Richard Gammon is considered Dr. Doom by some. He recalls
putting studded tires on his car in winter, but, thanks to newfound
warmer winters in Seattle, he has not had to for several years. “When
I see a dying madrona tree in Seattle, I think ‘global climate change,’”
says Gammon, a University of Washington scientist who believes the
local tree is sensitive to the changing climate. “For the last 100 years,
the Pacific Northwest has been warming and having increased rainfall.
These trends are accelerating now.”
It may be tempting to write off Gammon as an alarmist, except for
his credentials. He helped author the original United Nations–spon-
sored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report in 1990 and
has reviewed its two succeeding reports. To him, nothing short of the
Pacific Northwest’s culture is at risk. “If we like cedars, if we like orcas,
and bald eagles and salmon—all those things are at risk. When the
salmon go, the eagles will go, and the orcas will, too,” Gammon cau-
tions. “The Yakima Nation said: ‘When the salmon are gone, we’re
gone.’”
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