Listen to your parents — clean up the Earth

If we convince ourselves that we live on a planet with infinite resources, and that it is our right to abuse and exploit it (something we have been doing for centuries), then we are on the path to destruction.

When we were children, our parents told us to clean up the messes we made. Our parents may have explained it as a matter of fairness. The messes we make are our responsibility to clean up. Why should they burden anyone else? On this Earth Day, April 22, we urge everyone to consider fairness to our children and grandchildren. It's time for us to listen to our parents.

Global temperatures are rising. The past seven years have been the warmest that human civilization has recorded. In Greenland, the last remnant of the most recent Ice Age is melting rapidly. Record high temperatures are growing more frequent, even in Antarctica where ice melt could lead to catastrophe in coastal areas around the world. These changes are not occurring at a steady pace, but they are accelerating. Conditions that were changing gradually, are now changing suddenly.

Not all the changes are in far-away places. Some are to be found near home. For instance, in a warmer and wetter world, mosquitoes and ticks can expand their ranges.

Climate change also promotes the growth of toxic cyanobacteria, creating the warmer conditions favored by the bacteria, as we have experienced more often in Candlewood Lake and others throughout the state. The warmer weather also brings increasing precipitation that washes nutrients into our waterways.

This is not just a scientific problem but also a common human problem. Greenhouse gases released in the Western Hemisphere will warm the Eastern Hemisphere. Ice melting in Antarctica will raise sea level in the Arctic. Warming of the ocean raises the seas and strengthens storms everywhere.

As the climate warms, the world will change, and our choices matter. If we make wise choices, we can protect the future for our descendants. If we choose to do nothing, all hell breaks loose, as we see beginning now.

How we understand our relationship with the environment is crucial. If we convince ourselves that we live on a planet with infinite resources, and that it is our right to abuse and exploit it (something we have been doing for centuries), then we are on the path to destruction. Understanding that as humans we are one species among many, and that we rely and depend on other living beings, will help us think about how we should live our lives in a way that produces the least amount of harm to the ecosystem.

What we must do — now — is to drastically reduce our use of fossil fuels: as individuals, as corporations, and as governments. Individual actions mean little if at the largest scale we are pursuing business as usual. We must leave most of the carbon in the ground where it can do us no harm. And we must do this now, not 20 years from now. If you think this effort is too expensive and too dangerous for the economy, imagine how much blood and treasure will be required to survive and reconstruct a wrecked biosphere.

Addressing climate change is also an ethical and justice issue. Developing nations — particularly island states and low-lying coastal populous countries such as the Marshal Islands and Bangladesh — have been disproportionately impacted by climate change. Already, we are witnessing displacement of millions in these countries because of sea level rises and extreme weather events. Farmers there are losing large tracts of farmlands to saline water intrusion in the coastal areas, causing widespread food insecurity and faminelike situations. These countries played no role in causing climate change, yet they are suffering the worst impacts.

We have the means and the knowledge to make the necessary changes. Climate change is our mess and it is ours to clean up. The question remains, do we have the will?

M. Ryder