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The Braselton News
Wednesday, September 6, 2023
Opinion
Moderate voices needed in climate change debates
Climate change has become a huge and divisive political topic.
That’s true in this country and around the world.
There are extreme views on both sides of the issue. Some cli
mate change deniers argue that human activity isn’t causing climate
change and that those who claim otherwise are just looking for an
excuse to increase government control over human lives and global
economies.
On the other side, some climate change activists have delved into
fearmongering in calling for some massive changes in human activ
ity to stop climate change.
Both sides have accused the other oflying,
distortions and intellectual shallowness.
So what’s a normal person supposed to
believe?
• ••
This is no simple issue. Anyone who has
spent much time noodling around the vari
ous arguments will soon realize that there’s
a lot we don’t know about our climate; and
much of what we do know is complex and
sometimes, contradictory.
There are three main questions around this
issue:
1. Is climate change really happening?
2. Is human behavior the cause of climate change?
3. If climate change is happening, what impact will it have on the
world’s ecosystems and on human activity?
Is climate change really happening?
There are those who believe that the climate really isn’t changing
all that much. They point out that over the course of earth’s 4 bil
lion-1- years, the climate has always shifted and changed. Dinosaurs
once roamed the earth and were likely killed off by an asteroid that
altered the earth’s climate.
And there have been five ice ages, the last one ending around
11,000-25,000 years ago. The exact cause of the ice ages isn’t fully
understood, but it seems to be linked to a wobble in the earth’s rota
tion around the sun.
The climate has changed in various ways over the millennia. And
it seems pretty clear that the climate is now in some kind of transi
tion, too.
The evidence for that can be seen in rising global temperatures
both in the air and in oceans, and in ice core samples and tree rings.
Perhaps the most visual evidence for many of us is with the re
treating glaciers around the world.
That’s pretty easy to see and understand. A few years ago, I was
hiking in Glacier National Park where we could see how much gla
ciers there were retreating; all we had to do was look at an older
photograph and compare that to what we were actually looking at
from the same vantage point. No doubt, glaciers are melting, as is
ice in the polar regions.
The second issue is the question of if humans are contributing to
climate change.
This is perhaps the most contentious question in the political
arena. While some concede that the climate is changing, they’re
hesitant to link that to human activity fearing, among other things,
government overreach.
Some would argue that the current hotter weather seen since the
mid-1800s is just another part of natural climate cycles and that hu
mans have little to no role in that.
Perhaps there is some underlying climate cycle at play, but that is
probably being magnified by human activity as well.
You know the reasons — humans produce greenhouse gasses
and that leads to greater atmospheric warming.
I won’t pretend to understand all the underlining quantum data
that seems to support that. Human impact on global climate is a
complex issue given how difficult measurements are over time.
But since the mid-1800s, the earth’s temperature has increased
1.8 to 2.0 degrees (depending on who’s doing the calculation.)
That rise is faster than would otherwise happen from natural caus
es and appears to be linked to both the rapid rise in human popula
tion and the industrial revolution. And it’s linked to the generation of
greenhouse gasses from both.
Between 1800 and 1900, the human population went from 1
billion people to 1.6 billion. Today, we’re at 8 billion people. That
kind of rapid population growth has to have some environmental
degregation.
It’s undeniable that we humans do, collectively if not individually,
have an impact on the earth.
We have left huge scars on the earth’s surface from various min
ing activities and agricultural land clearing. There’s a large copper
mine in Utah that can be seen from space. Other mines have left
deep scars on the earth’s surface and done environmental damage
to their regions
And agricultural activity has also had an impact. Pollution runoff
is a major issue and one of the largest sources of environmental pol
lution on earth.
Some decades ago, I spent some time in the Amazon Forest, in
particular at a Smithsonian research camp that was part of a defor
estation study.
Human activity in the Amazon in the clearing of land for cattle
ranches is a huge, huge issue given how important the Amazon
Forest is to our world’s atmospheric conditions. The “lungs of the
earth,” they’re called.
On top of all that, there’s little doubt that car emissions, power
plant emissions and other human-made gasses are contributing to a
buildup of atmospheric gasses.
It’s true that we’ve made some progress on that over the past 50
years. Many people can remember when the nation’s major cities
were blanketed in a yellow haze of smog from car pollution. Today,
city smog is still there, but isn’t as noxious as it once was.
Still, with more people and a rising tide of world-wide industrial
ization, there are more sources of greenhouse gasses.
Human activity may not explain all of the world’s warming, but
it seems clear that we are contributing to it, perhaps accelerating or
magnifying changes that were already happening.
•••
So if there is climate change, and we humans are contributing to
it, then what does the future hold?
