I remember it very clearly: I was in about the sixth grade. My best friend’s dad was driving us to school one morning and telling us about an article he’d read in Omni or Discover about the greenhouse effect, and how scary it was.
The article, he said, predicted that rising temperatures would melt the polar ice caps and change weather patterns. We could expect massive wildfires, crippling droughts and floods in places not prone to flooding.
It was terrifying thing to tell a kid. It was the kind of thing an 11-year-old kid would remember. (Although I’ve asked my friend, and he doesn’t remember it at all. But he was much more used to tuning out his dad than I was, I guess.)
I also distinctly remember thinking, “Wow! But I’m sure by the time I’m old we’ll figure something out.”
So, anyway, here we are. Instead, BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Consol Energy, etc., etc., said “nah, we’re just going to burn the planet to cinders instead.”
It really kind of astonishing that we’ve known about whatever you want to call it — climate change, global warming, the greenhouse effect — for 40 years and all of the things that were predicted have come to pass, and the powers that be are now either shrugging and saying, “welp, too bad, what are you going to do?” or actively denying what we all can see and feel.
I sure hope someone in Silicon Valley is able to monetize this: Get fresh air shipped directly to your home each day for just $9.99! Use promo code LATESTAGECAP for 50% off your first order!
I’m not trying to be a “doomer.” There is still time to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. There has already been a big shift away from burning fossil fuels and toward solar and wind power. As the saying goes, the best time to act was 20 years ago, but the next-best time is now.
Needless to say, the President of the United States has responded to the crisis. He’s going to make a televised address to the nation tonight complaining about the 2020 election.
I think I’ll go outside and breathe deeply until I pass out from the fumes.