Every day, I meet intelligent, articulate people who do not believe that the global climate is changing and/or that mankind is a primary contributor to it. I have friends, that I respect immensely, that feel this way too.
…and then there are the others: Those who ridicule me for believing we are having a negative impact on our world that may bring catastrophe, those that only see the argument as a political one, pitting “tree huggers” against “job creators,” those that just don’t care one way or the other.
For these people, I withhold respect.
From my writings you may not realize this, but I am filled with doubts about everything. I’m just like you in many ways and you are just like me. We are unsure in this life. To move forward, we all make assumptions on what is true or false, right or wrong, helpful or harmful. We must make these assumptions or we could not place one foot in front of the other to walk our life’s path.
But it does not have to make us enemies with those who have made different assumptions.
Undoubtedly, there are those who are only motivated only by self-interest, those that lack any empathy for other people. Quite often, in this life, those people become the most celebrated and successful (in the ways we currently measure success): wealth, power, fame and dominance. They are not hindered by doubts about right and wrong because their measure is limited in both scope and time. Right is what is right for themselves, what increases their success in the way they measure success. What happens in the future beyond their lifetime is inconsequential, by definition, as it will have zero impact on their wealth, power, fame and dominance.
At least for this Earth Day, I’d like us all to take a deep breath and step back from arguing. I’d like us to look for the common ground, where we can work together in mutual respect, even love. As John F. Kennedy once said,
“…let us not be blind to our differences. But let us also direct attention to our common interests and to the means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”
By quoting Kennedy, I am not saying the man was better than you or me. He was a seriously flawed man, as flawed as you or me, albeit in other ways perhaps. When you or I look into a mirror and let the world become still around us, we can let our real selves come forward and regard our shortcomings. We all know we are not perfect, and we all try to hide the imperfections we feel are most damaging from the rest of the world.
But, can we all agree with these thoughts?
- By definition, the supply of non-renewable energy sources (oil, gas, coal) are finite and will be used up at some point.
- It makes complete sense to look for renewable, cleaner ways to power our civilization.
- By definition, newly discovered ways of creating energy (in forms we can use) will not be as efficient as the energy sources we have refined over years or centuries of use, until they too have been refined over time.
- That we are not yet a mature enough species that we won’t kill one another to get access to resources that we deem critical to our survival, or comfort, or even convenience.
- That we have the gift of this one planet on which to live, that there are no others (with current technology) to which we can migrate.
- That in the deepest recesses of our souls, in places we don’t share with others, we all have doubts.
If we can agree, on these things, we have the framework within which a brighter future will open to us all.
We have herculean tasks ahead of us. In order to move toward a world where everyone can have clean air to breath, water to drink, and yes, jobs to perform, we have to drop the us-against-them attitude, except when the “them” are those who only want to follow their immediate self-interest, even when it is to the detriment of all others.
In a utopian future, wouldn’t we all want to have all the energy we need to power our homes, and our means of transportation and communication without having to pay for it over and over again? Doesn’t it make sense to freely partake of clean energy that is literally raining down upon us every day? Now, by “freely” I don’t mean that there is no economic cost. But if we invest in household solar panels or wind turbines, we are taking that first shaky step.
Consider a future, perhaps a generation or two away, where the investments we make today, fundamentally change the future. Like turning a very large ship, the changes in direction are gradual but accumulate over time. But to turn the ship, the small changes have to begin sometime or the course remains unchanged. If five percent of us, in the industrialized world, adopted some form of renewable energy to power our residences, when we sell those homes, others will have the opportunity to benefit from our investment. When we move on, if the investment paid off in increased value of our home and/or less dependence on external energy sources, we surely would repeat the experiment. Slowly, the move toward a distributed, cleaner energy generation model will be accomplished.
Will jobs be lost in the older energy industries? Yes, of course they will.
How many people today work in careers that did not exist a generation or two ago? How many work for Google, Yahoo, Amazon, Space-X, Hewlett Packard, Apple, Microsoft, Tesla… Need I go on?
The way forward will certainly end some avenues of employment while opening many, many more. Change is accelerating. No longer can each of us learn a trade and work in it our entire lifetimes and stop learning. Would you bet your life on a doctor who never continued their education, once they’d obtained their degree in medicine? One who never read articles on the latest developments and treatments? Of course not. Too many advancements have occurred to not take advantage of them, especially if our survival is at stake.
Very few people make typewriters today, compared to generations past. Very few make CRTs which used to be in every television. These jobs were lost but the world went on and people became employed in other endeavors.
In the 1960’s, a time of great social upheaval, many argued that the problems we had here on Earth made investment in space exploration seem frivolous. But we continued and we reaped amazing benefits that altered our civilization in the most fundamental ways. Today, we have computers, global communication, medical devices, and information beyond what we could have foreseen. New jobs were created. New fields of study were born. Mankind advanced.
As you watch news stories from your favorite media source, Fox News, MSNBC, NPR, BBC or others, ask yourself “What could it hurt to have distributed, clean energy generation?” Or better yet, ask “Who could it hurt…” Then use that as a filter to determine what ideas you want to let germinate within you.
Recently, a study stated that the United States has become an oligarchy. To many people, on both ends of the political spectrum, this was no surprise as they’ve believed this for years. The “successful” have the means to influence, beyond what has ever been possible in the past. They can buy the media outlets to make sure their ideas are heard over and over again. They can buy politicians and public opinion to make sure their desires become law (and this can be done in tiny degrees to affect eventual, major change, just as I mentioned above).
Look at the world around you, without acrimony. Always keep your eyes wide open and follow the money. Before you adopt any belief, think about both sides. Think about your needs, your future, your children’s future and try to consider that what is presented to you may be propaganda meant to sway you from your own self-interest in favor of another group’s self-interest. I do not resent the wealth of others. I’m doing okay. What I do resent is the use of that wealth to gather more wealth and power, in order to subvert the needs of the many to the perceived needs of that small class. When is someone rich enough?
Ask yourself:
- What if the other side of the debate is right?
- What would the outcome be?
- Does it hurt to err on the side of caution?
- Would I ever play Russian Roulette?
Then, make your decision on the best way forward for you, your family, your planet.
Well said!
Worth sharing.