Midterm

Aleena: Do you think the human game has begun to play itself out, or do you believe we will avert the worst imaginable outcomes of climate change in the century ahead? If so, how? If not, why not? 

McKibben: I suppose it would be most appropriate that I start by saying by many measures, “we’re on a roll. Extreme poverty is far rarer than it used to be. Many of the diseases that poverty helped spread have lessened, too: worms in your gut, say. Even compared to the twentieth century, violence is now far less likely to kill us.” And yet, the human game “is also endangered. It is beginning to falter even now.” (10) “We’re simply so big, and moving so fast, that every decision carries enormous risk.” (14) Humans have now simultaneously emerged as a destructive geological force and a massive creative force. (15) 

Jahren: I’m glad you brought up the point that humans are such a massive creative force, Bill.  Like I mention in my book, “eighteen hundred years before the birth of Christ, the people of Mesopotamia were deeply worried that planet Earth could never provide enough food, water, shelter, and space for the population they saw increasing all along the Tigris- Euphrates River valley.” (9) And when you examine us now, “the farm fields of planet Earth produce three times more food than they did in 1969.” And we do it on only 10 percent more land (30) by fogging greenhouses with tons of chlorothalonil, spraying fields with thousands of tons of chloropyrifos, and modifying our corn, soybeans, wheat, and rice to be better versions of themselves than they were 50 years ago. (33)  Then after all that damage is done, forty percent of our food, at least, goes straight into the garbage. (71) Everyday, we choose ourselves over our own grandchildren when we ignore these problems. (51)  

Aleena: So what can we do to change our course and stop ignoring these problems? 

McKibben: “I don’t know – no one knows – if it is still possible to fundamentally alter our trajectory. Climate change is far advanced, and the march of some of these new technologies seems as rapid as it is unregulated. But no one knows that it is impossible, either. “(191) “The key, I think, lies in how we see ourselves.” (192) There’s a quote by Pope Francis in my book, in which he states, “Decisive progress on this path cannot be made without an increased awareness that all of us are part of one human family, united by bands on fraternity and solidarity.” (193) 

Attfield: We certainly do not know that it is impossible. However, "accepting the need of future people for a relatively unpolluted environment already tells us a good deal about what kind of provision we should make in their regard.” (36) To prevent climate catastrophe, greenhouse gas emissions need to be eliminated, but that is not all that needs to be done. Electricity generation based on coal, oil, and gas needs to be replaced with electricity from renewables. Attention also needs to be focused on vehicles, and curtailing their emissions, ideally by phasing out petrol cars and switching to electric cars. At the same time, re-afforestation and the planting of trees has an important role to play, as the photosynthesis of trees removes carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. (115-117) “Both sustainable development and ecological preservation depend on strong action, both individual and governmental, local and global, in matters of climate change.” Like Bill says, we should unite in support of such action, for the future of the planet and all its species is at stake. (121)