By Peter Galuszka
Imagine Norfolk spending $300 million for light rail only to have it covered in salt water. Or consider that Virginia’s statewide mean temperature has risen 0.46 degrees Fahrenheit per decade since 1975. Or that, due to carbon dioxide emissions, the sea level on the Virginia coast is expected to rise by two feet by 2050 and by 5.6 feet by 2100.
And consider that the state’s Republican politicians are mostly sticking their heads in the rising tide about climate change.
That’s the point of an intriguing essay in the Local Opinions section of this morning’s Washington Post by Stephen P. Nash, a research scholar and former journalism professor at the University of Richmond. His book on the rising water and climate change involving Virginia is due out this fall.
As Nash correctly explains, the state’s GOP leadership takes a “ho-hum” attitude about climate change and is loath to accept the fact of what is happening around them. You hear a lot of the echos on this very blog.
Nash is absolutely right. He should be listened to. As he points out,what is especially odd is that today’s deniers are running contrary to the traditions of their own Republican Party which gave us Theodore Roosevelt who set aside great expanses of land for preservation. Even Richard Nixon proved to be one of the most influential environment protectors in modern U.S. history.
I did a piece last year quoting scientists about how fishing patterns are already changing for Virginia’s watermen due to climate change.
Do the sea creatures know something that the GOP House of Delegates doesn’t know? Most likely they do.
