For What It's Worth

There’s something happening here

What it is ain’t exactly clear

* * *

There’s battle lines being drawn,

Nobody’s right if everybody’s wrong,

Young people speaking their minds,

Getting so much resistance from behind.*

Sixteen-year old climate activist Greta Thunberg organized a Climate Strike to raise awareness of the environmental crisis facing our planet.  Millions of young people from around the world participated.  Then on September 23, 2019, Ms. Thunberg spoke at the United Nations’ Climate Action Summit, pointing out that, “For more than 30 years, the science [of climate change] has been crystal clear.” 

She went on to admonish the assembled gathering of world leaders:

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: ‘We will never forgive you.’”

The reaction of our U.S. President to Ms. Thunberg’s emotional speech was to mock her in his favorite medium, Twitter:

"She seems like a very happy young girl looking forward to a bright and wonderful future. So nice to see!"

Our President’s cyberbullying of a teen-aged idealist is bad enough.  What is far worse are the actions taken by his administration to sabotage efforts to address climate change.  The New York Times recently reported that 85 environmental regulations adopted by previous administrations were being scaled back or eliminated under Trump.  These include withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris Climate Agreement, weakening fuel efficiency standards for automobiles, and repealing the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which set strict limits on carbon emissions from coal and gas-fired power plants.  In early September, Trump announced a rollback on the phasing out of incandescent light bulbs.  According to the U.S. Department of Energy, LED light bulbs use 75% less energy and last 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs.  But, according to the President, the energy efficient light bulbs make him look orange. 

Donald Trump has, on numerous occasions, called climate change “a hoax” and has opined that, “The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.”

This is embarrassing to me on at least two levels – first as a citizen of the United States, which is the world’s second largest emitter of greenhouse gases.  The U.S. President’s statements and actions serve to thumb our collective noses at the rest of the world that has committed to take steps to mitigate climate change.

Second, like Donald Trump, I am a member of the Baby Boomer Generation.  When we were young, like Greta Thunberg, we vowed that we would not be materialistic like our parents but would focus on making the world a better place.  We would clean up the environment, eliminate poverty, improve the education system and embrace civil rights for all.  In fact, many of my generation worked toward these ideals, though many others ignored them to focus on accumulating wealth.  

For most of his life, Donald Trump focused on accumulating wealth, while ignoring the efforts of others to save the planet.  But as President, he has chosen to undo the work of those who genuinely tried to take a few small steps to mitigate climate change.  

So exactly what is happening here, when energy efficiency standards are eliminated or rolled back?  More energy is needed, so more fossil fuels will be burned, resulting in more greenhouse gases being emitted, accelerating climate change.  If everybody’s wrong, and climate change is a hoax, these rollbacks will mean we are depleting limited resources faster than we need to, leaving less to meet the needs of future generations.

So please, young people, speak your minds, regardless of the resistance you are getting.  Because, Greta is right.  We are failing you, and if we don’t correct that failure, you should not forgive us.

*  “For What It’s Worth,” Stephen Stills, 1966.