The Climate War
NEWS FLASH: HUMANITY & CLIMATE AT WAR
The Nazis:
Built up their power across land, air, sea
Claimed Austria, Sudetenland, Poland, France
Daily assaults with hundreds of thousands of bombs
The Climate:
Builds up CO2 in sea and atmosphere
Claims coastlines, forests, glaciers, farmland, species…
Daily assaults with extreme weather and climate events
Though it has neither agency nor consciousness, Climate has launched a defensive strike on humanity by threatening our stable planetary existence. Without responsive action from us, Climate will destroy lives, homes, land, water, culture, and livelihoods: everything we know and need and love.
“The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.”
The Alphabet Generations — X, Y, Z — are in a position to demand that we engage with Climate to defend ourselves and win The Climate War. Voters aged 18-64 outnumber the 65+ group by almost 4:1. We have the power, and it’s up to us to turn this thing around.
You know this unexpected pandemic we’re living through? Scientists have been reporting for decades that this was a serious and inevitable threat. We actually had plenty of time to prepare, but our leadership discounted the predictions. They prioritized other things.
How do we feel about that now, when we’re stockpiling toilet paper and wearing t-shirts on our faces and wondering when we’ll get together with our friends again?
Scientists have “been reporting for decades” too about humanity’s relentless encroachment on Climate, and the risks of what Climate might do in retaliation. The UN’s International Panel on Climate Change, in their first Assessment Report (1992), presented data-driven modeling that without responsive action, things would continue to get worse until in 2020 we would be… exactly where we are. Despite their warning, we spent the last thirty years pushing Climate aside, with hollow words and agreements and no impactful changes.
How do we feel about that now?
That report thirty years ago, when the Climate War was still just “climate change”? That was our pandemic-paralleling, “we can act now to flatten the curve” moment. Now, we must not only conform drastically to Climate’s demands, we must also deploy our forces at maximum levels for the next ten years if we don’t want the outcome to be permanent destruction and tyranny.
If this pandemic has shown us anything, it’s that we absolutely can adjust to a new normal in order to save others and ourselves. Let’s do this.
Thumbnail credit: School Strike in New Zealand. Photo by David Tong, Twitter: @Davidxvx