather becoming the norm in our changing climate. We must care for fossil fuel workers, just as we need to look after the innumera- ble jobs in agricultural, ocean-food, ski, sport- shing, tourism and other indus- tries that will continue to be damaged if we warm the earth even more.
So be a great leader, Mr. Presi- dent-elect. Bring us together. Embrace the POWER+ plan put forth by President Barack Obama to help coal communities nd new routes to economic prosperity. Or champion similar measures sug- gested by Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, which ease acceptance into the renewable energy economy. Humankind needs your bold leadership to survive!
season that’s approaching the elds. The earthworms were busy under the leaf piles.
The outdoors makes it easier to toler- ate the federal political babble that has permeated social media like Twitter and Facebook. It makes for great theater, yet clearly elicits a certain feeling.
Next month, with the presidential inauguration and seating of the next Leg- islature, it will no longer feel like theater. It will become very real.
Canada exports some 70 percent of its lumber to the U.S.
Congress might consider how cheap imports deluge our food or timber mar- kets. That’s tough on some farmers and foresters. If Congress wanted to help farmers it would re-label our beef as grown in the U.S.A.
We Montanans are independent vot- ers. We care less about ideology and more about getting a fair shake. We’re OK with change, but don’t scare us. We like level- headedness and expect results. Montan- ans know how to move forward.
Republicans now run all three
branches of the federal government, the
Montana Legislature, and the o ces of Outside it felt like snow is coming. It’s
the Public Service Commission, secre- tary of state, state auditor, public instruc- tion and attorney general.
It’s the Republicans’ time to govern. Expect some national media to still lay blame for stu not getting done on Dem- ocrats’ feet. As somehow it’s the job of the minority party to govern.
That’s not how it works, mostly. The majority party sets the agenda, just like in the last state Legislature and Congress.
When Congress works on policy that helps more than it hurts Montanans, hopefully leaders like Sen. Jon Tester vote “yes.”
When it comes to privatizing public services like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Veterans A airs, Post O ce or selling public places, leaders like Tester should just vote “no.”
Tester has a long track record of help- ing the locals of Montana. Tester is rou- tinely ranked nationally as one of the most willing members of Congress to work with the opposing party.
Tester should mostly con rm the next administration’s cabinet-level nominees. Yet speak out strongly when the pres- ident-elect does things like nominate ardent ideologues for the Supreme Court.
It’s the privilege of Sen. Steve Daines, Rep. Ryan Zinke and their GOP majority to govern. That’s the honor of the major- ity party. Hopefully Daines and Zinke will moderate public policy moving forward.
a good calm, ending the season and year. There’s plenty of over winter work ready- ing the farm to sow seeds come next year.
Last spring’s Free the Seed event was held at the Flathead Valley Community College. It proved a tremendous success. Over 1,600 people turned out to swap gar- den seeds and attend the multiple grow- ers’ workshops.
Organizers have posted March 4 as the next seed and start fair. There are details available at www.freetheseedsmt.com.
Maybe people like Tester, Daines and Zinke will attend the upcoming seed swap. These leaders can learn plenty about the real enthusiasm that exists for local gardening and farming, here in the Flathead.
The last federal Farm Bill made much good policy headway toward assuring that America’s farmers can better pro- duce food and products for local eaters. Many farmers do not export product, rather serve the local market.
There’s work ahead to level the play- ing eld of cheap imports from worldwide places that still pay workers down to $5 per day. Better access to crop insurance and infrastructure is key.
The day’s mail just landed on my work- table. Fortunately the 2017 Seed Savers Exchange and Johnny’s Selected Seeds catalogs o er renewed optimism into next year.
“THE MAJORITY PARTY SETS THE AGENDA, JUST LIKE IN THE LAST STATE LEGISLATURE AND CONGRESS.”
Mike (Uncommon Ground) Jopek and Dave (Closing Range) Skinner often fall on opposite sides of the fence when it comes to political and outdoor issues. Their columns alternate each week in the Flathead Beacon.
Russ Doty is a retired Montana legislator, consumer energy attorney and Minnesota administrative law judge who writes frequently on environmental and energy issues from Greeley, Colorado for Writers on the Range, OpEd News, and media in Montana, Colorado, and Minnesota. His website is www.MTCARES.org
DECEMBER 7, 2016 // FLATHEADBEACON.COM
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