There’s a lot going on but nothing’s more important than the damage climate change is and will be doing. It’s already extremely painful, deadly and will keep getting worse.
The question isn’t what we can do by 2050. It’s what we have to do now to avert major change. We’ve already missed tipping points. Global warming’s been melting glaciers and ice sheets that reflected heat from the sun back into space. Global warming’s already stoked huge fires that are sending carbon up into our atmosphere, destroying trees that shaded the ground, trees that converted the sun’s rays into green growth, and replacing them with naked ground that absorbs heat and leaves us hotter. This isn’t about 2050; it’s about now.
Politicians shudder if any sacrifice is required. My starting point is what’s necessary and then getting it done. Dealing with climate change is more like war – it will require sacrifice from all of us. We need a better electric grid – build it. We need to stop making gas engines – convert the factories. We need to replace coal, oil and gas plants with systems much better for the environment – replace them. We need to discourage the use of fossil fuels by taxing them – fix the tax code. We need a single approach – get the job done now.
Stop worrying about government and regulation. Individual efforts won’t be enough to do those jobs in time and at scale. Government is essential to get everyone on board.
Jobs? Taking care of jobs and workers is the right thing to do plus we won’t get the job done without everyone on board. Everybody has a right to a job and a decent income, and if private industry won’t provide them, there are plenty of public service jobs that we don’t fund because they’re [quote] “too expensive.” Forget it – we’ve got to be willing to help each other during the transition – that’s not “too expensive;” it’s absolutely necessary. And if providing more public services strikes you wrong, a productive solution is to expand education to prepare people for better and different jobs. Do both. On a war footing, nothing is “too expensive.” And this is war – for survival – for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, our spouses, parents, relatives and friends.
Lots of us were unhappy about Biden’s deal with Manchin that allowed more drilling and a new pipeline. Me too. But I didn’t blame Biden for doing his best to get the most he could past Congress. It’s our job to elect a Congress that will give the president whatever is needed to fight climate change – indeed a Congress that will force whoever is president to do everything necessary in this war.
Forget the folk who think patriotism is about waving the flag and claiming they’re better than everybody else. Real patriots willingly sacrifice for America’s survival to protect its people. Everyone else is an imposter. CEOs of the major companies have to get on board, or they’re no better than traitors. Politicians at every level have got to accept that this is war and they have to get on board or be driven out of public life like we once did to people labeled “un-American.” This is a you’re-with-us-or-you’re-against-us moment and there’s no room for shirkers.
I’ve left a link in the text of this commentary on the WAMC website so you can tell me what would get more people to do more to protect the world we live in for the people we cherish.
Steve Gottlieb’s latest book is Unfit for Democracy: The Roberts Court and The Breakdown of American Politics. He is the Jay and Ruth Caplan Distinguished Professor Emeritus at Albany Law School, served on the New York Civil Liberties Union board, on the New York Advisory Committee to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and as a US Peace Corps Volunteer in Iran.
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