That depends on how much the climate changes and warms in the
coming decades. Some researchers believe the melting polar regions
will lead to a rise in our oceans, causing flooding in coastal cities.
In food production, those in agriculture see a shift coming of
where and how certain crops will be produced. One small example:
Those growing grapes for wine see a warming climate pushing cer
tain kinds of grapes further north (in the Northern Hemisphere) into
regions that were previously too cold.
That might be good for some grape growers, but such warming
would also raise ocean temperatures causing a massive dismption to
coastal fisheries, especially with lobster, oysters and other ocean fish
that need cooler water.
A warming climate will also likely shift weather patterns, causing
dismptions in rain and wind and in ocean currents that act as a mod
ifying effect in some regions.
•••
While it seems pretty dear that climate change is happening and
that at least a part of that can be linked to human activity. I’m not a
big tan of the political dimate-cultism that is piggybacking other
agendas on the back of climate policy issues.
The naysayers may be wrong, even stubborn or blind, but ele
vating climate concerns into a quasi-religious pursuit seems count
er-productive.
Climate change may well pose a serious threat to humans on earth
and there’s no doubt that we should find ways to lessen human-pro
duced greenhouse gasses. But changing human habits won’t be
done by government fiat — with 8 billion people roaming around,
there’s no simple way to quickly make the kinds of changes some
demand.
This is an important issue, but it, like so many other issues, needs
fewer strident voices and more moderate, thoughtful voices.
Extremism, both left and right, is a vice, not a virtue.
Mike Buffington is co-publisher of Mainstreet Newspapers. He
can be reached at rnike@mainstreetnews.corn.
Been to your library lately?
How long has it been since you’ve been to your local library?
Were you going before the Covid pandemic but haven’t
returned? Lots of places are suffering from that, including
retail stores (Amazon delivery), churches (streaming instead of
attending) and eating out (Door Dash and fast-food apps) have
all tended to change some of our behavioral norms over the past
three years.
While Covid put a crimp in many of
our daily activities, it’s clear that many
of us are returning to some of those pre-
Covid habits.
Libraries are seeing a return to pre-
Covid levels, although technology has
definitively played a role in how library
workers are interacting with their patrons.
According to the folks that run the
Piedmont Library System, which includes
ten local libraries, including Braselton.
spread across three counties, the totals are
impressive.
Piedmont Region’s director, Beth
McIntyre, put the increase in perspective.
McIntyre said, “Looking at pre-COVTD total ‘checkouts’ at
623,652 including eLibrary checkouts, we are down only 1.1%
with the latest totals at 616,613.”
“And those numbers don’t include our E-Read Kids check
outs or use of ABC Mouse or World Book or anything in GALI
LEO, like Mango Languages,” McIntyre added.
“I think many people turned to our electronic resources during
COVID, yes. But it didn’t stop there,” said McIntyre. “Once
word gets out and more people realize what amazing online
resources we have, the numbers keep going up”.
The Piedmont Library system—like most Geoigia libraries-is
among the most accountable of all city, state and county depart
ments. These folks keep stats on everything—they set goals and
always know where they stand against those goals (plus, they
publish them online—talk about transparency).
Just like the Kindle books that are bought on line (487 million
books last year reported by Amazon, or about 67% of the mar
ket), our local libraries are seeing the number of eLibrary books
increase dramatically.
Kelli McDaniel, the Piedmont system’s assistant director, told
the Braselton News that “.. .our digital readership has skyrocket
ed since Covid shutdowns and our eLibrary grows by the day,”
she said.
McDaniel said when you add together eBooks, audiobooks
and eMagazine totals, the numbers increased substantially since
2023.
“This fiscal year, we’ve seen a 115% increase in eLibrary use
over pre-Covid numbers,” she added.
Beth McIntyre and Kelli McDaniel keep looking for new
ways to reach more of their patrons.
For those who feel libraries are not keeping up with technol
ogy, the American Library Association reports “from bridging
the digital divide to addressing learning loss to aiding job seek
ers and small business, we know library services are essential to
campus and community recovery and resilience.”
And, bookriot.com reminds readers that “.. .the internet is 40
years old, computers are less than 80 years old and smartphones
have been around only 30 years, so it’s bold to think that these
advances would eliminate libraries rather than advance them.”
Libraries are evolving, and the best ones, like the Piedmont
Regional System, are leading rather than catching up.
While most of us already know how to use Amazon and
Kindle but, at the Braselton Library (among others), you can
learn about “Libby”, which is part of OverDrive, the laigest of
the companies aligned with libraries to provide eBooks.
