Get Serious About Climate Change

Earth's climate has shifted many times over its 4.5-billion-year history, with each cycle lasting thousands of years. Natural factors such as orbital variations, volcanic activity, tectonic movement, and changes in solar radiation have driven these cycles.

While it's accurate to recognize that climate change is not new—flooding, wildfires, and extreme heat as evidence—it's crucial to understand that our current situation is unprecedented in scale and urgency. Recognizing this can allow people to see their role in addressing it.

We are now facing climate transformations that occur over mere decades, not the millennia that defined past transitions. This alarming speed poses significant challenges for ecosystems, weather patterns, wildlife, and humanity. The scientific consensus is unequivocal: these changes are both real and urgent. To label them as cyclical is to ignore the overwhelming evidence of human influence and the pressing need to confront this crisis head-on. No serious debate exists among respected, credentialed scientific experts. Only paid political sycophants would argue otherwise, and, unfortunately, those voices receive too much attention in the media: change is not welcome, and fear sells.

The 1973 Arab Oil Embargo should have been a crucial wake-up call, highlighting how our dependence on foreign oil jeopardizes national security and necessitates new policies. Instead, that opportunity was squandered. When Jimmy Carter became president in 1977, he pioneered domestic drilling initiatives, encouraged energy conservation, and even installed solar panels on the White House roof. However, Ronald Reagan removed them, embodying a cowboy mindset that rejected "renewable energy" as something only imagined by East Coast intellectuals. In hindsight, what a wasted opportunity and a lack of leadership, unless you were one of the wealthy elite who was enjoying the transfer of wealth (and power) to the upper 1% (by 2026, $50 trillion has moved to this 1%, while the middle class shrinks and more struggle under burgeoning healthcare and daily living costs).

I lived on the East Coast during the embargo and vividly remember endless gas lines, strict rationing, and limits to just $5 worth of gas every other day. It was common to see lines forming before stations opened, and then to be disappointed when attendants put "Out of Gas" signs on pumps after we waited in line. These experiences should have prompted a vigorous shift towards alternative energy and investment in research and development. Had we acted then, we might not be concerned about the Strait of Hormuz or Saudi oil's influence today.

But the oil industry and the money tied to it weren't about to give up their wealth and political influence. In 2008, Michael Steele, the future leader of the Republican National Party, popularized the phrase "drill, baby, drill" at the Republican National Convention, which John McCain and Sarah Palin adopted during their campaign. Today, Donald Trump echoes that rallying cry at his events and in his campaigns. Money talks, and young men and women are called to fight in endless foreign wars to support industry monopolies.

While other nations are making substantial investments in alternative energy, our country remains heavily reliant on fossil fuels. Recognizing this gap should motivate people to believe a green revolution is possible and that they can influence it. We don't have all the answers yet regarding future renewable energy solutions, and that's why we should be investing in research and development now. No one wants to see hundreds of wind turbines scattered across the Great Plains or endless solar panels covering pristine public lands. That's why we need significantly more research and development (R&D) investments in renewable energy and less focus on fossil fuels. Why is that such a hard concept to sell? Do you think oil and gas lobbyists have something to do with it? Yeah, just a wild guess.

Prioritizing short-term profits from fossil fuels is an incredibly myopic approach to energy policy, especially given our complex global landscape. Personally, I would be more than willing to drive an electric car and install solar panels on my rooftop to avoid relying on Middle Eastern countries and their autocratic leaders. Incentivizing tax regulations for renewable energy industries and tax credits for average Americans to make the transition would be a great start.

Maybe if Ford produces an all-electric Ford F-150, we can break through the madness and get on with transitioning to clean renewable resources. Otherwise, Mother Nature will decide for us, and it won't be easy or pretty for us and future generations.