Letters to the Editor
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Tick, tick, tick...
Those who have followed the global warming issue for more than a few years have no doubt noticed that, for the past decade, whatever the worst-case scenario was 3-6 months ago is the new expected outcome. I do not know if this is because of a natural tendency to interpret the data as conservatively as possible in order to not be viewed as alarmist or whether it is due to the limitations of the current climate models or the fact that we are continually producing (from fossil-fools) and releasing (from arctic melt) ever-increasing amounts of greenhouse gasses on a planet that has an ever-decreasing ability to absorb them (more acidic oceans absorb less CO2). It should be abundantly clear to anyone who can read and think that if the U.S., China, and India do not dramatically change their rates of fossil-fool consumption we will reach a tipping point at which most earthly life is doomed. No one pretends to know exactly when that tipping point will be reached, but the projected “best model” has steadily moved it in from the late 2000s to sometime in the next decade.
The likely outcome of catastrophic climate change demands a sense of urgency. The clock is ticking to midnight and the ball is ending. If we play around the edges with such less than half-measures as using slightly more fuel efficient cars to go purchase the latest model of cheap plastic crap from China, then we will be responsible for what may be the final chapter of complex life on earth for quite some time if not forever. We have only a very few years to cut back our fossil-fool use by some 60-80% and it is high time we started doing it. Kicking this problem down the road to the next generation is no longer just immoral; it is now likely impossible.
Every action we take is either sustainable or it is not. An activity is only sustainable if, when replicated by everyone, it neither uses up the resources upon which it depends faster than they can be regenerated, nor creates any toxins faster than they can be remediated. Driving a hybrid or an electric car (half of all electricity in the U.S. is from coal, the most CO2-intensive fuel in use) is not a sustainable activity and therefore people who drive are indeed part of the problem.
Obviously, driving is not the entire story but a person’s transportation choice is the most visible, public display of one’s commitment to hand over a living planet to future generations. Or not.