Head in the Sand    

CommonGround   

For the few of you that read CommonGround, you may remember that I've been wandering the Internet looking for reliable data about climate change and the Outer Banks.

A year ago, I felt like I needed a Climate Change 101 course: The What, The How, The When.  I wanted to know the real stuff from the real source. 

So over the year, using Google Alerts and my own tenacious searching on the Internet, I've followed links to find the original sources of references made by policy makers and educators.   I found national environmental  groups making policy statements using references based on references based on references based a paper written by an associate professor at Eastern Carolina.   This is no reflection on Professor Bin, he may very well be brilliant. But policy based on once source, reliable or not. I've watched "information" move around the world through press releases,  specialty publications, newsletters, and blogs.  A quote taken out of context from an environmental professor in Florida made news in dozens of newspapers across the country.  

So what is the real stuff from the real source.

I found a site* that provides tools for legislators for  environmental legislation and hearings. The site states:

 All models involve some assumptions, and any claims about the effects of different environmental policies are based on models about future impacts. So the assumptions are critical to the claims.

But not all claims about impacts are balanced ... some involve ignoring one set of effects and focusing on others. If a claim is made about the costs or benefits of any particular course of action, the argument is incomplete if there is no discussion of the costs or benefits of NOT taking the action. Sometimes the omitted information leaves out the effects of doing nothing, sometimes the omission involves the effects of an alternative policy or set of actions, but some comparison has to be present for numbers to make any sense.

Although we are not legislators, we could all benefit in learning and using these tools. It would be great if we had the opportunity to have a discussion about these assumptions without side track arguments about 'inlet or outlet' ,  playing to our feelings, scare tactics of living in a place with an expiration date, or being told we are idiots by those who think climate change is a conspiracy.

For some reason, the story of the Sirens in Greek Mythology comes to mind.  The  Sirens (sea nymphs) lived on a flowery Island.  They  lured sailors to their death with a bewitching song. The Sirens were later encountered by the Argonauts who passed by unharmed with the help of Orpheus, the poet drowing out their music with his song. Odysseus also sailed by, bound tightly to the mast, his men blocking their ears with wax. The Sirens were so distressed to see a man hear their song and yet escape, that they threw themselves into the sea and drowned.

Perhaps I'm bewitched or am I a Siren? I have all summer to figure it out. CommonGround on vacation til September.   

• ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT What Actions Are Possible to Take 
• ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT Uncertain Effects and Risk 
• ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT The Policy Framework 
• ASSUMPTIONS ABOUT The Costs (and Benefits) of Change 

* The E.P. Systems Group, Inc (EPSG) conceived of and designed the site structure and content. Center for Environmental Policy and Management of the University of Louisville.

Christian Music Summer Concert Series.

Join host Kim Kalman on Monday evenings 7-8pm at the Good Life Eatery MP 4.5 on the by pass For the whole family featuring a different weekly act sharing Christian music - soloists to bands.  Love offering proceeds will go to ICO (Interfaith Community Outreach) and our local Food Pantry.  For more info call Kim at 252-489-8724 or visit for schedule of performers go to  www.prayerthroughmusic.com