I'm really worried about global warming.
Yeah, I know, who isn't right?
Well, far too many climate change deniers aren't worried, but I'm not worried about them either. Happily they're the minority and therefore not really the problem.
See, I don't think that we're going to beat this. It isn't because we don't have the scientific knowledge or the technical expertise to make the necessary changes. What makes climate change such an insidious threat is three things:
1. Everybody thinks it's a future problem.Most people think that climate change is something that's coming in the next decade or two. Climate change is here now. Signs of it are everywhere if you only look. The polar ice caps are receding. Glaciers are melting. Average global temperatures are increasing year by year. Extreme weather events like tornadoes, hurricanes, violent thunderstorms and prolonged droughts are becoming more and more frequent. It's no longer a question of avoiding the consequences of climate change. It has now become a question of minimizing the damage. And yet, still, the nations of the world do nothing substantive beyond setting carbon emission targets for the next decade or two, and then consistently missing them.
2. Everybody thinks it's somebody else's problem
The U.S.A. says that India and China aren't doing their part to reduce carbon emissions. China and India blame the U.S.A. and each other. Everybody vilifies Canada for our carbon rich extraction of bitumen from the Athabaska tar sands (and rightly so). Developing countries argue that they should be exempt from carbon limitations, at least until their economies come closer to parity with those of the developed nations. In short, everybody points the finger at someone else and cries "They're the problem, not me."
3. The people who understand the scope and urgency of the problem are not the people who make policy
Climate scientists have been sounding the alarm for years. They show us the evidence that climate change is an existential threat. They urge us to reduce carbon emissions now and give us grim projections of the consequences should we fail to do so, But they can only inform and warn. They have no power to affect the drastic changes that are needed to avoid disaster. That falls to the government leaders and politicians who, unfortunately, consistently prioritize their own short-term goals over the long-term good. Every politician knows that implementing the necessary changes will mean higher taxes, personal inconvenience and, therefore, a loss of voters. Yes, you and I are also at fault, my friend because our self-serving leaders only give us that which they perceive that we want, and most of us would balk at the kinds of personal sacrifice and increased costs that real change involves.
And so the human race sleepwalks lemming-like onward toward the precipice, unwilling and unable to change course or to stop.
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