Who is worried about climate change?

I am. When I see the weird weather patterns that continue to plague Powell, such as scant rainfall this spring hampering agricultural success, I worry.

I won’t weigh readers down with excessive facts, but the facts are readily accessible for those who seek them with an open mind. Still, I’ll include a few from a publication I recently read.

There is no doubt that the planet’s climate is being altered by humans, according to a special issue of Yellowstone Science. The math and physics are indisputable.

Still, some will scoff, saying climate change is a figment of some scientists’ imagination. If that’s true, then an innumerable number of intelligent people around the world are erroneous.

The difficulty is forecasting the degree of warming because science can’t predict what humans will do to oppose global warming, said Yellowstone Science.

An assessment released in 2014 uses four categories of Representative Concentration Pathways (RCP) to model different future climate scenarios. Each describes the trajectory of greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere between now and year 2100, making assumptions about when gas emissions will peak. The most optimistic depicts emissions declining substantially within the next decade. Another assumes emissions will continue to rise throughout the 21st century without peaking or stabilizing. “This pathway, unfortunately, is the one we are currently on,” said Yellowstone Science.

Holy smokes, 2100 sounds like a long time from now. Think again. People born 85 years ago are still around, thanks to, of all things, scientific breakthroughs in medicine. Most children born today should live to 2100.

What sort of planet do we want our children or grandchildren to inherit?

Should they have plenty of water to drink or grow crops? Adequate snowpack to support our high country’s pristine environment and wildlife?

Yellowstone Science noted that according to a study by Jason Leppi in 2012, stream discharge has declined from 1950 to 2010 in 89 percent of streams analyzed in the central Rocky Mountains, including those in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. Reduced flows were most pronounced during the summer months, especially in the Yellowstone River. Stream temperatures have also warmed by 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit over the past century, according to scientist Robert Al-Chokhachy in 2013.

It is also a scientific fact that trout don’t fare well in warmer water and/or streams made shallow by inadequate snowpack.

No matter a reader’s political leanings, climate change does not distinguish blue and red states. It is an apolitical matter fueled by greenhouse gas slowly strangling our planet. If we don’t get out in front of this frightening phenomenon soon, it will be too late if it isn’t now.

Download a copy of Yellowstone Science at go.nps.gov/YellowstoneScience or do your own research.

Science doesn’t lie. Keep in mind that as free-thinking humans we can maintain our principles and/or faith while embracing scientific fact.