Beyond the Polls: Forum cites need to come together on climate change
Jul. 20—When it comes to climate change the United States needs to focus less on technological solutions and more on the bigger picture, according to Eric Vukicevich, a professor at Connecticut College who teaches environmental studies.
"I think we need more cars that are low emissions and we need better transportation and all of these things," he said during the first of three voter series sponsored by The Day in May. "But we also, I think, need to acknowledge that the reason we are facing this problem is that we keep wanting to grow."
From Vukicevich's perspective, a lot of environmental problems start with the perceived need to hustle 50 hours a week, feeding the machine of economic progress.
"Maybe we could work less and have more time," he said. "Maybe we could garden, you know, maybe we could ride a bike, maybe we could get on the bus. Maybe we could say hello to our neighbors, and get to know them if we weren't being driven so hard by the machine to be just working ourselves to the bone, right? This is something I think we all share: left, right and center. Everyone is working too hard. And a lot of times you get home at the end of the day and you're like, what was that for?"
Vukicevich was one of about 40 people who attended a series of voter forums sponsored by The Day at libraries in New London, Stonington and Old Lyme. Three previous forums were designed to identify the Top 5 issues in the upcoming elections, both locally and nationally, and in this series voters were asked to discuss each of these issues in-depth and offer possible solutions.
The Top 5 issues among local residents included misinformation and disinformation, the environment, immigration, foreign policy and the future of democracy. The Day plans to write in-depth stories on each of the Top 5 issues monthly leading up to the November election by weaving in forum and email comments along with expert commentary to put the issues into better historical context. To submit your views on the top issues, including the next one on immigration, email election2024@theday.com.
During the most recent voter series forums, attendees in New London discussed all the issues but didn't have a specific time to generate solutions. But in Stonington and Old Lyme, participants were asked to start with solutions and quickly developed a long list the majority could agree to without much controversy (all won majority support).
Among these were: Americans should undergo a culture shift to support environmentally friendly practices; politicians should encourage tax incentives for alternative energy solutions; development should be discouraged in environmentally sensitive areas; companies should be pushed toward offering environmentally friendly products; more mass transit is needed; plastic use should be reduced; cryptocurrencies should be banned because of environmental issues associated with mining; there should be a stronger EPA; current environmental laws shoudl be enforced; local agriculture should be encouraged; and politicians should acknowledge the scientific evidence of climate change and other environmental realities.
"Climate change is real," said J.W. "Bill" Sheehan of Waterford, in an email comment on the top issues. "We can see it in the decrease in ice cover at the North and South poles and in the rise of sea level throughout the world. The nation and the world need to have a coordinated program to slow down the impact of climate change and protect the environment."
Others, however, expressed distrust of the climate change agenda, citing anecdotal evidence that snowfall and temperatures run in cycles.
"I think the 'global warming' thing pressed upon us by the media and a so-called 'consensus' of scientists is insanity," said Mark O'Neill of Preston, in an email. "In fact, many 'scientists' do disagree with the way the whole topic is presented at large, and with many of the so-called facts. Those who disagree get little or no coverage."
Another forum attendee in New London who didn't identify himself dismissed climate change as an issue.
"It is what it is," he said. "I mean seasons change on a somewhat regular basis. ... I don't think it's something that we should be so concerned about. There's been climate change for millions of years."
But to Douglas M. Thompson of Gales Ferry, director of the environmental studies program at Connecticut College in the Department of Physics, Astronomy and Geophysics, said the real problem has been the disinformation campaigns organized by the oil and gas industry to undermine science.
He said the Project 2025 agenda outlined by conservative groups in the leadup to the 2024 election would essentially do away with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, thereby undermining weather prediction nationwide.
"It's very disturbing," he said.
Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for president, has been promising as part of his campaign to repeal regulations that would cut greenhouse gases tied to what the vast majority of scientists say is a planet heading toward being over-heated. Reports have also tied Trump to plans that would loosen environmental restrictions on hazardous chemicals at the same time the U.S. Supreme Court has made it more difficult for the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce rules protecting the environment.
