The Gorilla in the Room: What Can We Do About Climate Change?
When our family lived in Hobart our log home was on the end of a private gravel road. Besides being full of potholes the road was really dusty in the summer with the first several homes looking pretty sad by fall. None of us could afford to pave the road by ourselves so we formed a road committee to look into having it paved. All of us getting together on the road were us forming a “government” (gasp) and the road got paved to everyone’s satisfaction. The person that oversaw the paving was our first “government employee.” Government is just us getting together to solve problems that we can’t do on our own. A good example is the people that watch for infectious disease outbreaks, a task we cannot do on our own as individuals. There are many more examples.
Tackling the problem of Global Climate Change, by its very nature of affecting the global climate, is way too big a problem for any of us to handle by ourselves. So this gets me around to my last blog on “selfish and unselfish” leaders. In order to tackle Global Climate Change we need “unselfish “ leaders who will think of the “common good” and not only what is in it for them. After all, the easy path is to agree with people, who through misinformation want to deny our climate is changing and will get worse in the future. That is the path that will lead to present day gain for selfish leaders, but not good for our kids and for future people to come.
So---the best way to tackle the problem of Global Climate Change is to elect leaders that are unselfish. Unselfish leaders will always try to bring out our best intentions and work to help all of us. Selfish leaders will appeal to our worst impulses. Unfortunately our worst impulses are always lurking beneath the surface and just waiting for some leader to give them license to surface.
Is there any way we can otherwise help in an individual way? We can by setting a good example for people around us and especially our kids. After all, children are great imitators of us (even when they are teenagers and won’t admit to it). Walking instead of driving, taking mass transit or carpooling to work, recycling, supporting wind and solar power in conversations with our kids, etc. can help change the feelings of everyone. We are a tremendous and inventive people and when we put our “shoulders to the wheel” even Climate Change can be solved.
Well----enough about the gorilla of Climate Change. Next time I’ll start having fun---real fun by blogging about interesting weather info and other things. The next blog will be “Where do forecasts come from?”
