Climate change is marching on

The world is in the midst of an existential health crisis from the COVID-19 virus that threatens our health, safety and even our life, right now. It is quite understandable that this crisis is absorbing our time, our attention and our resources. Yet, at this same time, the Earth is also headed toward a longer-term challenge that threatens to change the habitability of the planet and cause misery and suffering, even death, to millions of the world’s inhabitants. Global climate change is unfolding. While its effects sometimes seem to advance at a glacial pace, they are actually accelerating.

Coastal regions are threatened by rising oceans; hundreds of thousands of animals and plant species are threatened by increasing temperatures and less consistent rainfall; arable land is threatened by the encroachment of expanding deserts; and our ocean seafood population is threatened by an increase in the temperature of the water.

We humans are like the proverbial frog placed into a pot of cool water that is being slowly brought to a boil; we do not yet feel that much pain, but it is coming.

Humans are hampered by a powerful cognitive bias that severely discounts a seemingly remote and vague future in favor of our immediate circumstances and our current environment. This, and an admittedly finite amount of resources, makes our dealing with this slowly unfolding, but inexorable, crisis seem very unlikely.

At some time, future generations, who are acutely suffering as a consequence of our collective myopia, will curse our shortsightedness.