What if We’re Wrong about Climate Change?
Every so often I get e-mails from people asking what I would say and feel if I was wrong about climate change. What would I say if, after dedicating years of my life to bringing attention to the problem, I found out there was no problem?
Well, first, of course, I would praise God in thanks that we do not have this catastrophe to contend with. Then, since many of the measures needed to deal with climate change have a lot of positive benefits, I would think:
1. I am glad we created 5 million or more new jobs here in the United States in the fields of energy efficiency and renewable generation.
2. I am glad we created a culture that relies less on foreign oil, so that our children can live secure lives, knowing that the energy rug can’t be pulled out from under them.
3. I am glad we have found a way to save people and industry billions upon billions of dollars by making the use of energy more efficient.
4. I am glad the millions of children who suffer from asthma can now breathe easier thanks to the fact that we aren’t pumping the air full of toxins from our exhaust pipes and smokestacks.
5. I am glad that, by no longer burning oil and coal, which releases gases into our air, we’ve put an end to acid rain and the devastation of our aquatic life.
6. I am glad that we created good, reliable, fun-to-use public transportation systems so that families no longer have to raid their budgets to pay for cars and gas.
7. I am glad we’ve stopped building suburbs, which are designed for cars, not people, and instead build villages where people can have strong community bonds that help make life fulfilling.
8. I am glad we now have fuel-efficient automobiles.
9. I am glad that we’ve learned as a culture to get off the work-more-to-spend-more treadmill that gobbles up resources and leaves us unfulfilled and instead turned to a way of life full of meaning and purpose.
10. I am glad we developed local, fresh food systems that care not just about filling bellies but what we put in those bellies.
11. I am glad that we have rejected the philosophies of survival of the fittest and competition for resources as driving philosophies and have instead embraced a philosophy of compassion and justice.
12. I am glad that we have come to understand that a sustainable society cannot work without supporting all of its people and that we looked for and found ways to improve the lives of everyone.
13. I am glad that we’ve come to see people rather than things as our most valuable resource and that, in embracing the respectful and loving principles of not wasting, we have learned not to waste youth in prisons but instead to get them help for their drug and alcohol addictions.
14. I am glad that, in realizing our resources are limited, we have come to use them to do what is important and to help each other rather than compete with each other.
15. I am glad that we have come to see education as the ultimate in sustainable industries.
16. I am glad that we have developed distributable, renewable energy technologies that allow kids in all parts of the world to have electric light; a resource which helps facilitate literacy.
17. The list goes on and on, but in short—I am glad that we have embraced the opportunities presented by the crisis of climate change in order to improve our society in ways we should have done anyway.
And now, to turn the question back on those who say that either there is no climate change or that it is not a serious problem:
What would they feel if we did nothing about climate change and they turned out to be wrong?
What would they feel if we buried our heads in the sand, ignored the problem, and then irreversibly damaged the planetary habitat that we depend upon for our health, happiness, and security?
Photo Credit: petter palander
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10 Comments
The human population has tripled, billions of cars, factories, waste and we cause the extinction of millions of other species. How can anyone not believe that we are polluting our beautiful planet????
The only people against making this planet a healthier place is those who only care about $$$. At the end of your life $$$ and objects are meaningless. The trees, lakes, birds, bears and your family and friends are what matter.
Every other animal on Earth is living just fine without all this stuff. Let’s stop shopping and cluttering the natural beauty of this precious planet we inhabit.
We only have one home, lets not destroy it.
I’ve always thought that climate change / other natural disasters (caused by mankind) have good in them.
We’re looking at the symptoms of the ill things that we’ve done, so we should be glad that they’re showing up NOW, because it’s pushing governments, organizations, people and individuals to react before it’s too late.
I love your post & thank you so much for writing it!
all these things are good, we need to continue, hybryd cars, wind generating farms, solar and geothermal heating and cooling systems, what happened in the Gulf is a direct result of our dependence on fossil fuels, there is no time to waste, fossil fuels will run out in our lifetime
So thought provoking & true. So what if we’re wrong? We’re not hurting anyone, we’re making the world a better place to live in.
This is precisely the article I wish I could have recited to my skeptical friends, to whom I offered only a weak formulation of the “better safe than sorry” argument. Your points are much, much better. Thanks!
I love your post!! So well said! I think everyone in our government, and anyone with power to make decisions about climate change, should read it! Thanks for sharing!
First through the solar storm in 2012, I am here part of the surface collapse of the
Well said Mr Beavan! I’ve always thought the “what if climate change isn’t really happening” argument was ridiculous and this post helps to show that it’s also irrelevant.
This comment is in response to Kookaburra’s comment. Unfortunately, the people who are most affected by natural disasters are usually poorer people or people living in impoverished nations. With that in mind, natural disasters are never good. The people who are using up the Earth’s natural resources are not the one’s most affected by it. This whole article is very idealistic. Some of us have only just begun making these changes. Most people still just do what is comfortable and easy for them.
What a wonderful thought-provoking article. Thank you!
August 17, 2010