Somehow some people still seem to think climate change is a tomorrow problem.
It's not.
It's a today problem.
I saw one of those things where they ask the public stuff on TV - y'know, they do it on the news and talk-shows and stuff like that.
(It's called something like a 'voxpop' - except that always makes me think of a lollipop that also plays music... which would be a lot cooler, when you think about it 😅)
The stuff they asked the public in this instance was whether 3rd UK Prime Minister of 2022, Rishi Sunak, should prioritise the economy or climate change.
There was a reason - with COP27 coming up and Sunak flip-flopping on whether or not he's going (he currently is going - at time of writing, anyways,) - it wasn't quite as random as it sounds.
But anyway...
First off, the question is assuming that the economy and climate change are an either/or dichotomy - they're not. You can do both. We don't say do you want to have schools or hospitals, do we?
Secondly, some people answered by saying that we 'have time' to sort out climate change.
Not everyone answered this way, but honestly, having lived through the summer we just had, I don't understand how anyone thinks we've got all this 'time' to deal with climate change.
We don't.
We have to act now.
It's here and it's happening, and it's terrifying to me that some people still think it can be put off for another day.
It can't.
When people - experts, scientists, journalists - talk about things like temperatures and sea levels and other climate change effects happening 'by 2050,' (to name a particular favourite date,) they don't mean that this stuff will all occur on 31st December 2049, and that we'll be just fine and dandy before that.
They mean that this stuff is already happening.
They mean it's gonna keep getting worse.
They mean that 2050 is the very best case scenario.
They mean that people are already suffering - already dying - because of what humanity has done to this planet.
They mean that no-one knows what the feedback loops may end up being, how many domino effects may end up being unleashed.
They mean that even if we manage the best case scenario at this point, it's going to be bad.
And they mean that we have to act, now.
It can't wait until tomorrow
There will be no tomorrow, if we don't find a way to deal with this, today.
Thoughts? Frustrations? Hail Marys?
Talk to me! 👍💬
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It was 26 degrees yesterday. In November. In Canada. People were commenting that it was a beautiful day. I felt uneasy.
ReplyDelete26C?! OMG that's awful.
DeleteUgh. People!
Such a good point. I'm cynical in that I think as a species we'll probably do the bare minimum until it's absolutely too late and then everyone will act all surprised that things are dire. Which sounds awful but I just feel like this debate has been going on my whole life and we never make the changes necessary. The whole economy vs environment thing too- you always hear that here in the US and I get SO tired of it. Can't we walk and chew bubble gum at the same time???
ReplyDelete*Points at Covid*
Delete*laugh-cries*