The last op-ed on climate change I read was written by Dr. Trevor Hancock. Hancock wrote a letter to the Victoria Times Colonist comparing the fossil fuel industry to the tobacco industry in the sense that the industry “relentlessly pursues profits without regard for human costs.”
As expected, comments on this piece range from enthusiastic agreement to harsh criticism… and fortunately, at least one balanced view.
“No compromises,” one individual wrote under the username DMANP. “Each side is driven to the point of belligerent defense by its respective suitors. Friends, there is a middle ground.”
It’s time to stop overlooking that middle ground.
I have little valuable addition to the long-running scientific debate about anthropogenic climate change. Also, I have no interest in joining politics to support or condemn someone like Dr. Hancock. Rather, my stance is very simple.
These are Star-Lord’s famous words. guardian of the galaxyI want you to take care of the Earth “because I’m one of the idiots living there.”
Two opinions tend to dominate this conversation. Either global warming will turn the Earth into a Venus-like wasteland in our children’s lifetimes, or it’s a hoax cooked up by left-wing malcontents who hate human flourishing. . The truth is probably somewhere in between, and that’s where you should start.
we all live here yellow submarine Therefore, we all have a vested interest in the continued health of our planet.
Climate change is not black and white…
Environmentalism should not be treated as a political issue that people accept or reject based on ideology. Rather, it is a human issue that affects us all. No matter who you are, you need clean water, benefit from a diverse biosphere, and don’t want to face increasing natural disasters.
We don’t know how bad things will get, but there’s no need to see an impending doomsday when you want to take better care of your home.
What we know for a fact is that global warming is having a significant impact on nature.
You may have heard the term “atmospheric river.” Well, such events can be more frequent and severe because warmer air can hold more moisture. Very similar weather principles produce more powerful thunderstorms and tropical cyclones, which is also not good news.
Plains dwellers may scoff at the idea of ”global warming” because they have just experienced extreme cold of -40 degrees Celsius or more. The freeze was caused by the polar vortex, an expanse of frigid air that is typically trapped down to arctic latitudes by a band of strong winds called the jet stream.
However, the polar jet stream can be interrupted by sudden warming of the stratosphere, i.e. temperature fluctuations in the upper atmosphere. Ironically, these warming events can bring colder temperatures to some regions by weakening the jet stream and expanding the polar vortex southward.
Severe weather events are not necessarily a harbinger of Armageddon, but they are a reminder that climate change is a more subtle problem than doubters believe.
…But there is no way forward for either of them.
There is another side to this issue as well.
We can’t quit fossil fuels overnight. Oil provides the most practical means of heating and transportation today, and it is involved in the manufacture of many things we use and rely on, from skis to eyeglasses. While solar power, wind power, hydropower, etc. are definitely worth continued investment, each also has its drawbacks.
For now, we are somewhat dependent on oil and gas, and there is no point in making virtues about it (or refusing to properly utilize the fossil fuels we have in our backyards).
Moreover, not everyone has the means to buy organic food or install solar panels on their home. Green options are often more expensive and people shouldn’t be blamed for making ends meet.
Furthermore, some people are tired of hearing that unless we reduce global carbon dioxide emissions to zero tomorrow, the world will absolutely be 100% destroyed. It’s understandable to feel alarmed about climate change, but some people are no longer swayed by fatalism.
Perhaps it would be more fruitful to tone down the apocalyptic predictions and try an approach that balances today’s realities with hopes for a better future.
Ultimately, we should all be able to agree that managing the biosphere is important. We need to keep finding the best solutions, but we only have one planet. Let’s not waste it.