I’ve been trying to work up a positive post for today, but the recent IPCC climate report keeps popping into my head, and that’s anything but positive. So let’s take a moment to review.
If you want a summary (or two), to read the report, or to test out the interactive atlas outlining what we can expect by region (here’s the info for North and Central America), you can.
tl;dr: “Worst choose your own adventure book ever.”
* * *
Or check out this cartoon:
Because bad news goes down easier from cute penguins.
That said, it isn’t all bad. We’re at the bottom of the final inning, yes, but the game isn’t over yet.
* * *
Also. Humans are a lot of things, but we aren’t quitters.
We must not delude ourselves about the immense challenges the world faces, but we can’t let anxiety overwhelm and paralyse us. The world isn’t doomed quite yet – there is still a window of opportunity to change things.
— Yes, the climate crisis is terrifying. But I refuse to abandon hope
And if I learned anything from the Terminator franchise (aside from the many uses of a shotgun), it’s that there is no fate but what we make.
* * *
J.R. Johnson 
The thing that bothers me is that two thirds of emissions come from developing countries, with China the leader in emissions. invincibg them to reduce is going to be difficult considering their per capital emissions are so much lower than ours. But if they don’t we could stop all emissions completely and it would do no good.
Much of total emissions do originate outside the West. (Per capita emissions are still where we win, unfortunately. North America in particular could do a lot better.)
The West started the Industrial Revolution and the emissions it brought, and developing countries followed suit. Now that we know the costs that come along with those benefits, we have the opportunity to help build a more constructive system for the rest of the world to follow.
I like what Arnold Schwarzenegger has to say about a clean energy future:
“I, personally, want a plan. I don’t want to be like the last horse and buggy salesman who was holding out as cars took over the roads. I don’t want to be the last investor in Blockbuster as Netflix emerged. That’s exactly what is going to happen to fossil fuels. A clean energy future is a wise investment”
The climate will force us to change, sooner or later. We know the path we need to take.
The question is, are we leaders or not?