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Lately the news is all about the weather and global warming, like a recent BDN cartoon character: “We’re doomed.” Yes, the weather has been less scary in Maine than in Texas and Arizona and, wow, Maui, but we are rightly concerned nonetheless. And yet, we behave as if this heat came upon us without notice, and so of course we blame others, like politicians.
But let’s be honest, you and I and everyone else were warned by President Jimmy Carter and his administration in the 1977 memorandum made public titled, “Release of Fossil CO2 and the Possibility of a Catastrophic Climate Change.” I remember it. I also remember ignoring it. This summer’s weather suggests most of us did that, politicians too. Ronald Reagan removed Carter’s solar panels from the White House roof.
That was then; what’s now? Well, of course, Carter’s prophecy has come true in spades, faster and possibly worse than experts predicted. Maybe not catastrophic yet, but getting there. Even so, no one seems to mention Carter, not even a “Gee whiz.” News sources reporting the story don’t recall him or his prescient warning. Why is that? Are we so forgetful? Ashamed? Embarrassed?
Yes, some of us questioned some of his politics, but still. I wonder, is it Jimmy Carter’s adherence to the Beatitudes that discomfits us, his quiet Christianity? Is he too, uh, consistent? Whatever, imagine if we had responded sensibly to his warning 46 years ago. How grateful would our grandchildren be today?
Stefan Nadzo
Eastbrook