Canada and the United States are prospering on the back of oil production. They may with a few notable exceptions pay lip service to renewable energy. However they continue to mine vast quantities of fossil fuel. The American administration denies our changing climate is the result of human folly. How can North America possibly benefit from mass denial?
Could We Doubt We Have a Changing Climate?
How could 97% of the world’s leading scientists be 100% wrong that human activity is behind the world’s changing climate? Let alone that climate change is a figment of these experts’ imagination? Yet this seems to be the message coming from a few powerful politicians and their followers at least.
Not pushing hard for a counter movement in the United States – and continuing extracting oil in Canada – tells North American citizens not to worry too much about the problem. And it discourages the poorer nations from even trying. Let’s be clear about this. Burning fossil fuel is the most important cause of global warming after carbon dioxide mixes uniformly in Earth’s atmosphere.
What Else Could Be Increasing Greenhouse Gases?
North America must take a global lead in driving Earth’s carbon pollution close to zero. Then and only then will the other nations feel inspired to do the same. Finally, we should help poor and vulnerable countries adjust to – indeed survive – the changing climate that will affect their livelihood.
Why is it so difficult for the world’s wealthiest nations to adjust their sights? Why is it so hard to focus on ensuring a healthy climate for succeeding generations? If having children and grandchildren inspires us, why don’t we care equally about their long-term well-being? It’s what we do now, while we are yet alive that determines what we leave behind, after we are gone.
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Preview Image: Hurricane Dorian’s Destruction in the Bahamas
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