Dear Editor,
Where are we going and why are we in this hand basket?
A cloud has come over my usually sunny disposition. I used to make fun of those who would warn, “The end is near. Repent!”
But, now it is different, very different! The unaccepted danger of climate change looms large. Climate change is real and dangerous. Those who are taking enormous profits from being the source or cause of airborne carbon dioxide will not stop. Our politicians will not raise the issue for fear of losing campaign contributions from the relatively lightly taxed, wealthy barons of oil.
Even capitalism itself must share the blame since its goal is the accumulation of capital without regard to the social wreckage it leaves in its wake. We certainly cannot leave out states such as Oklahoma, Texas and Wyoming from this rogues gallery. We are, and have been for a long time, dependent on providing the raw materials of carbon dioxide instead of pursuing alternative sources of power and the conservation thereof.
Quite a few years back Mr. Goodyear and Mr. Ford, in consultation with each other, determined that they could both sell a lot more of their products if there was no mass transit in LA. So they pooled their money, bought and then destroyed the “Little Red Train” that connected Long Beach, the two harbors and downtown LA. Eventually smog became intolerable. Many expensive “cures” for that problem have been tried.
Our generation of carbon dioxide is magnitudes more destructive. It will take very intelligent and strong political leadership to fix. Maybe by the time the next election comes around we will pick the best candidate instead of the most entertaining.
Anybody with any scientific knowledge at all knows that world climate change is happening. They also know, due to various “feedback loops,” that the change is accelerating and will be making our life miserable in fairly short order.
My question is: “Among all of our elected leaders are there any proposals at all about what to do?”
The longer we wait to get started the more difficult our task will be.
Almost any solution is likely to cause a great disruption in more than a few industries. It may be impossible to make believers out of the captains of industry and banking that a strong positive response will serve them better than denial. It very well may turn out that in order to survive we may have to kill the goose that laid the golden egg! Because if we don’t, our goose will be cooked! Welcome to the sixth extinction!
By the way Mr Trump, this is not “Fake News.” If we don’t find and execute some kind of remedy and find it soon, all these arguments will be immaterial. It is ironic that the self proclaimed “Masters of the Universe” who played such a large role in creating this terminal catastrophe will find themselves drowning in their own sweat!
—Jerry Baird