I love debating “climate change!”
First, I have to give a hat tip to these children and this lawsuit they filed. Furthermore, a hat tip to the State for coming to this settlement. After spending 3 million taxpayer dollars fighting it. BUT… the results of this settlement will certainly not be seen by me – I’m already 67 and by 2045, I’d be 88. I hope I can live that long, but, I’m not expecting it. (And I am pretty sure most of you PunaWebbers would like to see my demise even earlier!)
At any event, who knows what this settlement will lead to?
BUT… to ignore climate change altogether is just as whacky as some of the alternatives being pitched out there. BUT… remember, humanity is at its infancy in regards to an energy “switch” from fossil fuel to ANYTHING else. Imagine what humans went thru when Henry Ford brought to market the Model T. 15,000 orders placed in 2 days after it was introduced in 1908. 19 years later, the 15th million Model T rolled of the line in 1927. Did you know that back in those days, the biggest impediment the Model T had, aside from no interstate highway system, was getting stuck in horse poop on city streets! But… eventually we grew out of that problem.
My very first car I bought in 1975 was a used 1973 2 Door Ford LTD, that at BEST got 9 MPG. In as much as I still own a 2001 Ford Escape and my husband’s 2012 F150, we recently bought a 2020 Ford Fusion Energi – which is a plug-in hybrid car – that we can drive from Hilo to Kona and back via Saddle Road and average 52 MPG. I can plug it in at home and charge the battery fully (I’m on solar – so I’m not charging it with fossil fuel burning electric power.) With a full charge, I can go to Hilo and back – with the AC on full blast – and never use the engine. Plus it scares the living crap out of my dog Barney as he can’t hear it when I drive it up the driveway! Further, the car has a tremendous amount of hi-tech stuff, that due to being here in Hawaii is mostly useless, such as the Ford Sync navigation system, weather radar, XM/Sirius radio, but what works on it is the “lane keeper” – which reads the painted lines on the road and keeps the car going straight, the hit the brakes and stop the car when backing up if the camera detects something to wiper blades that speed up as it rains harder – and even turns on the headlights automatically.
The technology advancement is astounding. One could say – very similar to the technology that made the 8 track tape player that was in my 1973 LTD the state of the art at the time to now being able to connect my cell phone via Bluetooth with the Fusion to where I can press a button and say “call so and so” as well as play my endless assortment of Beatles albums from iTunes. Plus a few swipes on the Ford app on my iPhone and – poof I can lock and unlock the car, turn it on and let the AC cool the car – from anywhere in the world no matter where the car is parked! The car TELLS me when it needs maintenance. It tells me if a tire is low on air. It tells me I’m almost out of washer fluid. And if I happen to drive it a little erratically, it tells me that I might be falling asleep and may wish to stop for a rest.
NPR recently had a good segment on their “All Things Considered” show about EV versus gas cars and the impact on the environment. Very interesting read and sound logical discussion.
EV batteries hurt the environment. Gas cars are still worse : NPR
Unfortunately, today’s human wants everything here and now. At a snap of the finger. Imagine if the Model T was introduced, but everyone demanded the interstate highway system be built first. It just is not going to happen overnight, and it’s going to be a lot of failure before perfection, but SOMETHING must change.
To deny climate change is a fool’s errand. And yes, we can blame the volcano and forest fires and all the other natural causes of pollution, but when Henry debuted the Model T, there were 91 million people in the United States. Today there are 330 million people. The only real measurable variable. Humans are causing climate change. And fossil fuels is the main reason why. To deny that is as disingenuous as one can get.
When someone says, “windmills kill birds!” They’re right. An estimated 1.2 million a year. The climate deniers all point to that while at the same time, ignoring the fact that feral cats kill over 2 billion birds a year – and come unglued when some little old lady feeds them in the park and gets arrested for it.
Further I think the real culprit in today’s political divisiveness as well as the general ignorance that seemingly prevails on virtually everything – from the far right to the far left, aside from social media, goes back to lead in gasoline and paint. A few years ago, a report was released claiming that lead in gasoline is responsible the decline of the IQ of over 50% of the American population who were alive when leaded gas was commonly used, mostly children then, now adults today.
Lead in gasoline blunted IQ of half the U.S. population, study says (nbcnews.com)
To ridicule Greta Thunberg while holding up DJT as the second coming of Christ kind of proves that study as being correct.
At the end of the day, humanity is at a crossroads. The kids bringing this lawsuit will be the ones living with the outcomes of what the adults do today. I’d love to maybe someday be a living head in a glass jar of blue liquid to see where the future, and the kids who brought this lawsuit in the first place, all end up. As my father used to say, “shit, or get off the pot!”
If humanity does not kill itself in the meantime.
“We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”
— Barack Obama
