NATURAL PERSPECTIVES -- VIC LEIPZIG AND LOU MURRAY

Vic and I argued about greenhouse gases the other day at Alice’s

Breakfast in the Park.

Some couples rail at each other about weighty, important matters such

as whose turn it is to take out the garbage or who should apologize for

whatever gaffe set off the last argument. Not us. We settled those issues

long ago.

It’s always Vic’s turn to take out the trash, and, wise man that he

is, Vic knows that the husband is always wrong. No, we don’t fight over

such important things. We bicker over meaningless, trivial topics like

global warming.

The current global warming crisis is due primarily to ever-increasing

amounts of atmospheric carbon dioxide, a gas that is produced by burning

fossil fuels. Other gases contribute to the greenhouse effect, but carbon

dioxide is the biggie.

I wanted to write this column on the health impacts of global warming.

One of my hot buttons is the effect of the environment on human health.

My bachelor’s degree was in environmental biology. I earned a doctorate

in biomedical science and was on the faculty at the Harbor/UCLA Medical

Center. How pollution impacts human health is a natural area of concern

for me. Vic’s training was more along zoological lines, so he has a

different perspective. We just don’t see eye to eye on the chief impact

of greenhouse gases and global warming. At this point, everyone except

George W. Bush knows the planet is warming. Shifting weather patterns

will cause some parts of the planet to experience more storms and

flooding while other parts will experience more droughts.

Will global warming affect Huntington Beach directly? You bet. Melting

of glaciers and polar ice caps will cause more frequent flooding of

coastal cities (Hello? That’s us!) and saltwater intrusion into

freshwater tables (That’s us again!). Disease incidence will rise with

global warming. A warmer, damper planet means more opportunity for

mosquitoes and mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue fever,

yellow fever, Rift Valley fever, encephalitis and West Nile fever. These

diseases are already spreading. Increased flooding also will result in

more cholera outbreaks due to water contamination and unsanitary

conditions.

While some parts of the planet will experience more flooding, other

parts will be drier. More droughts mean mass starvation in marginal

societies, spread of rodent-borne diseases such as Hanta virus, and more

fires, which can increase suffering from smoke-aggravated respiratory

illnesses. Increased summer temperatures will increase smog and pollen

production, which will aggravate respiratory conditions such as asthma.

We will see increased suffering of our children and the elderly and

increased deaths due to heat stroke and respiratory conditions. I cannot

for the life of me understand how people can be so complacent about

global warming, especially the intellectual lightweight who is currently

warming a chair in the oval office.

Vic sees an even greater danger. He believes that the most serious

result of increased atmospheric carbon dioxide will be alterations in

plant growth patterns on a global scale. As the amount of carbon dioxide

rises, it will stimulate plant growth. Isn’t better growth of plants,

especially farm crops, a good thing? That’s what the petroleum industry

and its biggest friend in Washington would have you think.

Here’s the problem with greenhouse gases in regard to plants. Carbon

dioxide promotes plant growth differentially and unpredictably. By

promoting some species at the expense of others, the natural balance of

every ecosystem on earth will be thrown off. In forests, grasslands, even

farm fields, some plants will thrive while others are out-competed, along

with the animals that depend on them. One of the changes already seen in

the American south is that wood-producing trees are growing more

rapidly--but the quality of the wood is reduced. The carbon dioxide level

of earth’s atmosphere went up 30% in the last century and there is a

measurable increase every year. No one can really predict the effect of

these atmospheric changes with precision. But they will occur. Mankind is

engaged in the largest-scale experiment ever performed. And we all live

inside the test tube.

So that’s what we argued about over breakfast. I wanted to emphasize

health impacts while Vic wanted to emphasize ecosystem shifts. What we

did agree on was that greenhouse gases are produced when we burn fossil

fuels. We pour more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every time we

drive somewhere, every time we light a fire in the fireplace, every time

we use electricity or burn natural gas.

It’s going to cause major shifts in ecosystems and cause mass

extinctions of marginal species around the world.

And it’s going to kill millions of us in the very near future unless

we all make major changes in our lives. Write to “Dubya” and let him know

that you care about such trivia.

* VIC LEIPZIG and LOU MURRAY are Huntington Beach residents and

environmentalists. They can be reached at o7 vicleipzig@aol.comf7 .