Hope and Climate Change

Hey,

I have been delving into some of the new general readership books on the climate change crisis along with following the news and opinion pieces on this subject.  If you are not convinced climate change is an unprecedented crisis, read a little of  this short piece from the New York Timesby Wallace-Wells.   Personally, however, I don't need any more reason to panic;  I need some hope and something to do.

People taking action in Washington County include the members of 350maine.org/Downeast.  This group, led by Mark Brown (dr.maineblackfly@gmail.com) works with Window Dressers and Washington County residents each year to provide insulating window inserts for almost any type of window.   Contact Mark to get involved!

Something we can all do is talk about climate change, as describe in this TED talk:  https://www.ted.com/talks/katharine_hayhoe_the_most_important_thing_you_can_do_to_fight_climate_change_talk_about_it.

One book that gives me hope is A Bright Future: How Some Countries Have Solved Climate Change and the Rest Can Follow Hardcover – January 8, 2019  by Joshua S. Goldstein  (Author), Staffan A. Qvist (Author), Steven Pinker (Foreword). I include the foreword by Steven Pinker here--well worth the read.   

The news coverage, editorials and pending legislation related to climate change also give me some hope.

This editorial in the Washington Post lays out a plan that seems to have a reasonable chance of success as an alternative to the vaguer, broad Green Deal.  (There are also some good links at the bottom of this article.)  Basically the Post plan is: put in a very aggressive carbon-tax and fill in the gaps after that.  This is essentially the same plan advocated for by Citizens Climate Lobby who advocate carbon tax with the feeding the tax revenues fed back to people, either directly, or indirectly, in support of other goals, such as increasing home energy efficiency or reducing dependence on oil for home heating.

Finally, see our recent post describing what is going on in the Maine State Legislature on climate change.  Here is another chance to get involved upfront as we figure out how to meet this challenge.

Civil comments welcome!

M. Eachus