Headline: a major UN report, along with 19 US government agencies and pretty much every scientific expert on the planet agree — we need to cut global emissions to NET ZERO BY 2050.  If we don’t, we face IRREVERSIBLE and catastrophic climate disruption. We’re talking floods. Fires. Tornadoes. Islands and coast lines under water. 10%+ reduction in US GDP! Real wrath of g*d stuff!!!

WE NEED TO ACT BIG AND ACT NOW!!! So please stop sitting around. Get on the phones or email to your state reps, Congresspeople and Senators. Get out there and start protests. Let them know that you support Net Zero by 2050, and that means that we MUST move on the environment NOW. Let them know that you care, and that their jobs are at stake if they don’t care too.

(Read on for details.)

I’d suggest we have three mainstream choices here:

1. Choose to not “believe” the science. Why not exactly? (seriously, you don’t trust the scientists who study this stuff, but you trust someone else shooting from the hip b/c the science doesn’t agree with their political/economic viewpoint?) btw, even if you don’t believe it is because of human activity (that’s what the science says), the environment is still going downhill quickly in ways that are increasingly dangerous and costly in terms of both money and human life. And we can address it.

2. Continue to do your part by recycling, walking or biking more, taking public transportation, shaming people about plastic bottles/straws, and all of the other things that we have been taught are good for the environment over the past few decades. While I’m not opposed to these (please keep doing them, they help a little!), the fact is these actions only make a SMALL dent in the big problem. Corporate pollution is the issue here, especially in the form of “externalities” (I know, it’s an econ term, I’ll explain…) that we haven’t been paying for, and are now coming due.

[A brief primer on externalities, and I’ll write more in a separate post: when a factory pollutes as a part of production, there is a cost to that pollution. It damages the environment and hurts humans through poisoning the air/ground/water. There are 3 typical ways to pay for that pollution: 1) charge the company that creates the pollution through taxes or similar, 2) charge consumers through increased prices or taxes, or 3) ignore the cost and pass it along to future generations. The cost doesn’t go away regardless. We’ve been ignoring these costs for decades, moreso in the US than in Europe, less than in China, and the bill is now coming due as the environment collapses around us.]

OR WE COULD:

3. Act big and act now. We need to start acting now and acting big — we need to take the lead in pushing our country and the world to hit the goal of “net zero” emissions by 2050. (“Net Zero” means that any greenhouse gases emitted need to be soaked up by forest or new tech that removes carbon from the atmosphere) When I say “we,” I mean the United States, with our CITIZENS (and residents!) taking the lead, not waiting for the politicians and business interests to lead us by the nose. They keep pushing this down the road, and are encouraging us to join them. This may be great for short term profits for the corporations and uber-wealthy, but it is going to massively hurt the rest of us. So we need to take the helm.

Human beings have caused this problem, and the US is a historical leader in pollution. We are only one of the worst now, but along with the UK and Germany we led the way for the last 100+ years. There’s plenty of guilt here, but this isn’t about guilt.

Regardless of the reasons, the planet is currently being massively harmed by human beings. Our current and future actions are adding on to a historically terrible situation, and if we don’t act, WE will be responsible for pushing it over the edge.

The fact is, we are uniquely positioned to take the lead on fixing climate change. And if we don’t do something the environment is going to go through massive changes that will have enormous negative effects on human beings around the world, including us.

Did you and I personally cause the current levels of pollution? Only a little. Are China and India currently just as responsible as we are for pollution? Absolutely. What are they doing about it? Not enough. If we start reducing now, won’t China and India still cheat? Maybe — or they may follow us. And even if we do cheat, at least the world will be cleaner by whatever we save. Isn’t this going to cost a lot of money both in outputs and in lost profits? Yes, but there are opportunities to make most/all of that up.

One other thing — if we actually take the lead, there’s a LOT of money and jobs to be had here. Getting rid of fossil fuels will require innovation and massive production of both pollution reducing tools (filters, etc) as well as new forms of power (wind, solar, etc.) And if we are the major power that REALLY pushes this, we’ll both be able to take the lead economically, and others WILL follow — or be left behind.

We could wait for politicians to wake up. Or for business interests to realize that the long term costs are quickly coming do. We could also hold our breath and wait for China and India to move first. Or WE can actually be a leader and start a movement.

Alternately, if we don’t act in MUCH BIGGER ways, then our country and our generation will be responsible for all of the losses in the future — human beings, property, bio-diversity, and LOTS of dollars are the highlights.

So please stop sitting around. Get on the phones or email to your state reps, Congresspeople and Senators. Get out there and start protests. Let them know that you support Net Zero by 2050, and that means we MUST move on the environment NOW. Let them know that you care, and that their jobs are at stake if they don’t care too.