Russell Moran - A Climate of Doubt

Lilly stood on a marina dock wearing arctic gear and bracing her body against the fierce wind and snow.

“Hi, everyone. Lilly Morton here for NBC. The scene behind me tells you all you need to know about today’s storm, folks. That huge mound of snow that you’re looking at is piled on top of a 75-foot yacht. Here is a photo of the boat when it docked yesterday morning after a cruise.”

She showed a blown-up picture of a beautiful yacht with people in bathing suits on deck waving—yesterday morning.

Roker continued his report from various locales across the country and ended up with a shot of the Champs-Elysees in Paris—covered in snow.

“For some in-depth analysis of what the heck is going on we return now to The Ellen Bellamy Show , where Ellen has a special guest from NOAA.”

The camera panned to Ellen, who had by now ditched her arctic costume.

“Thanks for your usual thorough reporting, Al,” Ellen said. “My guest today is Professor Dwight Peterson, a vice president of the board of NOAA, where he has served for over 20 years. He’s also chairman of the department of climate studies at Georgetown University. Professor Peterson has some fascinating things to tell us about our weird weather.”

Peterson looked every bit the professor that he is, wearing a plaid jacket and monotone shirt. His hair was scrupulously disheveled, his reading glasses perched on the edge of his nose.

“Professor, tell us your thoughts on this amazing weather that’s gripped most of the world. Were you as shocked as the rest of us?”

“Yes, Ellen, I was shocked—shocked but not surprised. Let me explain that cryptic remark I just made. First let me say that this incident is typical of climate change. The phenomenon is real, and we’re all trying to figure out how it happened. But this event puts an exclamation point on the words climate change.”

“I’m surprised to hear you say that, professor. Most people assumed that climate change is a slow-moving process, but let’s face it, it sure feels like the climate has changed.”

“Climate change is a long slow process, Ellen, although it’s become more rapid in recent years. Climate change is real, although a lot of people deny it. Something is interfering with our major weather-maker, the sun. Something has changed the way the sun’s rays hit earth in a drastic way. That’s the way climate change works, and the tons of carbon dioxide that we pump into the atmosphere contributes heavily to it.”

“But how could that possibly happen, professor?” Ellen asked with a look of confusion. One of the reasons Ellen’s show is so popular is that she has an uncanny ability to let the viewers see real feelings expressed on her face.

“Ellen, I’m not going to shoot my mouth off with unproven theories. I strongly believe that we’re seeing the natural result of climate change, although we don’t understand yet what’s going on.”

“There you have it folks, words of wisdom from a climate studies expert. On a typical July 17 thI would normally end the show by suggesting that you go home and fire up the barbecue grill, but instead I’ll just say, ‘bundle up and get home safely.’”

“It’s Ellen Bellamy on line two, Director Watson,” Sarah’s assistant said.

Sarah picked up the phone and put it on speaker.

“I was just about to call you ,” I said. “Sarah and I want to meet this guy Peterson. I’ll send an SUV to pick you up.”

“He’s splitting a gut to talk to you two. He’s got a lot more to say than he did on my show. We’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Sarah Watson and I looked out the window at the still growing blizzard. We could make out a police SUV pulling up onto the sidewalk and driving part-way into the entrance of the building. A minute later the intercom sounded, and Sarah’s assistant announced the arrival of Ellen and her special TV guest.

Sarah Watson and Ellen had become good friends over the three years we’ve been married. She constantly tried to recruit Ellen into the FBI but realized that her gigantic TV salary would be hard to match. I had to agree with Sarah that Ellen would make an excellent FBI agent. Two years ago, Ellen was kidnapped by an ISIS cell and held for ransom at a terrorist safe-house in New Jersey. An FBI SWAT team stormed the building, but it was Ellen’s courage and use of an AK-47 that saved the day. Ellen is sweet, pretty, and tough as leather.

Ellen and Peterson walked in after hanging up their winter outfits in the cloakroom. The temperature was 25 degrees, to everyone’s constant amazement.

“I know you both saw Professor Peterson on my show this afternoon, but he told me he has some things that he’d like to talk to you about, without it being made public on TV.”

Peterson was a friendly guy, in a rumpled professorial sort of way. I wondered if he was as smart as he looked. Sarah got up and brought a tray with coffee which she placed in front of Peterson. She often does things like that to grab somebody’s attention. People don’t expect the Director of the FBI to serve them coffee.

“Ellen tells us that you would like to discuss something that wasn’t part of your statements on TV,” I said. “Please let us know what you have in mind. In view of this insane weather, we’re open to anything.”

“As I said on Ellen’s show a short while ago,” Peterson said, “I’m shocked but not surprised by this bizarre weather event, and you’ll see shortly why I didn’t want to go public with these thoughts. I’m of the opinion that not only is this weather a result of climate change, but it’s likely to continue.”

“At the risk of appearing dense,” Watson said, “why do you think it will continue?”

“Director Watson,” Peterson said, “I’m thinking this way because this weather hit us with no warning. Hell, meteorology has come a long way in the past few years, especially with satellites to help with long-term predictions. We believed we’d never get blindsided like the people in Galveston, Texas, by a hurricane nobody knew was coming. That was 1900, over a hundred years ago. We thought the days of a sudden weather event hammering us were over, until yesterday morning. Not only did we not see this freezing spell coming, we had no warning of any kind, not even slight. It just slammed into us, followed by this wicked blizzard—in the middle of the summer.”

“Dr. Peterson, I have a lot of respect for you,” I said. “I’ve read a few of your articles on climate change and I found them compelling. But I must ask you a blunt question. Do you have any idea how this happened?”

“No, I don’t,” Peterson said. “I could be dishonest and make up some ideas, but I would rather stick to the facts. The reason I asked to see you and Director Watson is simple—climate change has suddenly gone from an academic subject to a very real phenomenon. I say that based on my knowledge of the climate and of weather patterns. But forget about me and my credentials. All three of you are extremely bright people. Ask yourselves how an event like this could occur out of nowhere, and contrary to everything we know about changing weather. The one innocent party in this mess is Mother Nature. You people investigate and solve problems before they occur, but we’re suddenly hit by something that you couldn’t foresee.”

“So, if I understand you correctly” I said, “this weather may be caused by a sudden acceleration of climate change.”

“Yes, I am. I can’t see any other possibility.”

“Thank you, Dr. Peterson,” I said. “I know that you have another appointment uptown at Columbia, so we won’t detain you any further. Given the conditions outside, it may take you a while to get there. I can have a government SUV take you there, but you may do better to take the subway. Thank you for coming in. I’m sure I’ll be calling on you in the future.”