Here we are at the end of Not the End of the World. We can look back at the Doom & Gloom misinformation that has plagued us, the despair, and the actual malice that some suffer from, and forward to making the efforts and raising the funding for the actual solutions that we have already started to put into practice in the air, on land, and in the rivers and seas.
Sustainability is humanity’s North Star. Make sure current generations have opportunities for a good life, shrink our environmental impact so that future generations have the same (or better) opportunities, and let wildlife flourish alongside us. That’s the dream. And I hope I’ve shown over the course of this book why it’s one I believe we can achieve in our lifetimes.
Along with ending dire poverty, oppression, numerous dread diseases, ignorance, and a variety of hatreds. We are at Peak Carbon, and nearly all new electrical generating capacity is renewable. Country after country is shutting down its last coal-fired plant, and starting to cut back on natural gas. EVs are less expensive and more capable every year, so soon we will no longer feed food crops to cars as ethanol. We are nearing Peak Humanity in a few decades. We passed peak deforestation in the 1980s because we passed peak agricultural land. And much more. Ask me, or Hannah, about any of it.
Our ancestors were never sustainable because they never achieved the first half—meeting the needs of the current generation. Half of all children died, preventable disease was common, and nutrition was often poor…
Many of the solutions are at our fingertips—we know what to do, and many countries have done it already…
This book has focused on the second half—making sure we leave the environment in a much better state than we found it. We’ve traveled through seven big problems, looking at where we are, how we got here, and what we need to do next. For every one of them, we’re either at the turning point to a lower impact, or we have already passed it.
Progress on each of the seven problems feeds into all of the others. We will continue to follow all of them and their interactions in this series.
We are reducing the land area needed for growing food, which will allow forests to return and preserve biodiversity. Reducing the amount of food fed to cars and livestock, or simply wasted, will reduce the demand for land even further. Increasing crop yields while decreasing pollution from fertilizers and pesticides likewise. Have you heard that Bayer/Monsanto is THREATENING to stop making RoundupTM?
Plastic pollution turns out to be the most tractable of the seven problems, requiring only investments in safe disposal and in systematic beach, river, and ocean cleanup.
The problems we’re facing are tightly interconnected. The worry is that this gives us impossible tradeoffs; we’ll be forced to prioritize one problem at the expense of another. But it isn’t the case; these interdependencies mean that we can solve a lot in one go…
Attitudes, investment, and attention have shifted dramatically. Sustainable solutions are becoming the cheapest option. People are demanding action from political leaders, who can no longer ignore these calls.
- Being an effective environmentalist might make you feel like a bad one
That’s if you feel guilt because of common misinformation, and instead make the actual low-carbon, sustainable choices as determined by the science.
- Systemic change is the key
Not just individual choices. We have to implement all of the solutions described in this book, and find more. Renewable energy, yes. Nuclear power, no. Use fertilizers appropriately, protecting against runoff. Use plastics where appropriate to protect food and health, making sure that they are captured and stored safely where they cannot get into rivers and oceans, and degrade into microplastics.
Mass action, especially politics, does depend on individual choices to join together, share real information, and push for effective policies. You can help to fund action in the courts, on the streets, in showing up and calling the bogus to account, and especially by voting early and often, at every legitimate opportunity, regardless of those telling you your vote is worthless. If that were true, why would they be working so hard to take it from you?
Don’t only think of voting in elections. Vote with your wallet at every opportunity, and with your time. Don’t waste it in squabbling over details. Don’t let the supposedly perfect be the enemy of the good. Treat your allies and even those who demand that you are the enemy well, because we are all in this together.
You are in a…position to do something that was unthinkable for our ancestors: to deliver a sustainable future…
What makes me most optimistic is the number of people I meet who are all pushing for this. Surround yourself with these people. Be inspired by them. Ignore those who say we are doomed. We are not doomed. We can build a better future for everyone. Let’s turn that opportunity into reality.
So let’s strategize. The truth is out there. How do we get it into every political campaign, and all over the news? What’s your part in all this?
Mine, as you know, includes writing here on Daily Kos about climate and politics, US and global. You might not know that I create protests here in Illinois when nobody else has stepped up. My next one is No King’s Day, 6/14, in Urbana. You can either sign up for an existing one in your area, or set up your own on that site. If you do so, be sure to speak about these matters.
