Thursday, July 24, 2025

The Time is Now

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A few weekends ago, we ran into some long-time friends at our local fresh fish restaurant.  Norman came by as he was leaving and he placed his hand on my shoulder in a loving and caring way.  "It must be very hard having to watch a  public felon try to lay waste to your life time of work in the wind and solar industry." (not to mention all my early work in water conservation and energy efficiency)

"He's slowed the Industry down here in the US of course", I said.  "But the World is moving full steam ahead with renewable energy, stationary battery storage and the electrification of transportation. He is just making America greatly anachronistic." But I added, "however, his technological speed bump has slowed the World down in controlling climate change in a critical way."

Indeed the most recent peer reviewed report states:

A recent report by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) indicates that climate change is accelerating, with 2024 marking the first year that global temperatures exceeded 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels. The report, which analyzes data from 101 countries, highlights record-breaking temperatures, greenhouse gas concentrations, and sea levels. It also emphasizes the irreversible impacts of climate change, particularly on weather patterns and ecosystems. 

 
Key findings from the WMO report 

Record-breaking temperatures:
2024 was the warmest year in the observational record, with a global mean near-surface temperature of 1.55 ± 0.13 °C above the 1850-1900 average. 
  
Accelerating climate change:
The report shows that climate change is intensifying, with some impacts becoming irreversible over centuries. 
 
Increased extreme weather events: 
The report links increased extreme weather events, such as heatwaves and flooding, to climate change. 
 
Irreversible impacts: 
The report highlights the growing concern of irreversible changes to the planet, including rising sea levels and melting glaciers. 
 
Social and economic upheaval:
The report also notes the massive social and economic consequences of extreme weather events, impacting livelihoods and economies. 
 
The report underscores the urgent need for action to mitigate and adapt to climate change, with the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) stating that "climate crunch time is here". The WMO is calling for global cooperation to address the escalating risks and safeguard the planet and its inhabitants.
 
It was 10 years ago that I went to Paris as the Chairman of the Electric Utility Commission in Austin, Texas, along with our Mayor, a City Council Member, and a County Commissioner.  There, most of the Cities and Nations on Earth agreed to limit temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C (well below 2 degrees C) to avoid the worst of what the loss of a stable climate would bring to the almost 8 billion inhabitants of our spaceship.  
 
And now we have the loss of a stable government in the US.
 
And we are shooting well beyond our International Agreement even as the Drumph once again withdraws from it
 
I would like to say that such a recoil from the growing global understanding of the challenges of climate change was unexpected.  But it was not.  I wrote about it 25 years ago in my book Lightland, Climate Change and the Human Potential.
 
I warned that the Prometheans,  (the Worshippers of Fire) would fight a great battle with the Olympians. (the believers in Light). This great battle called the Titanomachy would result in Apollo and his twin sister Artemis winning the struggle for humankind to evolve to a more advanced state where freedom and justice become twin pillars of a new world of art and beauty,  music, and science.
 
The story was originally told by Hesiod in his Theogony
 
So, as the Republicans leave early for a long holiday to avoid a vote to release  the pedophile file and our top intelligence officer declares that the President with the least scandals in a hundred years did something very ominous in determining whether or not the newly elected failed Casino owner was Krasnov,  we find that our government is not governing, but on a massive heist of the nation and its riches even as it accelerates its retribution tour. 
 
Soon, we will go from an unstable government to something new for Americans, but known on many continents in many ages.
 
A failed government.  
 
And then add climate failure. And that may very likely result in a far right authoritarian regime that is supported by the oligarchs of our time.  
 
The time is now to get in front of it.  Not just the fight for climate, but the fight for freedom and Democracy. Add a little dose of AI and the urgency is complete.
 
I'm in the last pages of Timothy Snyder's  new book On Freedom
 
On page 231, he writes, "The space between what is what ought to be is where we roam as free people, extending the borderland of the unpredictable. We decide which values to affirm, in what combination, for what reasons, and at what time.  Then we try again. With practice, we attain our own human form of grace."
 
And as we  struggle to be something more than what we have become, we will need to follow an Olympian blueprint to create an ethical and prosperous global community.
 
It is not a choice,
 
It is our Clear Path
 
And it is our grace. 
 
The Time is Now
 
 
 
 
 

 

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