By JOHN NORTH

Global warming is democracy’s greatest challenge requiring major changes in energy policies for the survival of human beings, local activist Richard Fireman told the Ethical Society of Asheville on July 20.

However, for nations like the United States, which he termed a corporate-dominated capitalist culture, juggling the public good with free enterprise presents a dilemma, requiring Americans to decided whether corporations should continue to operate solely for profit, or if the “public good” should supersede money-making in cases where environmental armageddon looms, he said.

Fireman, an environmental activist and recently retired physician, addressed the topic of “Climate Change — A Challenge for Democracy: Who Owns the Air?” during a 30-minute talk that drew about 25 people in the Visitor’s Center library at the Botanical Gardens at Asheville.

Following his address, which included a PowerPoint presentation, Fireman fielded questions and comments from the ESA members for about 45 minutes.

During the Q&A, nobody at the meeting expressed disagreement with the former emergency-room physician’s core contention that the world is in intensive care and if drastic action is not taken soon, the only human survivors will be those living around the Arctic Circle. (For details on the Q&A, see separate story on Page 9.)

In addressing the ESA on global warming , which he termed the greatest challenge hmanity has ever faced, he was speaking as  western regional director of North Carolina Interfaith Power & Light, a program of the N.C. Council of Churches.

His local resumé also includes member of the Citizens Energy Advisory Council of Progress Energy,  co-organizer of Asheville’s 2006 100th anniversary commemoration of Mohatma Gandhi’s nonviolent movement and founder the Green Sangha of WNC to explore the Buddhist path to environmental engagement. “His passion is spiritually based ecological activism,” Fireman’s Web site noted.  Fireman is dedicating his life to creating a sustainable earth community, he stated in “bio” notes provided to the Daily Planet.

In opening his address, Fireman noted that when he moved to the area in 1998, after he and his wife purchased a home on the Ivy River in Mars Hill, it took him two years “to get comforable enough” to become involved in local environmental and political issues.

Several times during his talk, Fireman promoted his Web site, www.sustainablewnc.org. Fireman contended that his Web site, which is updated daily, offers vital information on environmental issues that often is left out of the Asheville Citizen-Times, which he characterized during the Q&A as the local corporate-owned daily newspaper.

While the ESA “is a secular organization” with an obvious interest in environmentalism, Fireman said, “I still have the belief that the faith community in the United States still has the potential for helping to lead the environmental movement.”

However, Fireman added, “It hasn’t happened yet.” Still, he noted that “social movements inthe United States often, at least partially, have been led by the faith community,” citing the example of the civil rights movement.

As for his contention that “global warming is democracy’s greatest challenge,” he noted that former Vice President Al Gore addressed the issue about six months ago — “and he’s right.”

To that end, Fireman said, “We have a maximum of about 10 years to deal with global warming, or our goose is cooked.”

The activist cited the contention of Gore and others that “we need to derive all of our electricity within the next 10 years from non-fossil fuels” with further expansion of nuclear power generation not an option because of its inherent dangers.

Gore “is beginning to frame this as a real challenge to the people of America,” Fireman asserted.

For those wanting to read further about the aforementioned scenario, the activist recommended the book, “Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet” by Mark Lynas.

Fireman praised scientist Jim Henson, who testified before Congress 20 years ago about the dangers of global warming, and did so again earlier this year.

However, he noted that Henson “was using science based on computer models in 1988 that proved accurate, “but the rate of change (in global warming) has come much quicker.”

Fireman then shifted to a discussion of the American flag that “we’ve been gathering around for the last 10 years.” As Americans, he said the qualities that have been embraced include love, pride, hope, opportunity and challenge.”

Then, he noted, “The whole frame of the Constitution is to provide for the general welfare” and on that point, “we’re not doing very well right now, based on what’s happening ... We’re entering a very, very dangerous time” in U.S. — and world — history.

During World War II, President Franklin D. Roosevelt  encouraged Americans to handle the challenges of scarcity resulting from the war by planting Victory Gardens — and Fireman termed the effort one of the U.S.’ greatest successes.

“Since then, we’ve had the civic rights movement, but the United States (citizenry) was not as galvanized around it” as it was on Roosevelt’s imperative, Fireman contended.

“The most important thing about a journey is to know where you started from — and where you are going to go,” he said.

Fireman reiterated that those he respects in the scientific and political communities contend that if there is no substantial action on energy policies in 10 years, then “it’s too late” for humanity. “This is the defining moment,” he added.

On a personal note, Fireman said he served as an emergency-room physician for 35 years and dealt with crisis involving many patients. “The planet is in that kind of a crisis right now,” he contended. “Crisis means if you don’t assess properly and act properly, you’re in trouble — and that’s where we’re at with the Earth.”

Further, he said, “The science has been right” in assessing the global-warming situation. “We don’t have to guess where we’re going. We already know.”

He then showed a slide featuring a graph of the Earth’s temperature averages, ranging back 400,000 years. Fireman noted that the last 5,000 years has had the most stable temperatures in Earth’s history.

Fireman also pointed out that the graph shows that the Earth’s climate is warming “20 times faster” than ever in its history. As a result, he contended, “This probably will be the first year that there will be no ice at the North Pole in human history.”

What’s more, he said, “In the historical record, the doubling of CO2 (carbon dioxide) results in a 5- to 7-degree celsius rise in temperatures.” Thus, “if we’re talking about 5 degrees warmer, we’re talking about a climate where human beings could ony exist around the northern latitude of the Arctic Circle.”

Fireman added, “The last time the CO2 in the atmosphere was 387 parts per million (as it is now) was in the Pliocene epoch” about 3 millions years ago.

In concluding, he said, “If we in this country don’t lead, then the rest of the world will continue with business as usual.

“As citizens, we can determine what happens at the city-county, state and national levels,” Fireman said.