It’s time to take action
Human civilization is hurtling toward catastrophic climate change like a car headed for the edge of a cliff. The least we can do is take our foot off the gas. We’re already seeing plenty of changes: the disintegration of Antarctic ice, higher temperatures of ocean water and increasingly arid conditions in many parts of the world. More intense weather events were some of the effects climate scientists warned of; now they are here.
Newer climatic conditions make events such as wildfires more common — in the United States, for example, forest fire season has increased by 78 days since 1970, with the U.S. Forest Service estimating wildfires in 2050 will be twice as devastating as they are today.
Hurricanes are also more deadly. The images out of the Gulf of Mexico in the wake of multiple hurricanes (three “500-year storms” in a week) are horrifying, the scale of the weather events staggering.
Our current nomenclature is unable to convey the impact — as a Category 5 storm, hurricane Irma was in fact the strongest ever recorded, showing that we need an improved terminology for such events.
And we’ll need it. Hurricane designations describe wind speed, and don’t account for water volume, such as the roughly 102 trillion litres hurricane Harvey dumped on Houston, so much that the weight actually pushed the Earth’s crust in the area down two centimetres.
Those who argue that if climate change is exacerbating conditions elsewhere it isn’t our fault (and nothing we do will change it) are looking for a do-nothing approach. That attitude is what got us to this point.
We can take action, personally and collectively. Reducing your carbon footprint by consuming less fossil fuel has an effect — even if that means changing something as small as commuting habits or the length of time we crank our air conditioners. Think about where our food comes from, and how far it needs to be transported to get to the table.
When your vehicle idles in a parking lot so you can keep your air conditioning running, you’re adding to greenhouse gases (GHG) in the atmosphere. Many of us do it. In fact, a recent study showed that if humans wanted to take a huge bite out of GHG emissions, simply improving our hydro fluorocarbon-emitting air-conditioning technology and phasing out use of fluorinated gas could cut emissions so drastically it would reduce the projected warming of the planet by 2100 by one degree Celsius.
Sure, we can all use our AC less, or buy a better AC unit, but we can also demand legislation that ensures technology is built to a higher standard to reduce emissions.
Collectively, we can also push for greater use of renewable energy. Hydro providers could certainly do more to encourage the generation of electricity through solar and wind power.
A carbon tax properly directed to discourage fossil-fuel energy and spur use of non-GHG-emitting technology would have a tremendous effect.
Naysayers may point out we don’t know whether all of this would work. Yet in the past, when human activity was responsible for damaging the planet’s ozone layer, collective action and better standards eliminated the chlorofluorocarbonemitting tech that was behind it.
Somehow, human civilization survived not being able to apply deodorant from an aerosol can.
We may not be so lucky if we bury our heads in the sand and ignore the warnings — and possible solutions — that are all around us.