Last week the United Nations published an extremely alarming report on climate change projections. It was in the news for several days. The seriousness of the information was shocking, even for those of us who already thought of the situation as dire. Now other stories are capturing the news cycle and the focus on the report has faded. To date, our government has not responded. That leaves any work and responses up to us, the ‘public’.
There are several issues that I do not understand. I think that it’s obvious that climate change is occurring as do almost all scientists. I see the differences in the climate here where I live. There are different animals and plants, and the season of winter has changed. There are more severe storms, more frequent flooding. Another argument against confronting the problem that I do not understand is this; It’s too expensive to deal with it. I find that argument absurd. It is clear that any money spent now will be a pittance compared to the amount needed in the future if we continue to put it off. And the other argument that I do not understand is that people will lose their jobs. Yes, this is true. But it is also nothing new, industry and jobs have changed throughout time. How many buggy builders are there? Job loss will happen anyway, whether we face this now or later. It makes more sense to face things now, and have a little leeway about preparing for work dislocation and retraining now.
I listened to an expert who answered the unspoken question, ‘what can I do?’ She listed four things,
- Stop eating meat
- Rethink transportation choices
- If you can, tailor investments to support industry and companies that support sustainable practices
- Vote
So how will you parse those four suggested changes? And they certainly not the only changes you can make, just some more impactful ones. For example, if you can install solar panels, great.
Here are my calculations. For me, some of these choices are difficult, some less so. To stop eating meat completely will be a challenge. I can pledge to reduce my intake of meat. I will think of it as a condiment and also have three of four meatless days a week. By far the most difficult category is transportation. I now have a vehicle that uses gas and has moderately good mileage. But I live in a rural area where I am very dependent on my car, and I need all wheel drive capability. I would love to switch to an electric vehicle. But at this time, the type of vehicle I need, like a small SUV, is not available, does not have a long enough range, or is not affordable. However, I will keep watching the development of electric vehicles. I do have some investments, and I will ask my broker to gradually move my investments to ‘green’ organizations and companies. Voting is the easiest for me. The environment is a top issue for me. I do want that more politicians to speak seriously about confronting and working on climate change. What about you?