Transmat World: America’s Choices on Climate Change

On the one hand you have the climate deniers, mainly in the United States, and mostly fossil fuel adherents saying it’s hard to determine the extent of humanity’s involvement, and that to combat climate change will simply cost too much money. It won’t be that bad. It’s God’s will. Basically, they will say anything to protect the interests of fossil fuel. And they have spent a lot of money convincing other people to buy into climate change being fake news. This article does not address those duped into a false assurance by propaganda.

On the other hand you have 97% of the world’s climate scientists in agreement that climate change is real and it is caused by mankind. The rest of the world, every other country, is in agreement with the climate scientists and have shown that agreement by supporting the Paris Agreement. With the current administration vocally opposed to the agreement and swearing to withdraw at first opportunity, the U.S. is now the only holdout.

The last time CO2 was this high, nearly 416 ppm, was 10-15 million years ago during the Miocene. Seas were a hundred feet higher and average surface temps were 11 degrees F. hotter. If climate is so CO2 dependent, why don’t we see that now? Because normally the Earth sees a change from 280 ppm to 413 ppm CO2 over the course of millions of years, not two centuries. There is going to be some lag time. Right now, however, glaciers and polar ice are melting. The sea is rising. Extreme weather events are common. An extinction event is happening before our eyes, and there is a cult of American deniers hindering the ability of the world to do anything about it.

There are many directions it can go, but boiled down to a binary format of the extremes the government’s choices are these:

1. Pay lip service to the climate change believers, fund a few programs, make it look like something is being done while energy companies go about their business as usual.

2. Go to war against climate change. Go solar, wind, nuclear fission, nuclear fusion, afforestation and reforestation, soil carbon sequestration. Put major restrictions on carbon and institute a carbon tax.

Here is the best and worst of what would happen.

Pick #1 and the best scenario is that it turns out not to be as bad as they say: only centuries of hardship, famine, pestilence, and floods compared to near extinction as some scientists have predicted.

Pick #1 and the worst scenario happens: The world becomes a hothouse only survivable at the poles, the oceans become acidic vats of dead and dying fish and mammals. Billion of people die from drought, starvation, hyperthermia, and disease. The remnants of the human race are facing hundreds of thousands of years before the climate begins to cool down. Oops.

Pick #2 and the best scenario happens: After a century or two the climate stabilizes, CO2 starts to drop, and the Earth starts to cool again. Some companies’ bottom lines suffered, some treasure was spent, but other companies come into being and all is well.

Pick #2 and the worst scenario happens: Despite best efforts global warming has begun a runaway thawing of all the methane trapped as methane hydrate in the tundra and oceans and releases it to the atmosphere. Civilization is doomed. At least we tried.

From the options above, the obvious choice is to tackle climate change as though we were going to war and hope it is enough to facilitate the best scenario outcome. What the U.S. government has done under Trump is worse than option one. It is completely denying or ignoring human causes of climate change and actively aiding and abetting the fossil fuel industries.

Climate change is like the mafia. It is making us an offer we can’t refuse. It is unconscionable that we ignore it. They won’t admit it, but many of those people waging misinformation campaigns about climate scientists and climate change have this one evil thought at the center of their brains that they won’t even admit to themselves, “I don’t care because I won’t be here.” At best, these people are like children on a raft of chocolate on the ocean, willing to eat the very thing that keeps them alive--little psychopaths taking what they want. At worst, these are traitors to humanity. They have sold out every man, woman, and child of future generations. May there be a special place…. There should be a plaque with their names and what they have done, a permanent record of their treasonous deeds for all of history to look at and revile. If there are any historians left to keep track of it.

America was the savior of the world during WWII, fighting the Nazis to end Hitler’s despicable regime and the slaughter of millions of Jews. How times have changed. As a nation, the U.S. has contributed more to the climate problem than most. Now we are the only nation in the world whose government is saying “no” to the future. These few climate denying Americans will not be responsible for just a few million lives. They may very well be responsible for the deaths of billions of people of every nationality, race, and creed. They should think about that, and it should keep them up at night. I doubt that it does. Very sad.

Other articles you may enjoy:

The Environmental Advantage of a Space Elevator

The U.S. Must Recycle Recycling

Climate Change Will Herald the Age of Island Cities