We Are Doomed, Yet We Live Carefree

People change, so does the weather. Both are injurious to health. New York City was not the latest in the list of cities where streets were claimed by raging natural disasters of biblical proportions. 23 of such climate change events made their guest appearance this year in the US alone, a quarter of the year is still left.

People sympathize with climate change victims, forgetting they are its victims too. Mother earth is strong, it survived five mass extinction events over time. Sadly, a better part of the species did not. Although distinction persisted among the catastrophic episodes, one thing was common, climate change.

While four of them caused extreme heat one led to extreme cooling resulting from unbalanced levels of carbon dioxide (CO2). So it's not just about lowering carbon emissions, but keeping things, as mad titan Thanos puts it, “Perfectly balanced. As all things should be.” Envisaging the future, I guess he wasn't mad at all.

Climate’s Wrathful Nuances

The Hawaii Firestorm, a result of a high-pressure area and Hurricane Dora, broke out in August 2023. The inevitable calamity destroyed everything in its path, leaving the ashes behind. The government apprised the public that the fire destroyed $5 Billion worth of property. 2,200 buildings and almost 100 lives lost to fire.

In the same month, Hurricane Idalia affected multiple US regions. It damaged around 2,000 homes in Florida , and a couple of buildings in North Carolina . Meanwhile, several people lost access to power in different regions.

Last month, Storm Daniel swept away entire neighborhoods in Libya. In India, flash floods and landslides disrupted millions of lives in the country's northern region. Many other nations including Canada, Vermont, Japan and more saw different nuances of climate disasters .

Considering every single climate change event is not possible here, but they have risen significantly since the 50s. It is not likely to take a halt given the rapid technological development and consumption of traditional fuels.

They Knew It

Nathaniel Rich, a novelist, handsomely put forth in Losing Earth , his work on climate change, how we knew and ignored its ravages on us. Years between 1979 and 1989 could have been decisive, should the responsible authorities had chosen to act upon it. Ronald Reagan, after becoming the president, considered putting a lock on the Energy Department. Meanwhile, planning to bump up coal production.

Things haven't changed much since then. Although, lawmakers haven't proposed closing down the Department of Energy, but neither have they proposed dense controls over coal consumption. Whatever happens, we should hope 'Losing Earth' won’t become 'Lost Earth.'

Human beings are a visionary race, yet they fail to see ill effects of carbon in the air. An abundance of renewable energy resources, yet we are dependent on traditional fuels. Electric vehicles' (EV) adoption is on a rise , but it will take more than that to bring down global temperature.

A few nations present an exceptional example of mitigating climate change through renewable energy. Countries including Uruguay, Iceland, Sweden and more produce over 95 percent of their energy using different low-carbon sources.

The World Bank, an international financial institution, highlights that over 80 percent of the global population still lacks access to clean fuels and technologies. This does not feel right in context to reducing the impact of climate change. It takes a whole nation to bring about a change, however, prerequisites ask for more countries here.

These Summers Are Cool

Benji Jones, senior environmental reporter for Vox, wrote in July 2023, that this "could be one of the coolest summers of the rest of your life." Sounds fun right? Read that again. He also mentions heat waves, similar to the ones that hit South America and Europe, may not get better.

We are on a path to become Type 1 civilization, a concept that explains a society who's learnt to harness all their planet's energy resources as well as of its nearest star. You'll be amazed by learning what Type 7 is capable of, but that's a notion several of our generations may not witness.

Why is this concept vital? Because that translates to the evolution of humanity. Nevertheless, we cannot hope to advance that further if we are already standing on the edge.

The devastating impacts of climate change on our future is not unfathomable. It can be mitigated, however, only through mass action. It won't happen overnight, but we must ask, what will it take? The answer is simple, a will to do it.