No time to waste on climate crisis

My baby daughter is 13 months old. When I look at her, I feel gratitude and delight — and overwhelming anxiety and grief. I fear for her future because of the climate crisis.

After we reach the climate-change tipping point — which scientists worldwide agree will happen in less than a dozen years — while my daughter is in middle school, we will begin to suffer eco-collapse around the world.

It won’t just be “somewhere else,” and it won’t just be wild weather. Since food, medicine and economic systems are tightly tied worldwide, climate catastrophe anywhere will be felt everywhere.

It is not known whether my baby will suffer more from hunger, thirst, sickness, or the resulting discord by the time she is my age, but her suffering from at least one of these things is certain if we continue on our current path.

Individual actions such as reducing use of plastics help, but are just a start.

Addressing the climate crisis requires fundamental changes to our country’s economy, energy and systems of transportation, manufacturing and distribution. These changes are possible and offer amazing opportunities for jobs, innovation and progress on many fronts.

In order for that to happen, though, our political leaders must act decisively.

There is no time to waste.

Kaara Kallen, Logan Square

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