Today, or yesterday, was the yearly event where humanity considers it has inflicted on the global habitat in the past century, before turning away in apathy and terror. Only a few are willing to consider how much worse the climate will be in another dozen years. Eighteen days ago the IPCC told the world that because humanity didn't alter its path the last time they released a report, now we only have three more years to get our shit together. There are two essential rules to avert catastrophic damage. No new fossil fuel infrastructure. A rapid reduction in emissions. Today is the environmental crisis the most important story? If it's not the most important, it's certainly tied for top, along with a handful of critical issues that risk the fate of humanity, or at least, catastrophic suffering for millions. Did you know that ExxonMobil knew about climate change more than forty-five years ago?
During the ongoing pandemic I gradually transitioned into writing only video game reviews. Why? Perhaps because no one was reading the blog anyways, so slid into sloth. It's difficult to believe, but we all know politics became even more contentious. But if we're honest, the news should be packed with articles constantly reminding us of the crisis. Every second article by anyone, myself included should be about the climate emergency. But the reason I haven't been writing them is (one), there are plenty of more articulate writers, writing for major papers, and (two), environmental articles don't draw eyes compared to entertainment, sports, or political infighting.
Environmental articles remind the reader of existential dangers they can't avert. Cynics say that crisis sells, but that isn't true of the threat to the biosphere. Surprisingly, readers find their own inevitable demise depressing, especially if they can't do anything to avoid it. People are sick of being asked to do something to save the environment. The average American doesn't have any power. Meanwhile we see powerful people not doing anything; Clinton, Bush, Obama, Trump, Biden, Romney, Manchin, Dimon, Kerry, Koch, McConnell, Pelosi, Gates, Murdoch, Bezos, and Roberts. Should we sacrifice our lives, our time with our children (for our children), to commit environmental protests, chaining ourselves to something to get people to listen to us, only to end up in prison, while the wealthy and powerful reside in luxury, not lifting a finger. I admire people that commit their lives to the cause, but I can't see how I could ever do that. The meek wonder why we are being asked to sacrifice for no effect. I vote with the environment as my top priority, which is why I only voted for one main party candidate in the past three presidential elections (and I regret that one vote). This Earth Day (and the past year and four months) environmentalists ponder the future where a Democratic Congress and President failed to pass serious environmental regulations. Republicans are almost certain to retake at least one chamber of Congress in the 2022 midterms, preventing any legislation for at least another two years. One weeps at the impossibility of reducing emissions enough to avoid climate catastrophe. Everyone knows there is zero chance Republicans pass any law to restrict emissions. I even feel I was tricked into voting for progressive Senators like Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren. Markey, Warren, and even Sanders voted for the infrastructure deal in the Senate, before receiving a reciprocal vote for the Build Back Better deal. With his deal in hand Manchin outflanked progressives. Voting is a civic duty, but I feel less committed than ever to vote for any major party candidate. I may never vote for another Democrat in my lifetime (calm down, I live in Massachusetts – Democrats always win – except the governorship).
The popular axiom is that one man or woman can stall the Senate; see Manchin. Considering the dire circumstances, it seems necessary that the few Senators that actually care about global warming (and I think they can be counted on two hands – can confirm, checked the list of Democratic senators and only five to ten really are willing to pass legislation to avert disaster) halt all business until a serious climate deal passes. One could argue that they'd be pilloried by centrists as the reason Democrats lose the Senate, but they are going to lose it anyways, and it's from a lack of action. But it would be preferable that three Senators hold up the business of the country, rather than millions of citizens trying to bring the system to its knees in an act of civil disobedience.
So yeah, the news should report daily on climate destruction, but it's heartbreaking to believe that nothing will break through in time.
On another note, I was working on an article that I was trying to get 1,000 words I associated with climate change. I'm a little short. I only have about 850. I'd like to note that some of these words, like conspiracy, are concepts I disagree with, but they have unfortunately infiltrated the debate. I'm sure I've missed some obvious ideas, and feel free to post yours in the comment section below (also, I've probably accidentally used a few words twice).
