Last week was Earth Day, first celebrated in 1970. Since that time, humanity has added almost 700 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere, 36 billion tons in 2023 alone. We have changed our atmospheric chemistry, and are now living on a planet hotter than any humans have ever experienced. 2023 was the hottest year on record, but will probably be remembered as the coolest of the rest of our lives, because 2024 started out even hotter.
Weather extremes are becoming more common. Last week, in one day, Dubai experienced the amount of rain that normally falls in 2 years. Last summer, Greece was inundated with 22" of rain in a single day. Every week, some portion of the world is dealing with flooding, and this year the hurricane season is projected to be 50 percent above the previous normal. Lethal heat events are increasing.
This climate impact is finally beginning to be acknowledged by the financial world. A recent report stated that global climate costs are increasing, and will amount to $38 trillion a year by 2050, far more expensive than estimated costs of complete decarbonization. Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, just reported that the climate crisis is an increasing driver of inflation, raising overall insurance costs by 20 percent, much worse in selected areas. He warned that our built infrastructure is becoming "uninsurable", risking an 80 percent drop in market value.
One the positive side, awareness of the climate issue is increasing, especially in locations where the impact has been greatest. We know what needs to happen: stop making it worse, and begin making it better. This means shifting away from anything that adds more atmospheric CO2 and start effective sequestration of what already exists. It will be expensive, socially disruptive, and take decades, but can result in leaving a habitable planet for our descendants, surely a goal worth embracing.
Significant efforts to respond are already happening. The majority of new power generation being built is non-carbon. Real transportation alternatives are on the market, getting better, cheaper, and more varied. Serious thinking, and planning, is happening all over the planet. However, there is still a lot to do. Electrical generation has to triple, the grid has to evolve to handle the larger loads, our energy infrastructure has to be retooled, and massive numbers of skilled workers are required.
Some of the progress causes more problems. For example, the recent jump in temperatures is partially the result of eliminating high sulfur fuels, which cause air pollution and acid rain. But the aerosols released also cooled the planet a little, masking some of the heat increase for the added CO2.
However, considering the scale and magnitude of the problem, our best efforts to date are lagging behind what is needed. There are still folks who think this is all just a liberal fad, doubting any reality to the concerns, or distrusting governmental involvement. In addition, those currently making trillions off the existing fossil fuels energy system act like they are immune to the consequences, and heavily fund the climate denial campaign.
Without a doubt, all these resistances will eventually fade away as the reality of the crisis eventually touches everyone. The question is, will it be too late to make effective changes? Some already feel we have passed that point.
However, I am still optimistic. I see the climate issue as a symptom, not the core of the problem. It is an expression of the illusion of separation, manifested as the foolish belief we can kill the planet for profit. This is insane in a unity reality, akin to drinking your own blood to quench your thirst. But this mindset has dominated the species for thousands of years, so baked in that we mistakenly feel it is "human nature".
The exciting part of these days is that the climate crisis is a unifying force. There are no national, religious, gender, or economic barriers to climate. It is unyieldingly inclusive. Which means that any real solution, other than extinction, will require a unified global response. The crisis is the consequence of human activity, but all life is in this together, whether we like it or not. Therefore, real solutions will end the constant war with life, and begin massive cooperation with our living planet, honoring the fact we are part of life, not the "rulers". We are here to manifest that solution.
Crispin B. Hollinshead lives in Ukiah. This and previous articles can be found at cbhollinshead.blogspot.com.
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