Friday, January 17, 2014

The silent enemy

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     If another nation was massing its forces on our shores with the intention of invading and destroying the United States and its citizens, the government and its allies would be on a crash program to deflect and stop the invasion.

     Such an invasion with all its destructive consequences is threatening every nation on earth, yet nations are doing nothing because the enemy is invisible.

     A draft U.N. report on climate change elicited these chilling words in a story by reporter Justin Gillis in The New York Times this week: “Another 15 years of failure to limit carbon emissions could make the problem virtually impossible to solve with current technologies, the experts found. Delay would likely force future generations to develop the capability to suck greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere and store them underground to preserve the livability of the planet, the report found.”

     The fact that emissions in the U.S. have been relatively stable is no comfort because we have off-loaded our carbon emissions to developing nations along with our manufacturing base. We can use energy-efficient light bulbs, recycle and reuse, insist on emissions-control devices on coal plants in the U.S., and insist on higher fuel-economy standards for vehicles. Yet, unless the nations of the world join a global effort to roll back climate change, the chances of success are slim.

     Unlike weapons-wielding dictators or terrorists, climate change doesn’t issue threats or host rallies. It just slowly, silently and inexorably creeps up on the planet that gives us life.

     Will we human beings become the proverbial frog in the pot, swimming around happily until the water boils and we are irrevocably extinct? Every day that passes with no global action makes the answer look more and more like “Yes.”

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