‘A new type of thinking is required if mankind is to survive.” Albert Einstein wrote these words in 1946 as the world confronted the threat of nuclear war. Now we are confronting a new challenge – climate change.
Recent reports suggest we have about 12 years until the level of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere reaches unmanageable and likely irreversible levels. And so we must ask: What is our responsibility as adults to shepherd this planet and pass a viable future on to our children and grandchildren?
In New Hampshire, the reality of climate change is a health issue, an economic issue and a national security issue.
Already climate change is estimated to have cost the United States more than $450 billion in the past three years, more than $150 billion per year on average. The change we need to deal with is not a future event; it is happening now.
Young people in New Hampshire and across the world are anxious about what sort of world they will inherit. The evening news shows video of schoolchildren confronting a U.S. senator in her Washington office urging more direct efforts to combat climate change. At the recent World Economic Forum in Davos, a plucky Swedish teenager – Greta Thunburg – confronted the assembled corporate bigwigs, telling them: “Adults keep saying, ‘We owe it to the young people to give them hope,’ but I don’t want your hope. I don’t want you to be hopeful. I want you to panic. I want you to feel the fear I feel every day. And then I want you to act.”
Earlier this month, thousands of students in countries around the world left their schools to demonstrate in a coordinated walkout demanding effective action to combat climate change. Tell it like it is, they ask. To do that, a new type of thinking is indeed required. And you don’t have to be Albert Einstein to figure out what needs to happen.
First, our executives – President Donald Trump and Gov. Chris Sununu – need to stop their climate denials. Sununu in particular has claimed he’s “looked at the data very closely” and doesn’t know that carbon emissions are the leading cause of climate change. He supported Trump’s decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement and opposed several important initiatives to reduce our overreliance on carbon fuels, like the U.S. Climate Alliance, a bipartisan group of 23 states committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions consistent with the goals of the Paris agreement. Every New England state and several New Hampshire cities have joined, but our state has not.
We also need to block Education Commissioner Frank Edelblut’s attacks on science education in our schools. His oft-stated views that schools reference climate change too often should disqualify him from his responsibilities for oversight of our children’s education. We need to strengthen our science curricula, not weaken them with claims separate from reality.
The state Legislature is working hard to counteract these dangerous beliefs by working to pass bills like high-speed rail, which just recently passed the democratically led New Hampshire Senate. There are a host of new ideas being considered in the Legislature to address the climate crisis and citizens need to become informed and advocate for them.
Federally, a Green New Deal will pave the way for a more feasible and affordable future. Right-wing commentators and oil and gas lobbyists are already raising false and misleading alarms about the Green New Deal. As renowned economist Jeffery Sachs has observed, the Green New Deal is really about sustainable development for our nation: “That means an economy that delivers a package deal: good incomes, social fairness and environmental sustainability. . . . The key ideas of the Green New Deal – decarbonization, lower-cost health care and decent living standards for the working class – have been studied for years. The Green New Deal Resolution is the opportunity, finally, to put that vast knowledge into effect.”
Finally, our language – like our thinking – needs to change, from “climate change” to “climate crisis.” The former is a neutral phrase; the latter tells it like it is. So, the U.S. Congress this session has created the U.S. House Select Committee on the Climate Crisis to investigate the most promising evidence-based scientific and economic ideas to address the reality we face.
These are perilous times. We need courageous, brave, visionary leaders. So we need to let those who want to be our candidates for governor and president in 2020 know that we want them to “tell it like it is.” We need to let Reps. Annie Kuster and Chris Pappas and Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan know that we support their efforts to protect our climate.
Taking these steps, we can make clear that New Hampshire wants to be faithful to its young people, and ensure they will inherit a vibrant and sustainable future.
(Sam Osherson lives in Nelson.)