Volume 7, Number 4
by Audrey Newcomb
Étude de Mer Claude Monet
The sea study in Monet’s 1881 painting has the same mighty grandeur as oceans do now, except today’s oceans are being modified by human-induced climate change. The ice that covers Antarctica’s methane gas is thinning. When it bursts, more frequent and more severe storms, floods, and droughts will be upon us. Melting Arctic permafrost (stored frozen soil) acidifies oceans, harming phytoplankton, and on up the marine food chain. Greenland’s 4-times-bigger-than-California ice sheet melt will send sea levels up 20 feet.
The atmosphere and ocean have been absorbing greenhouse gases at faster rates since fracking began in 2005. Fracked gas and tar sands, the last remnants of gas and oil, are the hardest and most costly to extract. Industry knows about limited amounts and limited time; it is also aware of the “carbon bubble,” meaning the difference between the values investors place on stocks and what the stocks are actually worth. Investors back fossil fuel reserves for short-term gains without addressing long-term risks of fossil fuel emissions which threaten the global economy. Industry wants to prolong the bubble, which accounts for the rush to frack everywhere before the bubble bursts. Infrastructure buildup such as pipelines and liquid natural gas export stations serve to add an aura of
permanence to short-term stocks to convince investors that fossil fuel investments are long-term.
That’s nonsense, of course, since these companies have always been short-term operators that take chances and over-borrow. If the new cabinet, almost all climate change deniers with ties to fossil fuels, proceed as planned, the bubble might be extended temporarily. But it is utter madness to gamble with the economy, the climate, and our lives.
Alternatively, we could increase the resilience of global markets by what is called “bold-but-predictable pacing,” in acting to promote renewable energy. That would deflate the carbon bubble without bursting it, thus avoiding both financial disaster and ecological catastrophe. We already know what
is needed by taking advantage of plummeting solar and wind technology costs, and switching to sustainable approaches to farming, forestry, and urban planning, for starters. A building boom creating clean jobs would counteract the sending jobs overseas problem we continue to face.
Whatever we do or don’t do, the Earth will not die. It will simply follow the laws of physics, as it always has. However, if our actions cause the Earth to become uninhabitable, then surviving on it can no longer be considered a possibility.