wise words
Bill Moyers on Covering Climate Now by Julie Marshall
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“In the Field of Black-Eyed Susans” SusieQWood.com 954-630-1610
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Broward County edition
the planet, as if the Earth was now a vast furnace; warming oceans, melting Antarctica, rising seas.
When did you first hear of global warming?
What was your response?
Early in 1965. I was a special assistant to President Lyndon Johnson, and famous oceanographer Roger Revelle was a member of the White House science advisory committee. The scientific community had largely believed that we didn’t have to worry about carbon dioxide because the oceans would quickly absorb any excess. Revelle blew that consensus apart with his discovery that it was instead rising into the atmosphere—which meant slowly, then more swiftly turning up the temperature of
A twinge of disbelief, a little shock. But this was no wild alarmist sitting at that table. Well, LBJ took science seriously. As president, he gave the green light for the first official report on the potential threat to humanity from rising CO2 levels. Go online to “Restoring the Quality of Our Environment—1965,” and read Appendix Y4—Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide. He told us to distribute the report widely. One year later, his energy and attention and our resources were diverted to the war in Vietnam.
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photo by Dale Robbins
ill Moyers, an American icon of broadcast journalism, continues to inspire generations through his political commentary, documentaries and award-winning books, including the landmark 1988 PBS series Joseph Campbell and The Power of Myth. Beginning his career at 16 as a cub reporter in Marshall, Texas, he went on to earn more than 30 television Emmys, as well as prestigious career awards in film and television. Moyers announced his retirement in 2017 at the age of 83. However, this past spring, the journalist spoke at a Columbia Journalism Review conference, calling upon the nation’s reporters and news outlets to join the Covering Climate Now project in order to push a cohesive message of science and truth—that it’s not too late for our planet and all of its inhabitants, but first we all need to grasp what’s at stake.
