Slow down, America

October 2019

Abstract:
The right leadership and citizens mobilized to act can make the difference.

The US has faced existential crises before, moments that could have broken us as a nation. It happened in 1776, in 1861, and again in 1941; each time we found the outstanding leader needed to guide us through the crisis. And now, again (eerily) after another four-score years, we face the greatest crisis of all, a world-wide ecological collapse brought on by a global warming that is on course to break not only the US but all of human civilization. And where is the leader who dares to tell us honestly of the very inconvenient actions we need to take to get past this crisis, and then to lead us through it?

Since our current president has no understanding of the problem, we look to the Democrats to provide political leadership. But alas, the candidates, perhaps taking a lesson from the fate of the principled Gov. Inslee, seem to have decided that the elephant in the room, the global warming crisis, had best be toned down in the campaign. Oh sure, when they're asked a direct question they nod seriously and vow to rejoin the Paris accords, and promise untold billions to fix the problem while growing the economy in the process. But for none of the remaining candidates does our crisis appear to mean what it needs to mean: it is not one issue among many, it is the issue, the dominant fact of our time, a crisis that dwarfs even those that faced Washington, Lincoln, and FDR, a crisis that needs the fully mobilized attention of both the American people and the candidates, regardless of how inconvenient that may seem.

For here is the reality that is facing us:

The crisis is worsening; the prospect now is far more dire than when Al Gore and the UN warned of it, more than two decades ago. At the time, only visionaries grasped the problem; most Americans were merely bemused. But the Paris accords had no teeth and could never reach its goals – it was, like the Kyoto agreement before it, a fraud promising much while guaranteeing failure. Our emissions of greenhouse gases like CO2 have continued to increase annually with no turn-around in sight, and the warming of the Earth appears to have accelerated. Existing plans to gradually wean our energy plants off fossil fuels are insufficient; the effect of such changes will come too slowly. At this point, nothing but a world-wide mobilization to defeat the crisis will succeed.

If we fail, the consequences will be catastrophic. The rising sea is only a part of the problem. Even worse will be the heating to unlivable conditions over much of the Earth. The result is likely to be world-wide economic collapse, hunger, violence, pandemic diseases, along with unmanageable migrations of billions of desperate refugees from the tropics. A world-wide Armageddon of regional wars will not be far behind.

Let us understand the true cause of the crisis: while the immediate cause is our excessive discharge of CO2, the cause of that is our overheated, hyper-competitive economic system. While this system has produced great wealth for many, and has been peerless as a generator of new ideas and products, it has also proved to be unconscionably duplicative and wasteful of energy and materials. Egged on by advertising pushing products regularly "improved" in an endless cycle of planned obsolescence, discard, waste and repurchase, citizens (now "consumers") have been encouraged to needlessly buy new models and fashions, tossing out functional goods and clothes for no good reason. These practices have led to overproduction and overuse of energy, which is the source of our crisis. The practice of manufacturing products half-way around the world, to be transported thousands of miles to the buyer, further exacerbates the problem.

The Democratic presidential candidates all have plans for long-term reductions in the burning of fossil fuels by switching to sources such as wind and solar. This is good; such plans are needed and must be carried through. But these take time that we don't have. We need meaningful action that will lower our emissions of greenhouse gases now, not just in ten or twenty years' time. And the only thing that will accomplish that is direct action by the people. Fortunately, there's a way to reduce our energy use immediately, and it doesn't depend on government plans. It does, however, depend on motivation by an imaginative and fearless leader.

The secret to immediate reductions in emissions of CO2 lies in individual – but coordinated – action. If a proximate cause of global warming is economic hyperactivity and overproduction, the root cause is our own individual behaviors. It is, after all, we as individuals who buy the stuff. It is only we as individuals who can make the necessary immediate impact, reducing our collective greenhouse gas footprint.

How do we do this? Simplicity itself. We simply save our money and buy less. I'm not suggesting being stingy, just rationally and mindfully frugal. We begin by learning energetic thinking, meaning that we think about the energy consequences of all our actions, and especially our purchases and our travel. Think of the electric switches in your house as CO2 emission switches, because they are. Each time we turn on any electric device we personally add CO2 to the atmosphere. That goes for the water tap as well – even the cold water. When we drive our cars, we add about a pound of CO2 to the air for every mile we drive. (The engine is essentially a device for converting the oxygen in the air to CO2.) When we buy stuff that's made overseas, a mass of CO2 is released transporting it to us.

If we all observe four simple rules of living, we will get the immediate reductions in greenhouse gases needed to beat the climate monster. These rules tell us how to relax our economic activity, become a conserver society, and reduce our emissions footprint. And the rules? Simply put: Buy less; Use less; Waste less; Transport less. Some quick examples:

Buy less: Resist advertising. If you need something, buy it. But if you don't really need it, don't buy it. Eat at home. Make the car last an extra few years. Forget the demands of fashion, use the clothes you have. Let them wear out before you throw them out.

Use less: Put on a sweater and use less heat. Learn to tolerate an extra degree or two before you use the air conditioner. Take short showers, or shower every other day. Cut beef and pork from your diet to reduce energy use.

Waste less: Recycle paper, plastic, metals, glass. Use a reusable shopping bag. Avoid (and complain about) plastic packing materials. Make stuff last longer. When you must get rid of still-usable goods, pass them on to someone who can use them.

Transport less: Buy local foods and products. Avoid buying things made overseas, including cars. If your local fruits are apples and pears, buy those instead of mangoes and papayas. Don't drive more than you need to; avoid flying, and don't even think about taking a cruise.

Governments need to observe these rules as well, in addition to such energy-saving measures as parking the navies and avoiding military flights and exercises as well as rocket launches.

The reader will naturally ask: Won't such measures result in a recession? Yes, they quite certainly will, and we need to recede from the economic fast lane that has proved to be a rush to perdition. It will be up to governments to help ease this transition for the many who will be economically affected. What will be the reactions of governments to this plan? They will oppose it with all their might. They will argue that slowing the economy is destructive, that people will be out of work. But that's precisely the challenge that they need to solve, because we have no choice but to implement this plan. We must slow our economies or our civilization will be lost.

Because the Republican Party is AWOL on the climate crisis, we have no choice but to look to the Democrats for leadership. But I see no announced Democratic candidate with the fire in the belly to take on the challenge, to be the leader who will motivate the world through this crisis. I am left looking to the politician who first warned us loudly about global warming, and who for the past two decades has devoted himself to beating the climate crisis: Vice President Al Gore. I hope the leadership of the Democratic Party is listening, and I hope he will make himself available. In our current crisis, Al Gore could be our best choice for president.