One hundred and ninety-five
countries recently reached a consensus at the end of an historic meeting in
Paris regarding the need to lower carbon emissions and thereby diminish our
dependency upon fossil fuels as the predominant source of energy for human
activity. This, in itself, is a major
breakthrough in that it represents a nearly universal recognition of the
reality of climate change and its very real threat to the future of the species
upon planet earth.
However, there is a wide chasm
between recognizing the threat and collectively implementing the degree and
intensity of change that is required to meaningfully address the problem. The enormity of the issue cannot be
understated. The level of CO2
in the atmosphere has already breached 400 parts per million (ppm). This compares to ~ 270 ppm that was the
measure of CO2 in the pre-industrial age. The current level compares to eras in the
earth’s distant past in which the climate conditions were of such extremes that
human existence would be seriously constrained.
The effects of climate change are very much in evidence around the
planet. It is not within the scope of
this article to attempt to enumerate the details. Human activity is literally transforming the
earth’s climate – no manner of obfuscation or denial can alter this reality.
The degree of political, social,
cultural and religious unrest that seems to infest human communities throughout
the world provides suggestive evidence that human beings are collectively
unable to face the enormous challenges posed by the seemingly ineluctable “progress”
of climate change. In reality, there is
no threat to the future viability of the human species greater than this issue.
In order to successfully and
radically diminish the production of greenhouse gases to a degree that would
obviate the threat to humans in the near and more distant future, action is
required on a scale of unheard proportions.
This level of global cooperation will not be possible or even
conceivable if we persist in responding to real or imagined threat with
violence and irrational behavior; if we continue to value the self at the
expense of the larger community; if we insist on showing little or no
compassion for the hundreds of millions of our species faced with dire
circumstance in everyday life and if we put the immediate interests of the
State above the well-being of humanity.
Simply put, in my judgment,
without true and lasting peace of mind and spirit both individually and
collectively, the solution(s) to the problem of climate change will elude
us. In the final analysis, it is up to
us – the viability of future generations of human beings is in in our collective
hands.
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