Comprehensive plan should include preparation for climate change

Perhaps I’m optimistic, but I feel we might be heading toward a sea change on the issue of climate change.

Yes, climate change denial remains Republican orthodoxy, voiced by all the presidential candidates.

Sen. Marco Rubio, for example, recently said, “Sure, the climate is changing. And one of the reasons why the climate is changing is because the climate has always been changing. There is never been a time when the climate is not changed.”

That came from a major party presidential candidate and not a fifth grader who hadn’t done his homework.

Here are a few facts to consider, courtesy of the scientists at NOAA and NASA and reported by Accuweather:

• Last year, 2015, was the hottest year since recordkeeping began in 1880.

• The previous record was set in 2014.

• Fifteen of the 16 warmest years have occurred since 2001.

And for those doubting man’s ability to effect such changes, here’s a recent study about what took place 56 million years ago.

For unknown reasons, according to Nature Geoscience, the concentration of carbon dioxide during that period rose to levels even higher than we have today.

The result, over 4,000 years, was an astounding 41-degree rise in temperature.

Now you might say, “Rubio’s right, the climate is always changing and it’s because of natural processes, not humans.”

But here’s the scary part. Geologic evidence indicates this increase took place because carbon dioxide was entering the atmosphere at the rate of 1 billion tons a year.

Our current rate of carbon emissions: 10 billion tons a year.

What happened 56 million years ago will happen again, but at a much faster rate. Last week, Scientific American reported that sea level rise may be twice previous estimates, more than three feet by the end of the century.

That’s especially relevant for us in the Cape Region because, as John Mateyko pointed out at a recent forum, Delaware has the lowest average elevation of all 50 states.

Mateyko, president of the Lewes Partnership for Managing Growth, was among four speakers at an event sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Sussex County about public land use.

The league has been sponsoring forums in anticipation of the new Sussex County Comprehensive Plan coming in 2018.

At the March 16 meeting, Mateyko called for climate change preparedness to be a major part of the next comprehensive plan.

In the past, he said, planning in Sussex has been about “dueling lawyers fighting about rezoning requests.” But he sees a shift toward “real planning” that includes all stakeholders and better serves the public interest.

“Public safety is a core function of governance and planning,” Mateyko said. He believes the 2018 comprehensive plan should set the “gold standard nationwide” for climate change adaptation and mitigation.

According to Mateyko, we haven’t “scratched the surface” of the challenges facing us because of climate change.

And I haven’t scratched the surface of comments by Mateyko and the other speakers that night.

The important thing is for people to get involved as Sussex County prepares for the 2018 comprehensive plan.

The next forum, “What Drives DelDOT?,” will be held 7 to 9 p.m., Wednesday, April 13, at County Council Chambers, 2 The Circle, Georgetown.

‘Eye in the Sky’ looks at drone warfare

Last week President Obama admitted that U.S. drones had “no doubt” killed innocent civilians.

These deaths, often referred to as “collateral damage,” are the subject of a movie now playing at Movies at Midway, “Eye in the Sky.”

It’s a gripping, well-acted movie that should earn a slew of Oscar nominations. But it’s also an important movie - or could be if enough Americans go see it.

Americans remain so oblivious about U.S. drone warfare that Republicans routinely get away with calling Obama weak on terrorism.

In fact, Obama has aggressively pursued not only foreign terrorists, he has ordered targeted killings of American citizens, a decision hotly contested by Sen. Rand Paul.

Paul charged there is no precedent for killing non-combatant U.S. citizens without a trial.

The movie serves as neither an indictment nor an exoneration of the drone program. It doesn’t offer easy answers. The drone strike that kills an innocent civilian along with a terrorist may well have saved the lives of many others.

Instead, it’s a searing examination of the moral ambiguities surrounding drone warfare. Americans should see it, if for no other reason than to better understand we really are at war.


Don Flood is a former editor living near Lewes. He can be reached at floodpolitics@gmail.com.