Another moon race
We've been aware since at least the 60s that the world is rapidly changing, that our human systems of government and culture have to struggle to keep up. We thought the problem was merely keeping up with technology, trying not to look stupid when we ask our kids to set the clock on the VCR. But climate change is a much bigger and more serious issue, and it has crept up on us much faster than even the pessimists feared.
The authors of the United Nations report acknowledged as much after releasing the report, saying that the five-year effort has already been overtaken by events, recent scientific measurements showing that the rate of climate change is even faster than what is described in the report, and the inevitable damage more catastrophic.
We've become conditioned over the past few years, to avoid ascribing unusually warm years, such as the one we're having right now, to climate change. It's on more of a geological scale, we're told. But eleven of the past twelve years have been among the 12 warmest on record, and we're working on number thirteen. At some point very soon, we're going to have to admit that climate change is working even on our own human scale.
In our own lifetimes, we're going to have to make massive investments in flood protection for New York, London, and other major cities, just to offset the damage already done. If we continue to emit carbon dioxide at the rate of the past few years, for a few more, we can write off those cities. Not even in George Bush's bleakest Dr. Strangelove fantasies are terrorists able to do so much damage.
The situation is getting very easy to understand. We still have some holdouts, groups like IREA trying to protect bad investments. But if you're smart, you'll sell Exxon Mobil and buy First Solar and every other company in renewable energy. If you're a Governor wanting to build your state's economy, you'll offer big incentives for those companies to come here. If you're a candidate for president, and you're smart and want to be elected, you'll stop talking about whether the Earth is warming, you'll stop setting vague long-term goals for CO2 reduction, and start talking about how we're going to meet very specific goals within your term. It's another moon race.
