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Two questions, one right answer
When it comes to climate change, we must choose carefully
By Thomas Kostigen, MarketWatch
Last Update: 12:01 AM ET Nov 20, 2009
SANTA MONICA, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- At the heart of former vice president Al Gore's new book "Our Choice" is an ethical proposition that supersedes the economic and political milieu associated with global warming: "Why is humanity failing to confront this unprecedented mortal threat?"
The question makes the book's title false. We really don't have a choice -- from an ethical point of view -- when it comes to global warming. We must take steps to prevent it from occurring.
Gore writes, "Not too many years from now, a new generation will look back at us in this hour of choosing and ask one of two questions. Either they will ask, 'What were you thinking? Didn't you see the entire North Pole ice cap melting before your eyes? Did you not care?'
"Or they will ask instead, 'How did you find the moral courage to rise up and solve a crisis so many said was impossible to solve?' We must choose which of these questions we want to answer, and we must give our answer now -- not in words but in actions..."
There is much more to "Our Choice" than a call to action. The book details the latest on everything from energy sources to population growth and the "supergrid." Still, the real message the book gives can be summed up by the answers Gore provides to his two questions: whether to do a little or a lot:
"The answer to the first question -- what were you thinking -- is almost too painful to write," he says. "We argued among ourselves. We didn't want to believe that it was really happening. We waited too long. We had so many other problems crying out for attention. I know this is of little comfort, but we did try. I'm sorry.
"The second question -- how did you solve it? -- is the one I prefer that we answer, and here is the answer I hope we can give: The turning point came in 2009. The year began well, with the inauguration of a new president, who immediately shifted priorities to focus on building the foundation for a new low carbon economy. The resistance to these changes -- especially by corporations that were making a lot of money from coal, oil, and gas -- was ferocious. But the truth about the global emergency gained ground. The evidence presented by scientists accumulated slowly at first, but then a few of the opponents of change changed themselves."
Bold action is needed
Addressing the naysayers, Gore likens them to the "birthers" who question President Barack Obama's U.S. citizenship and birth certificate. Further, he says that news organizations have bought into some of the skepticism and are "fanning the flames of counterfeit controversy."
The only solution to solving the climate crisis is to take bold action, he says. And this must span individual actions as well as actions by the business and political communities.
However, given the lack of progress on climate legislation this year in Congress and the failed-before-it-even-began climate talks next month in Copenhagen, "our choice" to do something about climate change is becoming more difficult. Indeed, it's looking more like we will be answering the first question of "what were we thinking" than the second question Gore posits.
That's like giving no answer at all and choosing to do pretty much nothing to thwart the gravest threat we face as people.
A different choice needs to be made.
Thomas M. Kostigen is the author of "You Are Here: Exposing the Vital Link Between What We Do and What That Does to Our Planet" (HarperOne). www.readyouarehere.com
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