Commentary: Many Utahns lack understanding of human-caused climate change

The Utah Citizens’ Counsel has endeavored to understand climate change. In our 2017 report, we stated the following:

“Scientists understand the physical basis of climate warming with the same clarity that they understand gravity and electricity. Moreover, the hard evidence that our climate is warming at an unprecedented rate is overwhelming, leading the vast majority of scientists to acknowledge that humans are the cause and that severe consequences await. Yet, Utahns appear to be poorly informed about the cause of climate change. A study by the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication indicates that, based on 2016 survey data, only 43 percent of Utahns believe climate warming is primarily caused by human activity. This value is 11 percent below the national state average.

“As citizens of the desert Southwest begin to experience the rising temperatures and extended droughts of global warming — demonstrable consequences of increased fossil fuel emissions — it is time for Utahns to understand climate warming and the consequences of failing to deal with it now.

“Because Utah lies in a region that is warming at twice the average rate of North America and the planet, our state will be disproportionally impacted. Local temperature records help put the magnitude of recent warming in perspective. During the entire 20th century, daily temperatures rose to 103 degrees F only four times in the town of Tooele. In contrast, during the first decade of the 21st century, temperatures in Tooele reached this level 28 times.

“As our temperatures rise, there will be increased evaporation negatively impacting agriculture, municipal water supplies, mountain forests, wetland habitats, and further reducing the level of the Great Salt Lake. Other impacts already include reduced winter snow pack, which further threatens municipal and agricultural water supplies; increased frequency and intensity of toxic algae blooms in our fresh water lakes; and increased summer ozone air pollution. Compounding many of these anticipated problems is Utah’s rapidly growing population, projected to double by 2065.”

Despite skepticism and inaction in the state Legislature, during the past year, a handful of our elected officials have adopted bold leadership roles that warrant commendation. Mayors of three Utah cities, Jackie Biskupski (Salt Lake City), Jack Thomas (Park City) and Jeff Silvestrini (Millcreek), have committed to upholding the goals of the Paris Agreement. On the national level, Rep. Mia Love received the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Leadership Award for “extraordinary leadership and bold commitment to environmental stewardship.”

This year, the Legislature will consider several important bills. Two House concurrent resolutions sponsored by Rep. Raymond Ward (HCR1) and Rep. Rebecca Edwards (HCR7) acknowledge climate warming is real and commit the Legislature and governor to basing future energy policy on the best scientific evidence. Reps. Edwards and Joel Briscoe are co-sponsoring a revenue-neutral tax on CO2 emissions (HB403) that would incentivize reduced fossil fuel consumption, lead to increased adoption of renewable energy, and make the state of Utah a national leader in the transition to a net-zero greenhouse gas emissions economy.

We join Briscoe and Edwards, the Citizens’ Climate Lobby and growing numbers of conservatives and progressive alike in the belief that the most effective way to combat climate warming is through a revenue-neutral carbon tax.

It is time for Utahns to take seriously the need for more robust action to deal with the problems confronting our state as a result of climate warming. The Utah Legislature should step up to the plate before it’s too late.

David Carrier is a professor of biology at the University of Utah.

Andy Schoenberg is a former NASA aerospace engineer and retired bioengineering professor at the University of Utah.

Both are members of the Utah Citizens Counsel.