Gov. Jay Inslee has based his entire Presidential campaign on the issue of confronting climate change. Not only is he asking us to make this our number one priority, he's saying it should be priorities two, three, and four as well.
I happen to agree with him. Dead civilizations and dead people don't much care about health insurance or interest rates or even rumors of war.
But as the advocate of this message Gov. Inslee doesn't convince me at all. To me, he comes across as the friendly banker approving a car loan application. If the threat of climate change is as dire as many scientists are declaring, then that message needs to be conveyed with a tone of alarm and urgency.
We don't need calm reassurances. We need Churchillian blood, toil, tears, and sweat. We need the forceful equivalent of the vow to fight them on the beaches, in the fields, and in our streets.
If the alarm about climate change needs to be sounded, it needs to be sounded loudly, forcefully, and urgently. As far as I am concerned, Gov. Inslee needs to step up his game.
If I were in a position give Gov. Inslee advice, as a pastor, I would urge him to do the following —
1). Make it personal. You have three grandchildren, Gov. Inslee. Make climate change about the calamity they are facing. Make sure we know their names and their faces. Invite us to consider our own children and grandchildren. Challenge us to consider what sacrifices we would make for them. Take a bullet? Swallow ground glass? If you can get people to relate to those things, raising taxes will seem little to ask.
2). Make it our D-Day. Use those images of the landings to underscore your message of urgency and common sacrifice. Say, "This is our generation's D-Day," three times, with a different forceful inflection each time.
3). Smack down any question about "belief" with respect to climate change. Gently, if asked by a layperson; contemptuously if asked by a moderator. Point out that Svante Arrhenius discovered the greenhouse gas effects of carbon dioxide in 1896, that it is settled science, and ask, "Do you believe in gravity? Do you believe in electricity? Do you believe in breathing?" Point out that science is about true or false, yes or no, not about what you may or may not believe.
4). If you need to help people understand climate change, compare it to stepping on the gas of your car. (Both climate and auto engines are heat engines). We expect our vehicles to go faster when we step on the gas. By the same token, the extra heat trapped by greenhouse gases, will make our climate change drastically.
5). Do not, I repeat, do not downplay, soft pedal, or in any way dismiss the dislocations that we will face in shifting to a green economy. Always acknowledge that getting from here to there will be wrenching and costly. While all the other candidates will be promising some version of ponies and rainbows, you absolutely cannot. Don't even go there. You need to be Winston Churchill after Dunkirk.
Don't believe me, Governor?
A green economy will mean unemployment for all those working at gas stations and oil refineries and delivering fuel. It will probably not be good news for those working in the airline industry or at travel destinations. It will play havoc with 401-Ks. It may strand people who just bought a new SUV. It may worsen the retail apocalypse.
The thing is we don't know what the painful dislocations may be. Don't try to kid anyone about this. Acknowledge this forthrightly.
6). Face the possibility that the cause is just and you may be the one who dies advancing it.