Los Angeles makes me believe that burning fossil fuels will destroy the planet. It seems obvious from there.
Maybe if I grew up in Wyoming or Montana, it wouldn't be so obvious.
But I learned to drive in LA and I've always believed this. I never
thought that cars were "neat", not for one minute.
And So, I wasn't surprised when over 20 years ago now we got the first warnings about the consequences of the change in the atmosphere caused
by burning fuels.
Our climate would change,get warmer overall, ice would melt,sea levels
would rise, there would be drought, severe storms.... all together
there would be global climate change.
This would be a threat to our food production, our fresh water supplies,
and bring unpredictable changes effecting our health, our way of life and
even our survival.
Despite all that - our society did nothing to prevent it - in fact, we
did less than nothing - we wasted more fuel than ever.
And so it's come down to this summer, nearly 40 years since I learned to
drive in LA. This summer it has become clear
that the predictions are coming true. The ability to predict events is
the measure of good science. The science behind the hypothesis of
global climate change is good science, science that we ignore at our own peril.
It was 80 degrees in the Arctic last month.
The Arctic is expected to be ice free in the summer by 2015 probably sooner, just a few years from today.
Perhaps you've heard about this new book Climate Code Red.
Please check it out.
The Case for Emergency Action
To cool the earth fast enough to get the Arctic sea-ice back quickly, we need to move to zero greenhouse gas emissions as fast as the economy can be restructured, and is environmentally safe to do so, and take about 200 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide out of the air. We also need to find environmentally-safe mechanisms to actively cool the earth while navigating this transition.
Taken together this is a staggering task in terms of the necessary scale and speed of action, but there is simply no alternative if we are to avoid catastrophic climate change.
So yes, I believe in my own eyes and I believe in science. I believe that
something very serious is happening right now, that it is urgent right
now, that it could be too late to change it.
And so this is my prayer, it goes out to everywhere, to you, to God,
to Barack Obama, John McCain and anyone who will listen.
May we please right now change the way we live so that we don't waste
and destroy everything leaving nothing for our own children today, much less future generations. If we are not able to change this course of
destruction, may we deal with the consequences with peace, love and
dignity and not degenerate into vicious beasts rendering us not only
over but void of any meaning whatsoever.