August 26, 1998

Whither the weather? No one can figure!

I've been fascinated lately with the possibility Lake Bonneville might return some day soon. It's happened before. It might happen again. If you know any Mormons, especially any who live in the part of Utah near Salt Lake City, you might be especially concerned. If Lake Bonneville refills its basin, all of Salt Lake City, including the Mormon Temple, the Salt Palace, and the Mormon Tabernacle, will be under hundreds of feet of water. This huge lake formerly covered a big section of the state of Utah, and parts of Idaho and Nevada as well.

All that's needed is a combination of less evaporation and more precipitation into the watershed that now feeds the Great Salt Lake. When this happened last, at some point or points in the past 20,000 years, Lake Bonneville filled its basin, then overflowed into the Snake River and eventually into the Pacific.

Why does a columnist whose specialty is happenings in and about Pacifica concern himself about Lake Bonneville? Last week John Maybury reported on a talk by Tom Dickerman to Pacifica's Environmental Family. Dickerman, I understand, blasted the oil companies as the enemy, and claims the media are in their pockets. "Why don't we hear much about (the Kyoto Accords and global warming)?" Dickerman is reported to have said it's because corporate oil interests control the media."

I have found folks who talk about others "controlling the media" and right wing, left wing, or even middle of the road conspiracies are generally trying to get sympathy for their own agendas. Quite often, they're doing their best to control "the media" themselves, to advance their own causes. Their biases are showing.

The threat of global warming, if such there be, is no secret. Hundreds of people, including Al Gore, have been spreading the word. Gore has a great pulpit, the Vice Presidency no less. I hear so much about global warming, I guess the oil companies are doing a lousy job if a conspiracy of silence is their goal.

When the huge basin that was Lake Bonneville filled, then spilled to the ocean, then evaporated away except for Great Salt Lake, men didn't start it, didn't keep it going, and didn't stop it. Weather happens. If there is to be another Ice Age, it will happen whether we want it or not. Lake Bonneville will, or will not return, whether anyone burns fossil fuels, or relies on wind and solar power, or not. Climates changed in the past. They will change in the future.

Hydrogen-powered buses and wind-powered TVs are a good idea, or bad. Fast trains are good, or bad. Nuclear power plants are good, or bad. (I happen to think they're bad). Unfortunately none of the above will change in a predictable direction the future weather or climate of the planet. No one can know if what we do in the name of saving the environment is going to save our future or destroy it. It may not accomplish anything at all. Perhaps it will serve as a hobby to keep us occupied while nature continues along the path it has chosen for itself.

Paul Azevedo believes the best way to control personal weather is to find a place with the kind of weather you like, then move there. For the past 35 years he has lived in air conditioned Pacifica.