Worried about the effects of climate change? We all are, but a leading expert in the field, Dr. Joshua Ginsberg, President of the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York, told an audience at Noble Horizons not to lose hope. Dr. Ginsberg presented his program, “Climate Change: Five Reasons To Be Optimistic About The Future,” to a large and very engaged crowd at Noble on February 17.
Despite climate change-deniers within the current administration working actively against measures that could forestall negative effects, there are glimmers of hope. He noted that U.S. carbon emissions are going down. Half of coal-fired power plants have switched to other cleaner fuels. Wind and solar power have come into their own and are cheaper than oil, gas or coal. And despite the fact that the U.S. pulled out the Paris Climate Accord, the country will probably meet its 2020 target anyway, as states, cities and industries are engaged in efforts of their own to switch to renewable and cleaner energy sources.
As for the skeptics Dr. Ginsberg had a final thought. “Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away.”