Commentary: Global warming is the planet’s greatest threat

In recent weeks, two holinesses, Pope Francis and the Dalai Lama, have spoken out unequivocally and compassionately about the dangers of climate change.

Neither, of course, is a scientist, but they are very much in touch with the best science and what it tells us about this problem. In a conference at UCI July 6, the Tibetan spiritual leader put it quite simply: “We must take care of our earth as we take care of our homes.”

The pope used similar language in his recent encyclical Laudato Si/Praise be: “The earth, our home, is beginning to look like an immense pile of filth.” Now he has declared Sept. 1 a World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation.

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration has said much the same about global warming, as has the Defense Department, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and most of the atmospheric scientific community.

Climate scientists and diplomats will meet in Paris on Nov. 30 to continue the work begun with the 1997 Kyoto Protocol to help convince the world that this is our greatest challenge — more than terrorism, the arms race and world hunger — although global warming exacerbates the problems of the hungry and thirsty.

The “evergreen” state of Washington is burning. The Olympic National Forest — one of only a handful of rain forests in North America — is alarmingly dry this summer.

Yes, this is anecdotal information, but it is simply a coda on the avalanche of scientific data indicating that it is really getting warm on planet Earth. Global average temperatures have increased 1.5 degrees in the past 100 years, and scientists project a 2- to 12-degree increase by 2100, according to the Union for Concerned Scientists.

CO2 levels in the atmosphere are higher than at any time in the past 800,000 years, and the climate is expected to change faster than ever in human history, according to the union.

There would be significant economic benefits if, for example, the United States were to phase out all coal-burning power plants in the next 15 to 20 years. But the fiscal fallout from rising sea levels, huge increases in forest fires nationwide (already happening), the health of children and adults with respiratory problems, and the immense expense involved in digging even deeper wells will be even greater.

In California, during the current drought, the Central Valley is actually sinking from the sucking dry of the aquifers beneath it that slake the thirst of our farmlands, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Understandably, climate skeptics will attempt to counter some of these data, and in some cases their observations would provide valuable correctives. For there are an almost infinite number of variables in the Earth’s climate, and no scientist has a complete grasp on all of them.

The subject of global warming is so emotional that Florida’s Republican governor, Rick Scott, has ordered state officials not to use that term or “climate change” in official communications, emails and reports.

Apparently, some politicians cannot stand too much reality. Ironically, one reality, according to a 2014 National Climate Assessment, is that Miami is one of the cities most vulnerable to damage from rising sea levels.

We desperately need a conference in which the “warmists,” as those warning of climate change are sarcastically called, and the skeptics (coolists?) would have a series of point-counterpoint sessions, each side’s views being fairly articulated and discussed.

Even if no action plan flowed from such conference — although such a plan would be priceless — the meeting of open-minded scientists, politicians, and religious and business leaders would be important in and of itself. Hmm, maybe the two sides can have a preliminary meeting at Skosh Monahan’s.

Costa Mesa resident BENJAMIN J. HUBBARD is a professor emeritus in comparative religion at Cal State Fullerton.