Bill Bradbury: Climate Chaos is Here
As fires roar across Oregon and the West, former Oregon Secretary of State Bill Bradbury reflects on his work on climate change.
Becoming a Climate Reality Leader
"Mile Marker 28 Fire" by NASA Goddard Photo and Video is licensed under CC BY 2.0
Al Gore has given countless presentations on global warming and a Hollywood documentary (An Inconvenient Truth) was released about his global efforts. Gore clearly thought that was NOT enough and he decided he would train others to spread the word and give the slide show.
I was one of the first 50 people trained by Al Gore and the Climate Reality Project in 2006 in Nashville, Tennessee. We trained in Al Gore's barn in Carthage, Tennessee. This post (and others to follow) are about my early experiences as a Climate Reality Leader, how my thinking has evolved from focusing mainly on the problem to now on the solutions, and the challenges of being one of the early politicians willing to speak truth to power on climate change.
During our training event, Mr. Gore ran through the many slides of the "An Inconvenient Truth" presentation to his 50 trainees from all over the country. There were very few elected officials in the group, and I was the highest ranking one as Oregon Secretary of State. So, we were the guinea pigs - could we learn the climate science and present it in both an entertaining and informative way? So many facts, so much to learn - but that was really only half of it. We had to be ready to present to large groups AND answer questions and stay light and confident.
My years of "training" as a politician came in very handy in this work. I actually loved presenting to groups - I had done so for years as a TV newscaster. When elected to the state legislature in Oregon, I presented about salmon recovery, renewable energy and forestry practices to name a few.
"File:Bill Bradbury (cropped).jpg" by Democratic Party of Oregon is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Science Says…Climate Chaos is Here
Scientific certainty about climate change cause and effect has grown significantly since 2006. When I was first presenting scientists were not willing to attribute massive storms to global warming; rather they would say the storm was strengthened by warmer oceans. Now scientists point to the record number and strength of storms and say there is little question the massive storm activity is directly related to a warming planet.
The increase in abnormal weather and the certainty that it’s influenced by climate change is demonstrated by the HUGE increase in torrential rain in recent decades. In parts of the U.S., massive "rain bombs" dump more water more quickly than they did 50 years ago. Extreme downpours furthering climate chaos are happening 30 percent more often than 70 years ago. In the middle of the 20th century large rainstorms averaged one every 12 months, now they average one every 9 months (Madsen and Figdor, 2007).
Abnormal climate events like “rain bombs” do more than disrupt our days, they have short- and long-term effects on our communities and planet as a whole. For instance, more downpours mean more severe flooding. In the past two decades, the world's ten worst floods have done more than $165 billion in damage and have driven more than one billion people from their homes (Anthes, 2018).
Need further proof of climate chaos? Scientists realize the hurricane season is becoming increasingly destructive due in large part to climate change. The Gulf of Mexico in 2020 is 3 F (1.7C) warmer than normal and Colorado State University’s 2020 hurricane season forecast says “The tropical waters of the Atlantic currently are warmer than normal. Hurricanes live off of warm ocean water, so warmer (ocean) water fuels hurricane formation and intensification.” (CSU, 2020).
As I finalize this post wildfire smoke fills the sky in Bandon and family members are being evacuated from wildfires in the Cascades. Climate change has come home to Oregon.
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Devastating events related to climate change and what we can do – next post.