The truck convoy mob debacle in Ottawa and across Canada at border crossings has shown us that it may be impossible for governments to deal with the rapidly increasing effects of a changing climate. Measures to limit greenhouse gas emissions and make a just transition towards sustainable energy require a restructuring of society, with inevitable negative consequences that some people will refuse to accept.
As we have seen with attempts to combat the Covid19 virus, there is a segment of society that is unable to understand the need for action that may make them uncomfortable. Those people are easily brought into a conspiracy narrative fed to them by forces that aim to destabilize society for their own purposes.
I see a great need for more scientists to get out of their own comfort zones and speak up very forcefully, in language anyone can understand, about the world wide crisis of rapid global warming.
Most people do pull together when a crisis occurs, as we see in flooding and earthquake events. In the case of climate change, waiting to act until after a change in the climate or earth system is irreversible is leaving it too late.
When all the ice is melted - it's gone forever. When forests are turned to desert - they do not return. When the ocean is filled with plastic and dead fish - extinction is forever...
Comments