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Humans have an almost limitless ability to invent. We’ve domesticated fire, mastered flight, mapped our own genome and invented the wheel, telescope and internet. So why are we so lackadaisical, so inept, at tackling the climate crisis, the greatest existential threat we’ve ever faced?
It’s not because we’ve lost the knack for innovation. For example, clever minds recently discovered how to make clothing. Cottonengineered to replace petroleum-derived polyester syntheses which pollute our food, water, and bodies with non biodegradable plastic microfibers.
Nor is it because we don’t know what needs to be done to prevent climate disaster: Stop dumping carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
So, what’s at the root of humanity’s incompetence when it comes to solving the climate crisis?
For a while it was easy to invoke the “slow boil” explanation, that climate change is such a slowly evolving threat that humans behave like the frog thrown into a cool pot of water that’s heated up so gradually the frog doesn’t notice it’s being cooked alive. This explanation is no longer valid, as almost every part of the globe is now experiencing record-breaking climate extremes like wildfires.
Further evidence that the slow boil hypothesis is failing is the 26-year-old tradition of climate experts, heads of states, and climate activists convening every year for the purpose of addressing the climate crisis (the so known Conference of the Parties or COP). COP 26 was concluded in November. The sad news is that even the COP 26 participants were disappointed. Unenforceable PromisionsThe nearly 200 countries that are participating in the conference will not be able to reduce greenhouse emissions enough to avoid the worst effects of global warming.
Unregulated corporate capitalism and failure of governments to act in public interest are the two main reasons we have failed to tackle climate change. Corporate profiteering is what has made America and the rest of the world a nation based on the burning of fossil fuels. It is what has allowed the world to ignore the imminent climate crisis in favor short-term corporate profits. The corrupt political system that holds politicians accountable to corporate donors means that the welfare of the public as well as the planet is pushed to the back burner.
The Netflix bombshell Don’t Look Up captures this formula for inaction on the climate through the satirical allegory of a planet-killing comet headed straight for earth. Despite abundant scientific evidence showing that humans and the planet will survive if the comet is destroyed before it gets close enough, the government succumbs to the greed of a corporate CEO who wants to exploit the comet for rare earth elements. If you haven’t seen the movie, I won’t spoil the ending for you.
David Sirota is an American journalist and screenwriter who contributed to Don’t Look Up. This article was published in a Jan. 7 appearance on the independent news outlet Breaking Points with Krystal and Saagar, he clarified what the movie is fundamentally about, “how elites and institutions do not operate in the public’s interest.” As example, he pointed out that politicians and the media characteristically fail to address how a bill will affect the livable ecosystem on which human life depends, opining instead on how the economy could be affected.
This misguided thinking effectively puts humans and our planet’s life support systems in service of the economy. Can the economy not be viewed as a tool to ensure a healthy planet for humans, and all other living creatures?
We are currently witnessing this same reversal of priorities in Congress’s deadlock in passing President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda which ClaimIt will provide a roadmap for achieving net-zero carbon emission by mid-century. The Arguments in oppositionThese are based on the dollar cost and do not consider the human suffering or the global devastation caused by the failure of the federal government to act.
That in December Congress passed a $768 billion defense bill despite the end of the war in Afghanistan should shamefully upend any suggestion that the bucks just aren’t there to protect the public from increasingly devastating climate extremes as are already plaguing every region of country. Meanwhile, the fossil fuel sector continues to be subsidizedOur tax dollars, as carbon dioxide is sprayed into the atmosphere without any accountability or penalty.
Even if the climate provisions of Build Back Better are removed, it is possible to expect more climate-conscious regions of the nation to move ahead despite Washington’s indifference. This inspires me to hope. One, California was the first state to be established on January 1. MandatorySeparate food waste from household trash in order to recycle it and reduce the amount of greenhouse gas methane released by landfills
In the spirit of the environmental maxim “think globally but act locally,” I’m excited to receive my new green food/yard waste bin and do my small part. This maxim is a bit hollow when compared to the sheer magnitude of the actions required to bring down global warming in time to ensure a sustainable world for future generations. It’s urgent that we convince world leaders, politicians corporate heads to prioritize both thinking andGlobal action
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