Climate change, the Death of Nature, CO2, ExxonMobile, Exxon Valdez, oil spill, Deepwater Horizon, 1.5 degrees, 3 degrees, the hockey stick graph, “lean coal”, a Green New Deal, heat pumps, James Hansen, Bill McKibben, atmospheric CO2, global land temperature, ocean surface temperature, parts per million, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), debate, COP, coral bleaching, Kyoto Protocol, The Paris Climate Agreement, the Keystone pipeline, fracking, shale, methane, deforestation, sea level rise, Nord Stream, Ukraine, Germany, Russia, OPEC, Venezuela, gas prices, renewables, natural gas, nuclear power, the Clean Air Act, EPA, Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., the Supreme Court, The Big Three, Tesla, carburetor, electric vehicles, solar panels, internal combustion engine, Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE), Arab Oil Embargo, inflation, cars, trucks, fuel consumption, wind power, hydroelectric, dams, fuel efficient, hybrid, batteries, Energy Policy and Conservation Act, Department of Transportation, diesel, Volkswagen Group, emissions, Scandal, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons, benzene, formaldehyde, air pollution, burning, wildfires, respiratory damage, asthma, chronic lung disease, lithium-ion, miles per gallon, cancer, particulate matter, light-duty vehicles, pickups, SUVs, public health benefits, mining, pit mining, surface mining, deep underground mining, black lung, Manchin, Sinema, The Senate, 20,000 dead a year, cardiovascular disease, avoidable deaths, World Health Organization, 7 million dead a year, micrometers, mortality, ground level ozone, blood system, sulfate, nitrates, ammonia, black carbon, regulation, Massachusetts v. Environmental Protection Agency, cap and trade, West Virginia v. EPA, Carbon Neutral, Net Zero Carbon, green-washing, Fridays for Future, Greta Thunberg, climate strike, youth movements, climate denial, Rupert Murdoch, British Petroleum, Republicans, Jamie Dimon, fossil fuel divestment, high education, Blackrock, the Koch brothers, Greenpeace, Natural Resource Defense Council, Sierra Club, politicize climate change, Cato Institute, climate crisis, lobbying, Mitch McConnell, American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, Steven Donziger, Amazon Rainforest, lawyers, The Ministry for the Future, social justice, heat exhaustion, water resources, jetstream, Atlantic ocean currents, melting glaciers, Inhofe snowball, think-tanks, Fox News, tobacco companies, man-made, Heartland Institute, Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United States, energy independence, Canada, UAE, Iran, Authoritarianism, Canadian tar sands, barrels per day, crude oil, petroleum, lead, subsidies, the pump, mass graves for the pump when the price is set, George W. Bush, Al Gore, Big Yellow Taxi, Don't Look Up, greenhouse gasses, locked in, precipitation patterns, drought, Build Back Better, Sheldon Whitehouse, Obama, Clean Power Plan, unified government, partisan, Clean Electricity Payment Program, carbon fee, mitigation, adaptation, priorities, record breaking, brownouts, air conditioning, It's Time to Wake Up, blackouts, reconciliation, this century, 2030, 2050, wind farm, Citizens United v. FEC, heat-trapping gases, cost-benefit analysis, monitoring, samples, corporations, personal responsibility, turning off the lights, richest 1%, antarctic temperature, reflectivity, average temperature, geologic, heat wave, aerosols, pavement, nitrous oxide, activism, pre-industrial, industrialization, 800,000 years, economic inequality, Industrial Revolution, human activities, released, climate, volcanic eruptions, Audubon, monarch butterflies, Nature Conservancy, 350.org, 350ppm, preservation, habitats, The Monkey Wrench Gang, Eco-terrorism, Ecotourism, ecotage, radical, environmentalism, despoliation, depletion, Gaia, deep ecology, bio-centrism, community, Earth Liberation Front, Earth First!, tree spiking, slash and burn, farming, Drug Act of 1988, FBI, arson, recycling, Arbor Day, Earth Day, Bike to Work Day, electricity, American Legislative Exchange Council, the Postal Service, fossil fuel lobbyist, permafrost, melting, arctic, ALEC, Big Oil, American Petroleum Institute, Washington D.C., World Climate Conference, energy transition, elastic vs inelastic, natural resources, Edward Abbey, Michael E. Mann, Ishmael, 2025, 2030, 2050, 2100, toxic waste, lithium salt, fuel cell, hydrogen cell, biomass, electrolysis, fire hazard, water pollution, capitalism, consumption, degradation, nickel, cobalt, birth defects, child labor, indigenous communities, NASA, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Peter Kalmus, severe storms, hotter temperatures, petrostate, India, coal, coal fired power, scientists, disease, malaria, desertification, aridification, United Nations, pledges, Assessment Report, fossil fuels, flooding, consensus, disputes, emission peak, offshore drilling, Henry David Thoreau, infrastructure, public transportation, buses, the Middle East, trains, airplanes, industry, politics, global finance, technology, the Federal Reserve, the United States Army, locked in, phased out, threat, disaster, fossil fuel divestment, colleges, Harvard, Maine, United Church of Christ, keep carbon in the ground, low-carbon economy, the Sunrise Movement, Fridays For Future, School Strike for Climate, 501(c) organization, climate justice, urban heat islands, coal assets, stranded assets, solar power, wind turbine, carbon capture and storage, wishful thinking, power sector, decarbonize, agriculture, government, President, treaties, cement, biofuels, ships, hydrofluorocarbons, landfills, leaks, climate envoy, John Kerry, sustainable, war, conflict, crop failure, starvation, inflation, modeling, acidification, forecasting, rainfall, warning, carbon budget, exploitation, ice sheets, satellites, ice cores, energy consumption, extreme weather, dust storms, polar bears, displacement, poverty, tree rings, resistance, five to nine degrees, early spring, postal service, beef, vegetarian, vegan, dairy, executive order, Gulf of Mexico, auction, ultra-wealthy, strategic oil reserve, Biden, Sanders, Trump, the Green Party, DSA, Hurricanes, Hurricane Katrina, storm surge, one to eight feet sea level rise, ice-free arctic, coastal erosion, bicycle, environmental impact, weatherize, energy efficiency, appliances, reuse, reduce, recycle, LED, incandescent, carbon offsets, composting, atmosphere traps heat, anthropocene epoch, geologic time, 125,000 years, solar irradiance, the Sun, fertilizers, population growth, over-consumption, China, CO2 emissions per capita, present value vs future value, geothermal, conspiracy theory, Endangered Species Act, Grey Wolf, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, Department of Energy, Department of Agriculture, native rights, Rage Against the Machine, the Gulf Wars, deceit, Malthus, extinction, civilization.
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