JULY 18, 2021 – Amidst catastrophic flooding in northern Europe, grave endangerment of the Great Salt Lake ecosystem, still raging fires in the West, continuing drought and record heat across half of North America, I’m pessimistic that we—humanity—can do enough in time to mitigate climate change materially or to adapt quickly enough to avoid its enormously disruptive effects. And I’m not talking politics here.
Here’s why I’m pessimistic:
I consider myself to be as concerned about the environment as anyone. I believe that climate change is caused in large part by humans burning fossil fuels, and that unless we modify radically our current consumption, our trajectory will threaten human sustainability across the planet. I believe this because the overwhelming majority of climate scientists tell us so and that all the evidence I see/experience firsthand or know about from reliable sources is consistent with what the scientists are telling us.
And yet . . . and yet . . . I the conservationist, the environmentalist, the believer in climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels . . . am not altering my habits, my behavior, my consumption of energy, my contribution to the problem.
In fairness to myself, I don’t hop-scotch willy-nilly aboard a private jet; in fact, I haven’t been aboard any kind of aircraft in almost two years. I don’t drive a Tahoe, Escalade, or souped-up, gigantic pick-up truck. For over 30 years, I took public transportation to and from work. I don’t drive every summer weekend from sundown Friday to sundown Sunday, a boat full tilt with a 250-horsepower engine. I don’t live in a 10,000-square foot mansion with industrial gauge HVAC running 24/7. I turn off the lights when I exit a room. And so on.
But . . . my wife and I own a second home three hours away. Sure, my car gets 40 miles to the gallon and my speedometer rarely registers above 60 mph, but driving for three hours between home . . . and home . . . isn’t slowing climate change. Nor is the new pontoon boat, even though 90% of the time, the four-stroke engine is running at under 2000 RPMs, and in over 25 cruises to date, we’ve consumed less than a full tank (20 gal.) of gas. Nevertheless, last year, we consumed zero gallons, because last year, we didn’t own a pontoon boat. As regards climate change and the burning of fossil fuels, the pontoon is taking us in the wrong direction.
If my carbon footprint is relatively small for a comfortably affluent American, my ability and willingness to change my habits and preferences certainly aren’t any bigger than such traits among my fellow citizens.
All of which does gets back to politics, which is largely about economics. If, on our own, we’re unable or unwilling to change our consumption habits, even in the face of overwhelming, frightening, incontrovertible evidence that they spell disaster, then we must look to larger forces: government and industry—people working in concert. Given our current Cold Civil War, how do we “work in concert”?
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© 2021 by Eric Nilsson
