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A few thoughts on the climate portion of the debate last night for people concerned about what a transition toward zero emissions would look like, a thread:
1) I grew up in coal country, right on the West Virginia/Virginia border. So I know firsthand the devastating impact that can occur when a market shifts (like energy did away from coal) but there’s not a plan for what comes next for people when those jobs are gone. It’s awful.
2) Climate change is real and is an existential threat and the time for incremental change was decades ago, but here we are. If our planet is going to continue to be inhabitable, we need to take serious action. Zero emissions is good, it’s one of many steps we need to take.
3) Even though there’s a dire timeline on all this, gradual steps could be more sustainable for the human impact of all this (the adjustments needed in employment, infrastructure needed for access, etc.)
Many of us do this in our personal lives and don’t think twice about it.
Many of us do this in our personal lives and don’t think twice about it.
4) We start using reusable bags instead of the ones in the store.
We start recycling or composting.
We switch to bars of soap and shampoo instead of bottles.
We take public transit instead of our own car.
You get the idea. You could probably list off your own small steps.
We start recycling or composting.
We switch to bars of soap and shampoo instead of bottles.
We take public transit instead of our own car.
You get the idea. You could probably list off your own small steps.
5) When I was in seminary I didn’t have the capacity to do some things I knew would be impactful, like composting. (I’m a vegetarian, there is a LOT of compostable matter.)
I knew I couldn’t make the shift then, but I planned to do it when I graduated, and then I did.
I knew I couldn’t make the shift then, but I planned to do it when I graduated, and then I did.
6) It was a deliberate, gradual, step that I took only when I knew I had the household infrastructure to support it. That’s what we need to do with clean energy and all kinds of other environmental policies.
7) We can choose to change toward more sustainability, or we can cling to what we know, strip the earth until the planet is suffering and market moves on and we are left without the infrastructure of those gradual steps.
Change is hard. We can do hard things. We do every day.
Change is hard. We can do hard things. We do every day.
(I realize this isn’t policy-heavy, it’s not intended to be. I’m a chaplain/theologian type, not an environmental scientist. I’m here for your feelings and mental frameworks.)
