Climate change is real. The science is indisputable. Only a fool or a liar would deny it. Global weather patterns have changed dramatically in just the last few years. The Southwest is drying up. The drought continues unabated.
It is encouraging that more people are starting to recognize the scale of the challenge humanity now faces. People can see the results of global warming with their own eyes. It’s happening everywhere, on every continent.
The latest research suggests that Earth’s temperature is rising to dangerous levels far faster than even the worst-case scenarios predicted. Most scientists agree that if immediate measures are not taken, the consequences will be irreversible and extremely hazardous to human beings.
Although the People’s Climate March was virtually ignored by the mainstream media, on Sept. 21, New York was the scene of what has been described as the largest environmental protest in history. The occasion was the United Nations Climate Summit, organized by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. It was the first time world leaders have met since the failed Copenhagen summit in 2009.
Nearly 400,000 people took part in the rally, including several celebrities. Among the crowd were actors Mark Ruffalo and Leonardo DiCaprio, primatologist Jane Goodall, and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio. Sens. Bernie Sanders and Chuck Schumer also participated in the march alongside former vice president and environmentalist icon Al Gore.
Climate-related catastrophes are becoming increasingly violent. Hurricanes, cyclones, floods, droughts, fires and melting glaciers are more commonplace than ever. As the weather grows more severe, communities and whole societies will be heavily impacted. Lives, jobs, and people will be displaced.
China holds the distinction of being the world’s biggest producer of greenhouse gases, followed by India and the United States. The Chinese have asked the United States to step up to the plate and lead the way on reducing global carbon emissions. President Obama agrees, or at least he claims he does. In his speech before the U.N. he said, “We have a special responsibility to lead. It’s what big nations have to do.”
Following Obama’s speech, Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang told the General Assembly that China is fully committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He stressed that wealthier nations must act on climate change first, however.
The chances of that happening are pretty slim thanks to the powerful climate change denial lobby in this country. As social activist and author Naomi Klein pointed out recently on Democracy Now!, the lobby is entirely the product of the right-wing think tank infrastructure: groups such as the American Enterprise Institute, Heritage Foundation, and the Cato Institute.
These are not scientific organizations. They are free-market think tanks which exist solely to push the ideology “of deregulation, privatization, cuts to government spending and a sort of triumphant free market, backed with enormous corporate funding,” she told Amy Goodman, “Because that’s a very, very profitable ideology.”
The right-wing think tanks understand all too well that if climate change is real, it would justify huge amounts of government intervention to enforce any new regulations on carbon emissions. The idea is abhorrent to them.
They see it as the end of the world — and it will be the end of their world — but the United States can’t respond to a crisis this big without recognizing that it involves transforming the very foundation of our economy. Our petroleum-based society was built on fossil fuels and it is still driven by fossil fuels. The transformation to green technologies will be extremely difficult and very costly.
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“We hear this from a lot of liberal environmental groups that we can change completely painlessly; just change your light bulbs, or just a gentle market mechanism, tax and relax, no problem,” Klein said. “This is what they (the think tanks) understand well, that in fact it requires transformative change.” That’s why the deniers have no choice but to reject the science of climate change: it will cause a major upheaval of the U.S. economy to fix the problem.
History shows that major social changes never come easily. There certainly needs to be a revolution, but that’s not necessarily what will occur. My experience is that most people — especially parents — simply don’t have the will, the time, or the energy to fight a revolution.
The struggle just to make it through each day is difficult enough. Yes, there are some determined individuals who manage to keep up their strength for a while, but most of them eventually give up the fight to concentrate on simply surviving.
Any “green” revolution needs to happen right now or it will be too late. The human race has had plenty of time to avert the environmental apocalypse which surely awaits us. We had our chance and we blew it.
Jason Darensburg is a columnist for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at opinion@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @DailyLobo.