The “Libby” system allows you access to (on-line) eBooks,
audio books and magazines, and what you won’t find on
“Libby” you might find on Hoopla, the other major supplier of
eBooks for libraries (for example, Libby might have more pop
ular titles, but Hoopla also has books, comics, television shows,
movies and music). Check with your local library or go on-line
to see how easy it is to set these up.
According to the New York Times, Libby’s parent company,
OverDrive, reported library customers checked out last year a
staggering four hundred and thirty million books. That’s almost
three times the number of books sold at Barnes & Noble, the
largest retail bookstore in the U.S.
Libby and Hoopla together are outpacing the bookstores—
and you only need a library card to use them (in other words,
they are free, thanks to our local libraries!).
Just another example of how our local library professionals
are using the marketplace to stay ahead of the technology curve.
While your kids and grandkids are busy on their devices or
other activities on the weekend, find the time to take them to
your local library (a trip to the library with an encouraging par
ent creates a lasting habit—one that they will appreciate when
they are our age).
And a reminder for us adults: we must be careful not to let
all of our stay-at-home temptations keep us from enjoying (and
visiting) our great public libraries.
David R. Altman lives in Hoschton with his wife, Lisa. He
is the author of two books ofpoetry and is a member of the
National Book Critics Circle. As proud library card holders,
he and Lisa enjoy both the Braselton and Spout Springs
libraries. Dave Altman can be reached at altmandavidr@
gmail.com.
LETTER
Braselton Mayor says
charter school initiative
is about school choice
Dear Editor,
With Four Points Preparatory Academy receiving
its charter from the State Charter School Commis
sion of Georgia on Aug. 30, Braselton will benefit
from another excellent opportunity for school
choice.
Some ask: Why are you endorsing a charter
school initiative after becoming Braselton’s May
or? Others ask: Why would Lt. Gov. Jones, Sen.
Clint Dixon, Rep. Chuck Efstration and Rep. Der
rick McCollum offer strong support for this charter
school opportunity? The reason — school choice.
Having coached hundreds of youth in activities
for over 20 years (including: mock trial, football,
baseball, basketball, soccer, triathlon and church
youth groups), I have repeatedly taught our next
generation a life lesson that I did not learn until
law school: With academic achievement, you learn
the subject matter at hand and you prove to your
self and others that you know how to get the best
out of yourself.
If you are in that next generation, your civic
leaders want you to learn how to best educate
yourself. Learn to get the most out of your poten
tial. Teach yourself how to teach yourself. Once
you adopt this approach, no one can stop you from
achieving what you are determined to achieve. And
upon this principle, school choice offers new paths
for students to learn how to learn.
Looking at rankings in the State of Georgia, larg
er school districts and smaller school districts both
have the capacity to perform at a high level. In
the top 10 Georgia school districts rated by Niche
(2023), five are county-wide school districts and
five are city-based or charter-based school districts.
The top 10 in Georgia Sun’s 2023 rankings include
five county-based districts and five city-based
districts.
Not every child is best educated in a large-school
environment, and not every child is best educated
in a small-school environment. So, school choice
should be an option.
The board members of Four Points Preparatory
Academy will offer a charter school option in Bra
selton — opening with K-5 and progressing to K-8.
The school will accept applications from students
in five counties: Banks, Barrow, Gwinnett, Hall
and Jackson. Acceptance into the school is lottery
based in accordance with Georgia’s charter school
laws. Each grade level will range from approxi
mately 50-80 students under the current plan.
The Board for Four Points Prep, partnered with
National Heritage Academies (NHA) to become
its operator. NHA’s primary founding principle
is to “Take Ownership for the Success of Our
Students.” The US News national rankings for
charter schools memorializes the success of NHA
students: Cross Creek (No. 1), Plymouth Scholars
(No. 2), South Arbor (No. 3), Chandler Woods
(No. 4), South Canton (No. 5) (the top 5 charter
elementary schools in Michigan; all within the top
100 elementary schools in Michigan); Greensboro
Academy (No. 8), Summerfield Academy (No.
12) (both within the top 100 elementary schools in
North Carolina). In addition to Michigan and North
Carolina, NHA has top producing charter schools
in several other states: Indiana — two elementary
schools in the top 20, two middle schools in the
top 14; Ohio — five elementary schools in the top
50, six middle schools in the top 50; Colorado —
two elementary schools in the top 75, two middle
schools in the top 75.
The Board at Four Points Prep, remains excited
and ready to bring this educational opportunity
to Braselton. As a member of the Braselton Town
Council, I share in their excitement, and I hope you
do as well.
Kurt Ward
Mayor, Town of Braselton
The Braselton News
Mike Buffington Co-Publisher
Scott Buffington Co-Publisher & Advertising Manager
Ben Munro Editor
Wesleigh Sagon Photographer/Features
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