Madsen: Council’s focus on climate change ignores real Spokane issues

The summary for Ordinance No. C35519 says it “will acknowledge the fact of anthropogenic climate change.” Except human-caused climate change is not a fact, it’s a theory. A scientific theory offers a systematic explanation for facts. Observable and measured data are facts.

There are at least two anthropogenic climate change theories. One is focused on industrialization and greenhouse gas production, including carbon dioxide. Its structure is defined by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and made famous by Michael Mann’s now discredited “hockey stick” graph and Al Gore’s inconveniently wrong predictions.

The second major anthropogenic climate change theory is less well known because it evolved out of Africa. Western culture regularly undervalues ideas from outside the European-North American bubble. Allan Savory, 2010 winner of the Buckminster Fuller Challenge, has spent a lifetime focused on fighting human caused desertification to reverse climate change. The Savory model identifies loss of soil organic matter (carbon) through unsustainable agricultural practices as the primary human contribution to catastrophic climate change. His solution is regenerative agriculture and healthy rural ecosystems.

The council resolution is referring to the more widely held urban greenhouse gas theory. Pointing out places where the theory doesn’t account for the facts gets you called a denier. Full column here. Sue Lani Madsen/SR