This is the second of three articles about climate change and the Adirondacks.
Tomorrow: Charting a course for adaptation.
LAKE PLACID — Climate-change predictions come with some percent of uncertainty attached.
And building policy from any uncertainty raises heated debate.
Faced with potential changes in an Adirondack climate, area leaders Tuesday will begin to formally discuss energy-efficient policy to lessen municipal and community carbon impacts.
They will also tackle the question of adaptation measures.
But not all of them agree that any action or attendant funding is prudent.
Supervisor Dale French (R-Crown Point) is one among an often-silent group who don't believe the world is warming.
Building policy on supposition, he says, is a mistake.
"I think it's the most ridiculous thing you could ever do up here. There is so much evidence there is no global warming here."
As a young engineer, French studied the abnormally cold weather period in the 1970s for a firm looking to install natural-gas systems.
"A study done at the University of Oslo at the same time predicted the same thing: We're actually in a cooling trend with a slight warming period of about 30 years, lasting from the mid '70s to early in this century."
French also believes local action could have no possible effect on a global scale.
"What could we do up here to change a global event of any kind? It would be ridiculous to commit our resources to such a stupid thing when there's nothing we can do.
"Those resources should be better spent for something else, like our sewers and water systems. To think we could make any change in this region is a pipe dream."
French is invited to the conference this week and sent a letter of response, he said, to the program co-chairmen, Lake Placid Mayor Jamie Rogers and Dr. Ross Whaley.
"I urged them to discuss the possibility of global cooling; it's much more devastating. Throughout history, mankind has prospered in periods of global warming," French said.
GOOD CHANGES
Rogers sees the issue at hand in a different light.
"Whether you believe in climate change or not, why shouldn't we take action to save taxpayers' dollars? Why shouldn't the federal government raise fuel-efficiency standards?
"These type of policy changes are good for this country, regardless of what your belief is in climate change, because they're going to reduce our dependency on foreign oil."
The entire process is connected, from local policy, to national policy, to a global response, Rogers said.
"It can have a cumulative impact. As mayor, I can lead our community to purchase energy-efficient vehicles supporting the federal policy."
NATIONAL POLICY
The Adirondack discussion begins hot on the heels of new national recommendations.
Bill Becker, executive director of the Presidential Climate Action Project in Colorado, helped draft measures handed over to President-elect Barack Obama.
The policy is derived, in part, from the national climate-change summit held in Tupper Lake at the Wild Center last summer, which Becker attended.
It was the prelude to this week's local event.
The Presidential Climate Action Project recommends a $200 billion infusion in the carbon-credit system and dozens of specific actions to jump-start new, green economy.
Many of the recommendations would inject funding directly to state and local levels.
AT THE LIMIT
"We have reached the limits of the Earth's capacity to absorb the growing human footprint," Becker wrote. "We are reaching the limits of finite resources, such as oil and gas.
"Climate change is a growing concern for national security, threatening instability in some of the world's most volatile regions. Its damage to public health and safety, infrastructure and agriculture are liabilities we cannot afford.
"If we embrace and invest in the new economy — and do it with unprecedented speed — we will create an opportunity society, a renewed America that is not only more vibrant, with new industries and jobs, but also more secure.
"This is not an easy time, but it is rich with promise. If we embark on the path of sustainability, we will accomplish what author Thomas Berry calls the Great Work of our generation."
Focused on an acutely Adirondack response, Rogers said heated debate here would only help forge stronger policy for a difficult future ahead, whether hot or cold.
"If everyone looks for solutions in sustainability, the question of climate change becomes a lot less threatening. It becomes moot, really, because we're finding answers in what we've got."
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
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