Facing Reality, For Once

IN SWEDEN, dozens of forest fires sweep across the country, as the most severe drought and most severe heat wave in history envelope northern Europe. Above the arctic circle, the temperature reached ninety degrees, at a time of year when the average temperature is usually in the fifties. This is not a one hundred year event, nor a one thousand year event. This is something which has truly never before occurred. Temperatures around the world are reaching new highs; one hundred and fifteen degrees in Iraq, one hundred and two degrees in Tokyo, over one hundred degrees at night in Dallas. Fire season now extends year round in the United States. All this is exactly in accordance with predictions and computer model projections. And its going to get worse, fast. The planet is warming at a rate which shocks and surprises climate scientists each time new studies of it are completed. The potential for causing climate change by injecting large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere has been known for two hundred years, and the reality of it has been known to the world, verified, since 1988, the year NASA scientist James Hanson testified in Congress about the problem. This is the thirtieth anniversary of the year in which the world was told about man made climate change, the thirtieth anniversary of the year in which strong action should have begun, which means that by now the world should have been well on its way to solving the problem, well on its way to replacing fossil fuels with sustainable, environmentally harmless energy sources, such as solar and wind power. by now, the one trillion trees we should have planted should be mature, converting carbon to fresh air. And yet, we still lag behind, largely because the United States has failed to provide necessary leadership. The United States has elected a president who denies climate change, and has abandoned the Paris climate change agreement, even though its own Defense Department lists climate change as the greatest threat to American national security, even though the major fuel companies, such as Exxon-Mobil acknowledge its reality. We had expected our grandchildren and great grandchildren to suffer the consequences of our actions; it now turns out that we shall suffer them, which, in a sense, is only fitting and proper. Thomas Jefferson said it best: "I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, and that his justice cannot sleep forever". It appears that god's justice is awakening far sooner than expected.