Idaho Environmental Forum
Just got real in Idaho.
January 16, 2019
Little on Climate Change: “It’s a Big Deal”
“Climate change is real,” Little said.“Climate’s changed, there is no question about it,” Little said. “We’ve just gotta figure out how to cope with it and we gotta slow it down. Now, reversing it is going to be a big darn job, if 90 percent of the scientists are right. … The rate of change, we can make a change in. But it’s a big deal.”
“Actually, we can do it by regulation, but a lot of it takes place from the market.” He said, “Bankers are inclined by their very nature to be risk-averse,” and over time, they’ll be more likely to finance something “that’s going to have a smaller carbon footprint, vs. something that’s going to have a bigger carbon footprint.”
“The ultimate solution is we want to have things that keep the air cleaner and produce less carbon,” Little declared.
He noted that back when Idaho did its energy plan, people thought it was a stretch to move Idaho to 20 percent renewable energy not counting hydro, but it happened.
“Climate change is real,” Little said. “I’m old enough that I remember feeding cows all winter long in deep snow, and I go to the ranch now and talk, ‘You wimpy guys, boy, back in the old days when I was a kid, we had winters.’ And there are other things. These ecosystems are changing.”
Little said even the microbes in the soil are changing, altering how they take in oxygen. “So when we do a range project, you’ve got to make that to where it’s changing for a different climate type. The silviculturists will tell you, because of the changing climate, the number of trees, the species of trees, the mix of trees, it’s all changing. … You’ve gotta adapt to it.”
