Global Warming – Scorched Earth
Bill Mckibben says it best in his article Global Warming’s Terrifying New Math:
Since all of us are in some way the beneficiaries of cheap fossil fuel, tackling climate change has been like trying to build a movement against yourself.
Well it really is that simple. Of course there are lots of climate change deniers out there, who deny simply because they either don’t understand the science (or don’t want to believe the science) or they are the beneficiaries of cheap fossil fuels. And of course this includes big oil and the like, but this is also the case for literally everyone on the planet. Everyone, even the planets poorest, benefits from cheap oil. The food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cars we drive, the computers and smartphones we use, hell the internet for that matter … they are all available to us directly because of cheap energy, aka cheap oil.
So, the hard truth is, the war to curb global warming is literally a war against our modern lifestyle, a war against ‘cheap stuff’ and ‘easy living’.
And whether you are a denier or not, this is a war many don’t want to fight, and not because they (we) don’t understand the consequences of inaction (although I do believe most of us don’t really understand the full ramifications of how global warming is going to shape our future and force us into a dystopia) but more importantly action is really about altering our own way of living. This is just to scary a thought for most, scarier than the thought of a warmer world.