Green World Rising, if we want it
by Gaius Publius
I've been saving a group of videos that I think need watching, and this is an excellent group to do that watching. The first is Episode 3 in a series of important climate films produced by Leonardo DiCaprio, Thom Hartmann, Dr. Michael Mann and others.
Here's the video, called Green World Rising. (To open it large in a new tab, click here. Note that an HD version is available at the gear icon.)
The home page for the series is also called Green World Rising. Episode 1, Carbon, is here (I recommend it). Episode 2, Last Hours, is here.
Note the positive tone, the optimism. I agree with the underlying assessment. The solution is available now. We just have to force our will — because that's what it will take — to implement it, against those who are forcing their will to stop the solution.
I've written much about this issue and will write more. But to keep it simple, remember these bottom lines:
▪ We can convert completely away from carbon in 10 years if we really want to (I've checked this). There's nothing stopping us on the technical side. If we want to force a conversion, we can.
▪ If we don't convert completely away from carbon and soon, we will lose the infrastructure that keeps us "civilized," settled and farming. (For a start, imagine not knowing where to relocate coastal cities, like New York or London, as the seas constantly rise.)
▪ The only agent strong enough to force this change is ... national government. The "free market" (unforced change) means no change at all. Hunter-gatherers — today's "street people" — live in a kind of free market world; most of our descendants will join them.
▪ We need not, and should not, wait for others. Strong directed action by the U.S. will inspire a great many nations to follow — the world is that hungry for leadership on this issue. Nations that won't follow will become pariahs, so long as the U.S. bends its own will in the right direction.
▪ We may not get a mandate for strong action until there's national panic. If people do panic in critical-mass numbers — and it's easy to imagine that, in a world where Arizona has no water and South Florida has too much of it — we'll have one shot at a government-mandated, command-economy fix. We need to take that shot at the actual target — Zero Carbon Now.
▪ In the meantime, we should do everything we can that will help. No waiting. If you think something will work, try it.
As I said, much more later. But as DiCaprio and Hartmann point out in the video, the path is clear and available. Remember that. We just have to bend our will and take it.
GP
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