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Climate Change ? Let ’ s Get Serious ! by DAVID SELIGSON , MD
The first page of the newspaper suggests that there has been a real change in ambient temperature in the past 20 years and that this change may be accelerating . Recent extreme weather , forest fires and earthquakes may be a result of this climate change as are droughts and floods . Polar bears are alleged to be clinging to dwindling icebergs and starving as their food supplies diminish . Islands are flooding and coastal communities are planning to reinforce their flood walls or move inland . Is today ’ s human migration from south to north and from east to west also a consequence of environmental pressure ? Why is Lake Meade empty ? And why have the Alpine glaciers melted ?
Should we care ?
I was on-call Christmas Eve at the Boston City Hospital when the emergency room paged me down for a case . What ’ s the problem , I inquired . Eight-year-old boy stepped on by an elephant , was the response . He ’ s in shock . Who is kidding whom , I thought . Out the window , one could see snow on the ground , and it was plenty cold – trampled by an elephant in Boston on Christmas ? Now as it turned out , the circus was bedded down in the nearby suburb of Plymouth , on the way to Cape Cod . Dad gave a peanut to his son , the son gave the nut to the elephant who reached over the fence and lifted the lad by the arm , threw the boy to the ground and stomped on him . This led to an emergency splenectomy .
I have nostalgia not for my internship , but rather for the circus . My grandmother used to take me to the circus . Circuses have been mostly discontinued by animal rights groups as being cruel . The longing for something which no longer exists because of climate change has been given the un-American , unrememberable name of “ Solastalgia .” The Australian philosopher who created this awkward word doubtless wanted to be remembered as a coiner of odd words . This year , it still snows in Boston , and I similarly cannot recall something in Louisville that I currently miss because of climate change .
Let ’ s get serious .
The global conference on climate change took place in December 2023 , in Dubai , an oil rich emirate , under the auspices of Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber who is head of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company . The conference was titled “ COP28 ” for Conference of the Parties . The meeting was billed as “ the world ’ s largest climate gathering .” Thousands burned tons of fossil fuel to get to COP28 in Dubai . UN Climate Change Executive Simon Stiell summed up the meeting with , “ Whilst we didn ’ t turn the page on the fossil fuel era in Dubai , this outcome is the beginning of the end .” A teleconference could have achieved the same non-result with a lot less use of carbon-based fuel .
Oil producers balked at calling for an end to the use of oil , coal and natural gas . So , in the end , the COP negotiators summed up their deliberations with a recognition of the need to “ transition away from fossil fuels .” Interesting choice of words . The language is reminiscent of people who feel that the Almighty assigned them the wrong sex at birth , so they plan to transition to the other gender . These youth and adults need to use a different restroom but have not yet had adequate , appropriate medication , surgery , etc . Meanwhile , they face many legal and societal obstacles . Will there be time to help them ? Will there be time to slow or stop the ongoing catastrophe of further climate change whilst the can is kicked further down the road ?
Let ’ s get serious . Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber is also the president of Masdar , a city
30 LOUISVILLE MEDICINE OPINION