Op-Ed Reasons for optimism in climate change

Author: Peter Mueller

The human being gets a tough rap. Turn on the news and you'll see all the bad things that humans do. Humans lie, steal, cheat and hurt each other. It seems that the human is always on trial. Most recently, the human being has come under scrutiny for changing the environment.

However, changing the environment is something that humans do well. There was a day when a human emerged from the cave and made a shelter by moving the Earth with its hands. It was preferable to a cave - there was light and better circulation. Was the human the first animal to make a home? No, the bird had long had its nest, and the bees their hive.

In time, the human being surpassed the others in its ability to change the environment. Slipshod shelters became farming villages, trading towns and booming industrial metropoli. The beaver's dam made way for the Hoover. This was progress. Growth continued for the same reason the human first left the cave. Humans are creatures of comfort.

Today, Middlebury College has established itself as a leader in environmental responsibility. We have a wind turbine and a recycling facility. Students do their part by sacrificing two degrees of heat in their dorms. Yet, there is a striking dichotomy between environmental consciousness and comfort. Signs around campus tell me to unplug my computer when it is not in use, while the concrete behemoth, BiHall, serves as Addison County's second sun. We want to minimize environmental impact, but we also want to read in plush chairs beside Vermont's largest window. Sure, I'll put my computer in sleep mode, but I cannot honestly crawl behind my desk ten times a day to unplug it. I am a creature of comfort.

Does my failure to do so make me a bad person and ensure the Apocalypse? While the answer to the former is open to interpretation, I certainly doubt the latter. Although I am concerned with man's growing relationship with the environment, I am, in a way, impressed. In another era, humans paid homage to idols to bring rain and a good harvest. They tried their best to influence the environment and could not. Modern human ability to change the environment is not so much contemptible as incredible. If only Ceres, the Roman goddess of agriculture, could see the fruits of our Green Revolution. I'm sure she would be impressed.

Today, the scientific community is confident that greenhouse gases are leading to an increase in overall Earth temperature. The implications of the rise in temperature are less certain; Ice caps melting, variable weather, and drought are just a few. If you occasionally open a newspaper you have probably heard it all. Again, humans love to report the bad news.

Yet, on April 3, The New York Times inadvertently reported some good news in an article entitled, "Reports From Four Fronts in the War on Warming." The article addressed the geography of global warming, highlighting the places where change could hurt the most. Moreover, the piece reported on the human response to change.

In Maasbommel, the Netherlands, construction has begun on a network of higher dykes and floating houses as part of what they call "climate-proofing." In Perth, Australia, the new Perth Seawater Desalinization Plant is producing over 38 million gallons of fresh water a day, according to The Times. Of course, without global support these technological responses are limited to places with the adequate means.

I cite these examples to shed climate change in a glass half-full light. Although we may be the first species to directly change global climate, we are also the first species equipped to handle the change. Our history proves that this is something we do well. Let's not underestimate human ingenuity in the face of the Malthusian specter. To do so would mean a reduction in comfort that Middlebury's Nike-clad, Ipod-sporting environmentalist seems unwilling to make. I'm certainly not about to move back into the cave. Rather, I am optimistically standing by as the world's most creative species approaches a new challenge.

Peter Mueller is a Junior Feb from Yarmouth, Maine