effects that climate change has the economy. He gives examples of the destruction caused by the climate of Eaarth. Because we are living on a new planet, all the research and patterns developed over the years that helped predict future storms isn't accurate anymore. The new planets storms are bigger and more destructive and, worst of all, unpredictable. All of the money that would be going toward the improvement of the infrastructure is now being drained in order to clean up the damage done by the new climate. The repair costs of these storms are already showing steep increases and with these storms only becoming more frequent and more destructive, the costs aren't going to go down.  |
The agreements reached during United Nations meetings aren't going to cut it. Because each country fails to decrease their growth and development, change does not occur. We continue on our original path in order to compete with each country. It is unreasonable to ask any country to stop using their cheap energy entirely but it isn't unreasonable to begin the transition from cheap energy to clean energy. The transition isn't going to be cheap, nor is it going to be quick and easy. It will take time and dedication. The only way a transition like this can be successful is if every country agrees to cut back and put more money towards clean energy. Sadly, this agreement will not come soon enough. There simply isn't a high enough demand for clean energy. With gas prices so low, the demand for oil has never been higher. Because of the thirst for growth, nothing is going to change. In order for our world to finally change its norm climate change is going to have to stop knocking on our doors, but instead, walk right in and sit on our couches. The scariest thing is, by then it will be to late.
I couldn't agree more that the only thing that will cause us to make the necessary changes is going to be when something terrible happens. It's sad to think like that, but it is being shown already. The facts are out their that climate change is a serious issue, and yet not much is being done because it isn't dramatically affecting us yet. But once it does, it will certainly be too late if it isn't already.
ReplyDeleteI love the image you included comparing Hurricane Patricia and Hurricane Katrina. Seeing both side by side like that really helps a person realize how incredible these changes going on on our planet are. It's also good how you noted that no country wants to decrease their growth and development. It's kind of like a game of who's going to jump out of the plane first and will they be able to pull their chute?
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is a problem that we are treating this new Eaarth like it is the old one. It's not. Everything on this new planet seems to be be bigger, stronger and more damaging, from the storms to the droughts to the mosquitoes. We keep spending money to fix the damage that has happened, but we are just throwing this money away. We can only fix for so long before it stops making sense. Why should we keep fixing the same thing over and over? No matter how long we work to rebuild New Orleans the fact of the matter is that another hurricane will hit it, one that was even worse than the first one. And hurricanes will continue to hit it. We can build the levees surrounding it higher and higher, but the sea level will continue to rise. The point I'm trying to make is that at some point we are going to have to stop concentration on growth and instead on fixing, and after a while we are going to have to stop focusing on fixing and instead focus on surviving.
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