Climate change: Truth or consequences?
Mass migrations, food and water shortages, the spread of deadly disease, endless wildfires, storms with the power to level cities, skies going black, the planet plunging into permanent darkness.
Such was the certain doom cited by the deputy assistant administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to questions put to him by a prominent TV news anchor who had obtained an embargoed report of ruinous levels of carbon dioxide recently detected in the atmosphere above Hawaii.
The EPA official was answering the host’s inquiries about what would be the outcome for our civilization if we began an aggressive initiative to release less carbon dioxide in dealing with human-caused global warming.
If I now have your attention, let me relieve your alarm by saying that both the anchorman and EPA official are fictitious characters in the hit HBO television series The Newsroom.
Within just a few minutes, the writer/producer of the series, Aaron Sorkin, has again demonstrated his genius in defining one of the world’s biggest issues and, at the same time, revealing the ambivalence of public attitudes toward global warming.
I have previously complained about how viewers of the hit series are manipulated by Sorkin — one of Hollywood’s leading liberals. The main character in the program is a faux Republican and through him, Sorkin cleverly delivers messages from the left.
However, in the series’ current and final season, there has been less of that and the storylines, of which there are a great many, are less political than before.
The way the EPA episode captures both the alarming scientific predictions of dire consequences and the lack of public interest in the debate is brilliant.
The reporter who has obtained the sensational report is seen pitching the story to an assistant producer as he expresses boredom and detachment from her descriptions of the findings that ultimately lead to the end of human civilization.
He finally relents and the EPA expert is scheduled for an on-air interview.
His answers to questions stun everyone in the studio. When asked if the projected calamitous effects of high levels of carbon dioxide would occur in the next thousand years or so, he replied that people already born will die from catastrophic failures of the planet.
He describes the rise of the earth’s oceans, wiping out half of the world’s population, and goes on to say that if we had started dealing with warming 20 years ago there might be hope for our survival, but now it’s too late.
Asked if he might get in trouble for his predictions, he replies, “Who cares?” — again emphasizing the hopelessness of escaping the penalties of not acting sooner.
Sorkin’s characters and their dialogue demonstrate the duality of grim scientific predictions and the public simply not buying into much concern that the planet will be plunged into eternal darkness. It’s just too unbelievable that humans have that much control.
In real life, the latest Pew Research finds Americans rating global warming in 19th place among the 20 top issues they want the government to address.
In the end, the pop culture captures the mood in a provocative presentation of the ongoing debate of whether global warming is real and if so, whether there is anything that can be done about it.
I put myself between the extremes. It seems appropriate the episode aired during this month’s 44th anniversary of the creation of the EPA, the federal agency historically seeking balance between economic and environmental interests.
I have enjoyed the award-winning series and I am left wondering, with only two episodes left, why it is coming to an end.
Richard Greene is a former Arlington mayor and served as an appointee of President George W. Bush as regional administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency.
mayorgreene@mayorgreene.com
This story was originally published December 5, 2014 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Climate change: Truth or consequences?."