July 4 • 2019 19
jn
P
aul Gross is a meteorologist
with WDIV-TV and a member
of and four-time past pres-
ident of Temple Kol Ami in West
Bloomfield. The JN recently caught
up with him to ask him some ques-
tions about climate change.
Q
:
What is your background
or experience with climate
change?
PG: I have followed climate change
closely since the early 1990s, when
I interviewed my first climate scien-
tist. I attend one or two conferences
a year — such as the American
Meteorological Society conference
for broadcast meteorologists and
International Weather and Climate
Forum — to get the latest updates
directly from climate scientists them-
selves and have traveled the world to
meet with and interview them. I give
a lot of lectures about climate change
— and am happy to come to syna-
gogues and give my lecture.
Q
:
How would you best describe
climate change to people who
may be skeptical?
PG: There are three things that
largely determine a planet’
s average
temperature: the distance from its star
— in our case, the sun — its surface
albedo (color) and the composition of
its atmosphere. Neither our distance
from the sun nor our albedo has
changed in the past 100 years.
However, humans have changed
the composition of our planet’
s atmo-
sphere … that’
s the only thing that
has recently changed. Remember
that heat results from energy coming
in minus energy going out. Adding
carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous
oxide to our atmosphere — which
mostly come from human activity —
means that less heat is escaping to
space. So, the planet warms.
Earth’
s climate has warmed many
times in its history, but all those pre-
vious warmings resulted from astro-
nomical changes — Earth’
s tilt, rota-
tion or orbit around the sun. None of
those things have happened this time.
That’
s why we know that the current
warming is not part of some cycle.
Q
:
How is climate change impact-
ing us in Michigan?
PG: We are seeing an increase in
extreme precipitation events, and the
reason is simple: In a warmer world,
more ocean water evaporates into the
atmosphere. That atmospheric water
vapor is what storms turn into pre-
cipitation, so it’
s easy to see why the
big storms are dropping more rain.
But it’
s not just rain. It’
s the big snow-
storms, too. People will be shocked to
hear that six of Detroit’
s 11 all-time
snowiest winters have occurred since
1980!
We’
re also seeing a later first frost
in the fall and earlier last frost in the
spring. That may initially sound like
good news, but if you have allergies,
the longer growing season means a
longer misery season for you.
Q
:
Any other facts that our read-
ers should know about climate
change?
Special interest groups and politi-
cians have created a lot of confusion,
and there have been some radical
statements made by both sides. I’
ve
heard left-wing groups say that we
must “stop” global warming. Well,
we’
re past the point of being able to
stop it: Some of the changes that have
already occurred are irreversible for
1,000 years or more.
The key is to slow it down so
plants, animals and humans can adapt
and mitigate. Anybody you hear
advocating a position of “stopping”
global warming has a radical point of
view. I once heard an environmental-
ist say at a conference that the world
must go cold turkey and immediately
eliminate carbon-based energy pro-
duction and fuel. That’
s impossible.
Conversely, I’
ve heard right-wing
groups completely deny the science,
and these are very well-funded groups
who are adept at spreading their gos-
pel. Some of the misinformation I’
ve
seen coming out of these groups is the
most factually ridiculous communica-
tion I’
ve ever seen in my entire life.
Back in 2001, I had the privilege
of putting a letter in a Detroit time
capsule that is not to be opened until
the year 2100. I wrote about climate
change … explaining the state of
the science at that time and, in that
letter, I made the following closing
statement, that I’
ll have to para-
phrase: I hope that, 100 years from
now, you aren’
t asking why we didn’
t
do anything 100 years ago when we
knew what was happening and had
the chance to take steps to reduce the
warming.
It is unchallengeable scientific fact
that humans have changed the com-
position of our planet’
s atmosphere.
And the resulting thermodynamics
are simple: We are also changing our
planet’
s climate. It’
s always easiest to
kick the can down the road and not
worry about a problem that won’
t
affect us that dramatically. But do we
really want to do this to our children,
grandchildren and great-grandchil-
dren? ■
CORRIE COLF STAFF WRITER
Talking Climate
Change with Paul Gross
Paul Gross holds a homemade “comet” he made during a science demo.
PHOTO (COURTESY OF PAUL GROSS)
How You Can
Help Battle
Climate Change
• Reduce electricity use.
• Replace conventional light bulbs
with LED bulbs.
• Replace manual thermostats to
programmable.
• Seal drafts from windows or doors
to improve home’
s insulation.
• Unplug chargers when not in use.
Anything plugged into the outlet
that has a block on it uses power
even when not charging!
• Reduce car emissions by keeping
your car tuned up and driving
efficiently.