One problem that I run into on a fairly regular basis is that in my work in science education I frequently run into information that makes my work as a climate activist more difficult. There are, of course, the predictable problems of people seizing on the declared uncertainties that exist in every scientific paper, and using them to extend the inaction that has already lasted for over half a century, but that’s not what I’m talking about.

When you follow the research into what’s happening with our climate, and how the planet’s ecosystems are responding, there’s not much good news. I make a point of regularly looking for good news, and while I do find a lot, it’s mostly in the realm of energy technology.

The preponderance of climate change activism, at least during my life, has been focused on preventing a change – we’ve had a pretty good climate for the last 10,000 years or so, and while the preceding couple hundred thousand years were a bit rocky, we did all right.

Now, however, the warnings and entreaties of scientists and activists over the last 50 years have gone unheeded long enough that it is now more likely than not that the climate will not stop changing. Not for a few hundred years. Not in my lifetime.

So here I am, one of millions working to “solve” the unsolvable. It’s small wonder there’s a temptation to give in to despair.

Of course, for some people, the answer is to pretend that we CAN still prevent the temperature from rising – that we CAN stop the change from happening. While I laud efforts in that direction, it seems like another form of science denial that can be, in its way, as dangerous as the denial that got us into this mess in the first place.

If all our efforts are going into preventing something from happening, while that something is already occurring, then we will be caught unprepared for the changes when they come.

Most people in the climate change movement have caught on to this, but for the most part, it feels like adaptation is now progressing just as well as mitigation – not a whole lot is happening.

So again, there’s cause for despair.

What gives me hope – what provides the carrot to compliment climate change’s stick – is that when I look around, it turns out that we do have all the tools we need to deal with this.

We know what is happening, and we know WHY it is happening. We know how to generate the power we need to replace fossil fuels, AND the additional power needed to cope with the fallout of the irresponsibility of the late 20th century.

We can grow food in the desert by generating power, that doesn’t overheat because we use the heat to turn salt water into fresh water for irrigation.

We can turn every window into a power generator.

We can use floods to store water that can be purified for drinking, or used to generate power when we need it, or both.

We can use our own waste products, and those of our farms, to generate cooking gas.

We have the building blocks for a mighty civilization that encompasses the planet, that promotes healthy ecosystems, adapted to the presence of a burgeoning, high-technology human civilization.

We can, in short, create a utopian society the likes of which we’ve only seen in science fiction.

The problem with THAT is that currently, most of our science fiction that looks at the future is rather more dystopian than utopian. Most people don’t seem to have a vision of a better future. When polled, most people don’t think anything can be done about climate change. There ARE things that can be done, but without that knowledge – without that certainty, the visions people create for themselves, and for each other, are bleak. Faced with such gloom, our tendency, as a species, is to turn inward – to ignore it. We keep on with our lives, try to enjoy the present, and dissociate ourselves from the looming source of our discomfort.

The job of a climate activist in the 21st century must be more than simply opposing the use of fuels that have driven us over this precipice. We must do that, to stop accelerating, but in addition, we must show people, one person at a time, one group at a time, one city at a time, how to turn on their own personal flying machines, and use the energy from our fall to propel us upwards to the incredible future that we can build for ourselves.

In the 21st century, “reliable coal power” is about as real as unicorns.

The concept of coal and conventional nuclear power as “reliable” is a relic of a planet that no longer exists.  Any power plant that depends on water is now not only unreliable, but a liability for the communities surrounding that power plant.

Global warming is not reversible.

Joe Romm just wrote a piece called “The Dangerous Myth that Climate Change is Reversible”. 

The title tells you what you need to know. This is a problem I’ve been noticing for some years now.

When I say climate change is not going to stop, or be reversed in our lifetimes, or the lifetimes of our great-grandchildren, it’s not because I don’t think there’s any hope, it’s because we can’t afford to wait and “reverse it later”, and we have to start preparing so that we’re not caught scrambling to cope with one disaster after another.

The results of the research are clear: global warming events are deadly – throughout the history of multicellular life, EVERY major warming event has come with a mass extinction. The speed of warming seems to be correlated with the severity of the extinction event, and THIS warming event is faster than any we know of.

