Accelerating climate change impacts, frightening prospects for more to come, inadequate responses so far, and disarray at the federal government level all call for us being more attentive, thoughtful, and deliberate about our changing climate.
Here in Southwest Colorado, we have had an alarmingly warm and snow-starved winter—so far—coupled with a sense of foreboding about the irrigation water supply this summer. Spring storms may well come to the rescue, but the pattern of uncertainty is alarming to more and more people. Overall dryness, undependable monsoons, floods such as those last October, frequently low snowpack, and hot, hot summers all foreshadow more climate disruption to come, according to scientists.
Last week while I was enjoying the warmth on my walk, a dismayed neighbor pointed out her bed of crocuses blooming weeks before normal. Fortunately, here and across the country more and more people are expressing deep concern—and rightly so. Scientists are ringing the alarm bells. Being attentive and aware—and talking about it—is a good first step toward action.
Recent newspaper articles in our community, for example, have raised concern over progress toward meeting previous commitments to reduce emissions and over how to find acceptable locations for solar farms and grid-based battery systems. We can be proud of what our community (and our state) is doing on climate, but across the board, more urgency is needed. The fact that these discussions are taking place here and across the country is a very good sign, but community-wide climate actions often aren’t receiving the priority they deserve.
Community climate initiatives are not undertaken in isolation—in addition to state programs, much depends on supportive policies, funding, and leadership from the federal level, or at least that has been the case up to now. We can expect that federal help will return in some form in time (if we vote accordingly), but the physics of climate change and the momentum of our carbon emission habits will unfortunately take no time off. In the meantime, we need to do all we can—and as fast as we can—on climate on the local level with the help of state governments, enlightened green energy businesses, nonprofits, and any remaining federal resources available.
We also would be wise to start work now for the return of robust federal climate programs by determining how to rebuild a more resilient, balanced, and well integrated local, state, and national approach as soon as supportive leadership at the federal level returns. As I have been writing for the past 10 years in our Getting Serious Now series, none of this can wait.
As we pay increased attention and strive to learn more about our climate crisis, we need to be more thoughtful about the consequences of our actions—or inactions. Serious attention should be given to the underlying issues that seem to thwart our progress toward a better world. The bottom line—to put it bluntly—calls for thinking about more than oneself—about other people, other living things, future generations, and the future of our planet—with respect, fairness, and compassion.
Taking action, deliberate action, would mean that we move from reacting to the latest crisis or societal impulse, to working toward “whole solutions” to paraphrase Wendell Berry—ones that solve multiple problems rather than creating new ones. We are past the point where we should ask ourselves if we should concentrate on mitigating climate change or on adapting to it, so we must prioritize actions that do both. Bill Gate’s recent comments about priorities prompted some good discussion of whether we should prioritize climate action or bettering people’s lives. It seems pretty obvious that we must (and can) do both. Do we concentrate on climate change or biodiversity? Solutions that address both of these intrinsically intertwined crises abound. In our case, we work on local food as a climate strategy—and we highly recommend it—but in whatever sector you are most passionate about, deliberate action toward whole solutions is needed.
When climate scientists try to explain the magnitude and urgency of needed actions, they often use the concept of tipping points—after which returning to a safe condition is very unlikely. Think coral bleaching, melting of permafrost, Arctic sea ice melt, etc. Often, a final straw-on-the-camel’s-back change can lead to a self-reinforcing downward spiral. Yet, tipping points can lead to welcome outcomes from positive reinforcement as well. Think solar energy, electric cars, heat pumps, local food, people learning and talking about climate, society listening to its youth on climate issues, and governments at all levels cooperating on policies that encourage climate action. These are tipping points well worth working toward.
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