Global Warming is the #1 Threat to our civilization today

I have an article coming out on medium tomorrow about global warming. I’m not a climate scientist, but I have read enough to be dangerous. And the more I read the more I am convinced that there are no half measures to be taken. Fossil fuels must go.

People I talk to don’t seem to understand that it really is that urgent. The increase in temperatures has all kinds of catastrophic effects on our planet’s ability to support both civilization and life in general. From increases in wild fires and heat waves to crop failures to general extinction, heating up the planet is going to turn this garden into a wasteland.

We have the power to turn away from fossil fuels. We just don’t want to use it. Deep pocketed executives and people who are old enough that they know they’ll be dead before things get really bad are particularly bad in this regard.

I am a big proponent however of not blaming others as a way of shirking responsibility. Yes, this situation isn’t my fault, but if I do nothing about it then I am just as guilty as those who caused it.

Nor do I believe that ordinary folk are powerless to change things. Nothing important really happened in a nation or a world without either some assent or outcry from the people. People have a voice if they use it together.

I also don’t buy into movements that are in favor of voluntary extinction. That is stupid. If we wanted to go extinct, we could just continue on the path we’re on and it will happen eventually. We need to change because we want to live and not die.

I am sometimes disturbed by the massive consumption that we indulge in. This is particularly bad in the USA and Canada where 3000-4000 sq ft houses are common and multiple cars and driving is the norm, but honestly if all the energy to support that came from renewables, we’d be in much better shape than we are now.

We really need to have an all-hands on deck approach to eliminating fossil fuels, and I’m not convinced either that cutting off fossil fuels is going to stop the trend we see. We may have to introduce large scale global cooling efforts as well. I’ve written about marine cloud brightening as an example.

Obama’s favorite Dr. King quote is “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice” but King never meant it in the sort of Panglossian “inevitability of progress” way that Obama did. Nobody knows when the human species will meet its end, but continuing isn’t inevitable.