Democratic President Joe Biden has called for a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. His Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 was considered to be the most far-ranging climate legislation in U.S. history, and on the first day of his presidency he signed executive orders to undo environmental policies of the Trump administration to, among other things, protect public lands and waters.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a one-time environmental lawyer running as an independent, has agreed that human activity has something to do with climate change, but he also is a critic of clean-energy subsidies, and for the most part counts on free-market solutions, though he once supported a fracking ban that he is now calling a "phase-out."
Thompson, in a phone interview, was supportive of all the environmental solutions mentioned by attendees at The Day's voter forums. He urged politicians to make the environment more of a mainstream issue by tying climate change to such issues as immigration, which he said is often fueled by the higher temperatures and unusual weather patterns that drive people from their homelands.
He believes the economy can also be tied into environmental issues because of the inflationary effects of high flood-insurance rates and the higher taxes required to fund resiliency efforts associated with climate change.
"It's not a standalone issue," Thompson said. "It's central to what so many people agree to on both sides of the aisles."
He added that most industries have accepted climate change as a reality and are in the process of adjusting to the new realities based on science.
"That's why I find it a little surprising that disinformation campaigns have done so much to taint people's views," Thompson said.
Locally, Thompson sees the more frequent flooding and sea-level rise as two of the biggest environmental issues. And this has put pressure on local infrastructure, such as bridges, increasing the need for frequent maintenance.
Sea-level rise also has been cited in several resiliency projects now underway in local towns, as well as in projects at places like Rocky Neck State Park, where marshland has been inundated by higher water tables. And it has been a big factor, especially after Hurricane Sandy, in the loss of the Alewife Cove fishery as sand pushed up the waterway has resulted in stagnant "blackwater" that drives away fish. The cove is located between New London and Waterford.
"It's like walking up to a really rank garbage pail," said Tim Visel of Ivoryton, a former regional marine resource specialist at the Connecticut Sea Grant Program who went on to help build three aquaculture schools in the state, citing what is scientifically called sulfate metabolism (also known as black mayonnaise or sapropel) that is toxic to fish and birds.
Sea-level rise, related to climate change, makes it more likely that the energy of future storms will put them closer to the entrance of Alewife Cove and other similar waterways in Connecticut, Visel said. He added the warmer sea water is less dense, making it more likely to cause damage since it can be propelled farther inland.
Visel said local fisheries are the first areas to experience the effects of climate change, citing the rise in sea bass locally as waters have warmed. He noted that Alewife Cove used to be host to oysters, clams and smelt, along with the main fish that it's named for, but the sulfur and nitrogen emitted by the stagnant muck from decaying organic material in the upper cove no longer supports marine life. With its brown, red and purple hues, it also can sometimes be mistaken as a gas or even a sewage leak.
The Alewife Cove Conservancy has received funding for a $575,000 Arcadis Environmental Consultants study of the cove, and is kicking in another $50,000 for the same group to look at the upper cove. The most likely result will be eventual dredging of the waterway, said Ed Lamoureaux, co-founder of the conservancy.
"It would be nice to see the cove function as it was," Visel said in a phone interview.
As for the idea that climate change is just another cycle in the natural changes on earth, Visel acknowledged that there are ebbs and flows.
"Sea level rise is not new," he said, pointing to Boylston Street in Boston, where evidence suggests early settlers were fighting ever-higher water even then, though only by fractions of an inch every hundred years versus the 9 to 10 inches seen today. "But when you examine the cycles carefully you see they're faster and much stronger."
Those who attended The Day's voter forums were generally concerned about the environment and tired of politicians debating about climate change, which to many older residents who live locally and have noted the loss of beachfront seems an obvious phenomenon.
State Rep. Anthony Nolan, D-New London, who attended the New London forum, said he was surprised national politicians are giving the climate very little attention.
"It's kind of scary," Nolan said. "I think it's the issue. If we don't figure out what we're doing, we won't have a reason to talk about any of these other issues at all. ... It's the future of the world, you know? So I think we need to pay attention and start talking about it more and not let the politicians get us sidetracked in arguing with each other."