Despite how it may seem, looking at the economy, we are in a time of comparative plenty. NOW is the time to think about where you live, relative to the impacts of global warming. NOW is the time to think about where you get your food and water.

This is happening folks, so buckle up.

Common ground

Sorry for the long silence here. The downside of having a lot to do is that you have a lot to do. I’m hoping to start regular posts again soon (at the very least weekly) and in the meantime, here’s a good video from the Union of Concerned Scientists:

Corrosion in the Ocean: When coming out of your shell is a Bad Thing

Marine snails are dissolving.

Well, their shells are, at any rate.

We’ve known for a while that the ocean is becoming more acidic. For a brief overview, the ocean’s pH has been, throughout the history of civilization, around 8.25. This means that the ocean is slightly basic (7 is neutral). Currently, the ocean’s pH is between 8.05 and 8.15 on average, with areas of lower pH (higher acidity), which may not seem like a big change, but now we have a dramatic illustration of just how big of a change it really is.

The shells of pteropod snails – free-floating sea snails - are dissolving. Pteropods are tiny “winged” snails that swim around in the water column, and are a major part of the oceanic food chain, to the point where they are sometimes called “the potato chips of the sea”.

Now their shells are dissolving. We knew this was coming – it’s basic chemistry, and it was unavoidable, with a rise in acidity – and we also know what follows. Pteropods, and other creatures like them, form the base of the food web that supports life in the ocean. Removing them from the equation will have a similar effect to removing grass from the Serengeti – the ecosystem will collapse.

The fact that this is happening already means that it may well collapse in the next 50 years.

Over the past couple of years, people have been very focused on declining crop production, as droughts, floods, and heat waves have hammered farms all around the world. Food prices have risen as supply has dropped, which has contributed to unrest like the uprisings now known as the Arab Spring. Now, on top of that, we have to add the very real risk that the 30 BILLION people who rely on seafood for protein will have that resource taken away this century.

This is bad news. There’s no other way to look at it. The ocean is already a desert, but it is on track to become a wasteland, where the only surviving organisms are those that can find refuge from the creeping acidity, and those that can survive off of the scraps that are left behind as the seas die.

Taking care of our own: Welcoming all who come to the cause

Over the past few years, I’ve run into a number of people much older than myself who are carrying a heavy burden of guilt for the failure of their generation to deal with climate change. I’ve led sessions un-related to climate change in which some phrase or word, without any such intention, sparked a tearful apology to myself and others of my age and younger for the state the planet is in.

This is a terrifying problem, and a lot of people who have been complicit in its creation feel terrible about it. This video is of a woman who’s followed Bill O’Reilly for years, who convinced many of her friends not to believe in global warming, and who was in denial to the point, according to her, of kicking people out of her house for talking about it.

She just watched the documentary Chasing Ice, and this was her reaction:

This is a hard issue to deal with. The stakes have never been higher in the history of civilization, and the knowledge that we have been complicit in the creation of such a crisis can be a crushing burden.

I’ve said before that our goal must be to build a better future. To take the titanic task before us and to use it as an opportunity not just to build a society that doesn’t use fossil fuels, but to build one that wouldn’t go back to them even if it was harmless to do so because we’ve got a better way. It’s a hopeful vision – a spur in our sides to send us leaping forward into the kind of future our forefathers dreamed of at the height of the industrial revolution.

But it’s going to be hard. We can be as positive as we want, but that will never erase the horror of realizing that our children will be faced with unprecedented trials, and the guilt from our involvement. This is a time when we must work to welcome every hand that comes to help, no matter their background.

This woman has worked, for most of her life, to create the crisis she has only just accepted as reality, and now it’s time to welcome her with open arms, and without recrimination. We all need support. We need to care for each other, and we need to recognize that as more and more people wake to the reality of our circumstances, that we have to be there for them.

This is as much a part of the work as building solar panels, and trains, and drought-proof farms.

I, for one, am glad to have this woman, whoever she is, on board. It matters little that she was fighting against us until just a couple days ago. Now she’s working with us, and I hope that she can find the support she needs to cope with her revelation, and the hard, hard work that will come from it.

Mr. W finds happiness

This is wonderful!