To label Stanford professor Stephen Schneider an expert on global warming would be an understatement.
A flood of scientists, pundits, politicians and concerned residents are closely following the issue in today’s world, but Dr. Schneider was studying the phenomenon 37 years ago — long before it was hip to be green.
“I hear people say we have 10 years to solve the [global warming] problem,” he told some 40 people gathered in the Menlo Park council chambers last week. “I say, ‘Give me a break — we’re 20 years too late.'”
Dr. Schneider, a Stanford professor and a lead author of the report issued by the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, was invited to speak in Menlo Park by the city’s Green Ribbon Citizens Committee.
Using photos, graphs and even a few cartoons, he let his message be known, loud and clear: Global warming is a serious issue. Now people have to decide how serious they are about addressing it.
“It’s about value judgments,” he said. “All we can do as scientists (is) show you the risks.”
By now, those risks are common knowledge: The majority of scientists say if greenhouse gases keep getting pumped into the atmosphere, sea levels will rise, ice and snow levels will drop, fire danger will increase, and severe weather will become a more common occurrence.
Dr. Schneider said it’s up to the general population to continue to push policy makers to look at the effects of global warming, and address the issue while removing partisan politics from the equation.
“There’s no such thing as a Republican wildfire or a Democratic drought,” Dr. Schneider said. He applauded California’s efforts to tackle the issue, and praised Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s goal to reduce the state greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050 is a good one.
“You have to start with something,” he said. “Suppose we only got 40 percent — that’s a hell of a lot better than now.”
