The League of Women Voters of Dawson and Pickens Counties gathered with a panel of experts to discuss global warming and climate change issues at local, state, and federal levels, Saturday.
League member, speaker, and panelist Peggy Lehmberg offered three factors that cause global warming. The first was increasing global population, especially in developing countries that suddenly need more energy and food. The others were new science and technology that require more fossil fuels, and the wasteful lifestyle of the average person.
These three elements, she said, have caused rising global temperature that are linked to increased natural disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005, the hottest year on record. Lehmberg learned these things when she attended former Vice-President Al Gore’s Climate Project in 2008. She plans to receive more training on the issue later this month.
Climate change is a hot issue, yet out of the 1,600 registered lobbyists in Georgia, there are only four working for global warming issues, according to panelist Jill Johnson, Program Director for Georgia Conservation Voters.
Lehmberg presented statistics and issues to the audience before the panel opened for discussion. She addressed issues of rising global temperature, and melting icecaps and glaciers. She said that her interest in climate change began when her daughter gave her the “Green” Bible,” which highlights passages in the Bible describing God’s care for the environment.
“Many scientists believe that the more CO2 in the atmosphere, the higher the temperature will be,” Lehmberg said. Carbon dioxide, also known as CO2, is released during the burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil. “The planet will survive, it’s life that is threatened,” she said.
Questions to the panel included causes of global warming, the truth about “clean” coal, and what can be done locally and on an individual basis to battle climate change.
Dawn Randolph, who works with the Wildlife Federation and Environmental Defense Fund, said “all good ideas start at home,” and to start conserving energy by simple methods like air-drying your clothes and turning off lights when you leave the room.
“Try to support companies that have a plan” for energy conservation,” said Dr. Rand Knight, panelist and member of the Ecological Society of America.
Also addressed by the panel was the idea of the “Cap and Trade” method used in the European Union. “Cap and Trade” method, essentially, is when Congress sets a standard on the amount of pollution a company is allotted, giving financial incentive to companies to not go over on their emissions so they can sell the rights to others that do go over their limits.
“The state legislature probably won’t do anything until we have a catastrophic collapse of one of the ecosystems in Georgia,” said Knight. An example he used is if the pine tree growth in Georgia was seriously affected.
The event was arranged and moderated by President of the League Kat Alikhan, and took place in Big Canoe.
The League of Women Voters is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that doesn’t endorse political candidates or parties, encourages “education and advocacy” of issues. |
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| PHOTO BY SNEED COLLINS |
| Kat Alikhan, President of the local League of Women Voters, introduces the panel who discussed climate change |
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