ASHEVILLE, NC – January 20, 2023 –

Dear Representative Edwards:

As my elected representative to the House, I have been impressed with your strong work ethic. However, in the recent Asheville Citizen-Times interview by Joel Burgess, you said that (quote) there is a {sic} an awful lot of hysteria being built around climate change right now. Statistics that I see regularly are that we’ve not seen the earth’s surface change over the last 100 years more than a degree. And that leads me to proceed with caution.(unquote) The newspaper added a clarification from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (a federal agency within the U.S. Department of Commerce) that the earth’s surface temperature is actually 1.90 degrees Fahrenheit (or 1.06 degrees Celsius) warmer than the average between 1880-1900, which corresponds to the rise of industrialization in America. Therefore, your statement is true if you meant one-degree Celsius. However, the air temperature is commonly reported as degrees Fahrenheit in the U.S. so this assertion can cause much confusion depending on the interpretation of the temperature scale.

Even though a one-degree Celsius increase in the average earth surface temperature might seem inconsequential, the difference for life on earth could be huge. Scientists caution that for every tenth of a degree of average temperature rise, the environmental impact gets worse with an increase in the number of extreme events and health-related catastrophes. The average surface temperature has been trending upward at an alarming rate since the 1960’s. In fact, the 10 warmest years in all recorded history have occurred since 2010. At the current rate, the average surface temperature of the earth will increase by 2 degrees Celsius (or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100.

Most scientists predict a number of devastating environmental catastrophes will occur when the increase in the average global surface temperature is 1.5 degrees Celsius. Warming of the oceans will cause melting ice with rising oceans and flooded cities. Warmer air carries more moisture in it which leads to more extreme weather events resulting in more precipitation and flooding. More heat waves mean more drought and starvation.

Climate change is defined by scientists and should be understood by politicians so that appropriate management can result in appropriate policies in order to best serve the health and welfare of the people. Now is the time to educate each other about the science behind climate change so that people don’t respond with hysteria (a behavior exhibiting overwhelming or unmanageable fear or emotional excess) about this issue. ‘Time is of the essence.’

Regards,

Dick Needleman, M.D., M.P.H.
Health Reporter, 103.3 Asheville FM
Retired orthopedic surgeon

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Contact: Dr. Dick Needleman, Health reporter, 103.3 AshevilleFM, [email protected]