This Scientist Has an Antidote to Our Climate Delusions

5 comments

1. Fantastic, thought-bending article. Thanks for posting it!

2. I didn’t see an actual antidote in here. I saw hope, and optimism, which are excellent for selling books.

   I work in the green energy space, at a fairly senior level. I write and implement much of that grid transformation policy she speaks of. I fully, completely support it. But there are physical realities that people gloss over. The transformation she’s talking about is a 30 year endeavor, if we work REALLY hard at it. And it will come at a high cost, not just in $/kWh, but in giving up things like endless access to temperature controlled spaces. Forget what you hear about renewables being the “cheapest” form of electricity. That’s only true at a certain scale. That changes when your goal is complete grid transformation, because the current grid, and our current use of power, isn’t built that way. Rebuilding is costly, and time consuming. And I’m only talking about the US. Again, I support it, but I also earn enough that I can accept the costs. In a democracy, a barely functioning one, do we have that kind of time, politically or economically? And will the planet give us that much time?

   Long story short, I’m not hopeful and don’t see much cause to be.

3. I enjoyed this article. The interviewer makes a common mistake—which he catches later—when he suggests that he doesn’t want his children to have less opportunities due to climate action. That’s backwards—climate change is rapidly taking away his children’s opportunities, along with some of his as he’s still a fairly young guy. Climate action will maximize his children’s future opportunities. His mistake is failing to realize that he and his children will experience climate change. I’m 22 and I expect to see some serious s**t in my lifetime—today’s extreme weather events are just the beginning. 

   I’ve heard a lot about the importance of optimism. I can’t say I’ve been swayed, per se. My stance is this: I don’t know what the future holds (in terms of whether we’ll follow a low or high emissions pathway), and I am neither optimistic nor pessimistic. I will do whatever I can to spur climate action, advocating for society to mitigate and adapt to climate change much as possible. That’s the only thing we can control. If we do that, then it’s time to hope for the best. We will find out what the “best” is when we get there.

4. She’s ignoring the formation of the Greenland Maelstrom

5. The antidote was an open revolution 20 years ago. Not more talk and ideas.