Month 5, Day 21: Can We Get It Together In Time?

The report from the National Academy of Science is now out, and it’s very forthright: we’ve gotta get our shit together, and quickly, or we’re in for a world of hurt. We’ll be in for a world of hurt anyway, but if we begin thinking hard about what to do, it’ll hurt less.

The linked article is from the L.A. Times, so I wrote them a letter.

The National Academy of Science report on climate change should convince any remaining denialists that the costs of inaction far outweigh those of action. America and the world simply cannot afford to put this problem off any longer. Higher gas prices may be politically unpopular, but it may the only way we break free of our addiction to oil. Make no mistake about it: fossil fuels are far from cheap. Factor in the costs of cleaning up spills, of countless cases of black lung, of smog, asthma, toxic wastes, and oil wars, and the price per energy unit suddenly goes way up. When we include global climate change in our assessment, oil and coal are revealed as the most expensive energy sources we have. The NAS Report confirms, with unimpeachable science, that we need to act rapidly, forthrightly, and energetically. The time is past for allowing political exigencies to dictate to us in a matter of global survival.

Warren Senders