this is usually an interesting discussion to have, and there are a lot of interesting questions to ask in this field–so let’s ask and talk about a few. feel free to answer as many as you want, or ask your own of people in the comments. here are two groups of three that i think are good to start:
- Do you suffer from anxiety about climate change and its effects?
- Have you ever made significant individual lifestyle choices because of climate change?
- Have you ever thought of leaving where you live because of potential future climactic effects? Have you actually moved already because of them?
- Do you think the world can limit global warming to 1.5C or 2C? Where do you think we’ll “level off” in terms of warming–especially if you don’t think we’ll meet either of those goals?
- What do you think of proposed technologies like carbon capture? Do you think they’re useful, or a technocratic waste of time? Can they be viably used at large scale on any reasonable timeframe?
- Do you support something like climate reparations either now or in the future? Do you think such a thing is even viable?
I moved to Maryland in 2010. In the 13 years I’ve been here, I have definitely noticed effects of climate change. Snow has become rare in the winter. There are more 100F days in the summer. And there are fewer insects, with the exception of carpenter bees, which you usually only saw on the Virginia side of the Potomac.
That’s just in my backyard. Elsewhere, Lake Mead and the Great Salt Lake are literally drying up. The jet stream that has a major impact on our weather might just disappear some day in the near future. Also, the entire country of Australia caught on fire a while back.
What gives me anxiety is how damned fast these changes happened. It wasn’t a shift that happened over the span of a generation, it’s only been a dozen years. I can’t help but wonder, how are things going to look in another 12-13 years at this rate?
Individual lifestyle changes aren’t going to be enough. 100 companies are responsible for 71% of global carbon emissions. And a significant chunk of those emissions come from oil companies. We need to be more aggressive in banning new sales of petroleum-burning vehicles and invest in other forms of zero-emission, mass transit. I take the Metro whenever I go into DC, but it doesn’t do much good when the Beltway is constantly packed with SUVs and trucks.
No idea if they’re viable, but I do know we’re running out of time, and any possible solution is worth exploring. Even if we do significantly cut global carbon emissions at this point, damage has already been done. I think that it will be necessary to develop technology to reverse that damage, one way or another.