What will it take to alter the course of climate change? What is the great motivational force that will change the will of people to ask, no…demand our government to act in the name of climate change? The reality of our attitude towards climate change and global warming has been, on the whole, tepid. If Hurricane Katrina did not become the 9/11 of climate change, then what will it take for people to act?
Do we wait for the impending threats to become realities? Do we wait until the streets are flooding or we are fighting each other for fresh water? When will people wake up and realize the reality of the dangers that climate change brings?
These are, of course, the mantras of environmental groups all over the world as they urge their governments to act and do something about climate change. But, historically, governments respond only to crises, not impending crisis. Think of the current collapse of our economy...the government enacted the bail-out only after the crisis hit critical levels, not months or years before when they saw the signs and did nothing.
Why act when we Americans live in the comfort and luxury of our self-made worlds, far from the ugly realities and truths of how the rest of the world lives? Our flat screens, 24-hour cable television, 2-car garages and McMansions and our trips to Whole Foods, Gap and Starbucks shield us from the harsh realities of the world.
And why shouldn’t they? Surely we earn the right to these things. We work hard for these comforts and luxuries. We pay our taxes and it’s no one’s business how we spend our money. Certainly, we feel sadness and perhaps even guilt at those unfortunates who live below the poverty line, both in other countries and here within our borders. But what can we do? Why are we responsible for the fate that life has given them? And we rationalize that those people are poor because they don’t try hard enough. They can work, they just don’t want to, so why should I care?
We are detached to the effects of how things are made and produced. Toxic chemicals, the natural resources used and wasted, the oil burned for transportation are but a few steps in the creation of our stuff that we do not take into account when we buy something.
We want to buy a new t-shirt or a package of spinach. Why should we care how the t-shirt was made, what resources were used or what happens to the old t-shirt we threw away. Why should we worry where the spinach came from or how it was grown? We buy the things we want, when we want it and for as cheaply as possible. It’s what creates growth. It’s what makes America great.
And so, with this thinking, we ensconce ourselves further into our cocoon of comfort. Can we really say that we face a crisis? Certainly the environmentalists tell us so. But it’s hard to believe that when we read about the environment on our MacBooks, sipping our latte and shopping for new songs on iTunes. Where is the crisis except in some imagined future that Al Gore and his army tell us is coming? The end of the world is here! Haven’t we heard this already from doomsayers of old?
We don’t see or experience a crisis because there is no real crisis. What we face is really an impending crisis. It’s coming, we don’t know when, but it’s coming. And the environmentalists tell us that we can’t wait until the streets are flooding to act, because by then it will be too late. When that starts to happen, then there really is no turning back. That is the point of no return, when the nightmare scenarios of climate change play themselves out and it will become a matter of survival. But again, that’s what’s going to happen, not what’s happening right now.
So, why isn’t this enough for people to act, to demand that our government do something about averting this impending crisis? Surely the threat of death should compel us to act. We have all been made aware of the nightmare scenarios. But given the threat of death, even smokers who are told by their doctors to stop smoking or they will die, more often than not, do not stop. So, why would it be different for climate change?
Perhaps we need to redefine what a ‘crisis’ really means. Flooding in the streets of Manhattan tomorrow is a crisis. Waters rising in the future to overtake low-level island countries like the Maldives and Palau…not so much. Perhaps the sad truth of it is that the thinking becomes, ‘it’s happening over there, not here’ or ‘it’s happening later, not now.’ And we don’t like doing anything until it’s happening here and now.
Think about the great, positive changes our country went through. They were all in a response to crises that were happening in the moment. The New Deal was a direct answer to the Stock Market Crash of 1929. Our war-building effort and galvanizing support for our troops during World War 2 was in direct response to Pearl Harbor. The Civil Rights Act was passed because the entire country was reacting to a crisis of morality…how can we continue to let black Americans be treated the way they are treated? Laws needed to be passed to change that. And despite the eventual, twisted outcome of our two current wars, even 9/11 had the galvanizing effect bringing our country together for one purpose. All of these great and wonderful things happened as a direct response to crises.
And so, what is the great crisis that we face when it comes to Climate Change? Katrina, drought in Atlanta, raging fires in California? Yes, they are all terrible and tragic events that affected the lives of many…but were they national crises? How were those sitting in their homes, miles away from any of these crises, really affected as they watched what was happening to their fellow Americans on their flat-screen TVs?
The detachment of the American public to the terrible and very real dangers that people in other parts of the world experience is the fundamental crisis we face. How can we be expected to galvanize ourselves to implement great change, if nothing really is happening that’s affecting us at this moment?
This is evident in the very real and tragic response Americans have had with genocide in other countries since the Second World War. When faced with the very real crisis of hundreds of thousands of people being systematically being killed, we do nothing. This is evident time and time again, throughout our history in the 20th and 21st century. We sat and did nothing when Rwandans were slaughtered, Bosnians exterminated, Iraqis murdered, Cambodians executed, and the Sudanese in Darfur were killed.
Why did it happen…again and again, when we explicitly said, ‘never again’? Certainly the overwhelming nature of each of those crises was enough to debilitate some of us into impotence. But that seems to let us off the hook too easily. Instead, I offer the same reasoning that we fail to act when faced with the impending threats of climate change…that it’s happening over there, not here.
And so, this becomes the central question of our lives. How can we Americans change our mindset in order to undertake the biggest, most challenging, and expensive project we have ever faced? Any real plan for climate change involves far-reaching goals that will take trillions of dollars to implement, inspirational leadership, work and sacrifice from the American public? Are we ready for this? Especially when we work for a goal that will have no visible results. For if we succeed, then our climate will remain constant and not grow warmer. In other words, our success depends on maintaining the status quo.
And maintaining that status quo is the very reason we find it difficult to act now. And here’s the reality that we need to factor in, if America does not lead the way in doing something about climate change, then our planet is doomed. Only America can solve this problem. The reason is that we emit 25% of the world’s green house gas. And as for China and India, they reason that if America won’t do anything, why should they? So, our future lies in our ability or inability to act. And the only way we can get our government to act is if we demand that our government act.
Which is why we need what I’m calling ‘A Christmas Carol Conversion.’ We're all familiar with the classic tale of Ebenezer Scrooge who loathes and detests anything that has to do with Christmas. But through a series of otherworldly visitations from the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future, Ebenezer is shown what the affects of his behavior have on his past, present and future. He awakes to discover that he has been given a second chance at life. And with that, he embraces all things Christmas. In essence, he experiences a conversion as he see what his actions and behaviors have done, is doing and will do.
I feel that we need to have this Christmas Carol Conversion on a national level. We all need to be shown what our behavior in the past has wrought, how our behavior in the present affects the rest of the world and what our behavior now will affect the future or not just Americans, but everyone who lives on our planet.
How we do we this?
I have no idea.
But we need to figure it out and soon. I’d love to hear ideas.
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