“We are now faced with the fact that tomorrow is today. We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now. In this unfolding conundrum of life and history, there ‘is’ such a thing as being too late. This is no time for apathy or complacency. This is a time for vigorous and positive action.” — Martin Luther King, Jr.
Dr. King’s words apply as well now to the issue of global warming, as they did then to the issue of civil rights. The time for talking has passed and the time for action is running short.
In an urgent call for immediate action, a coalition of some 1,400 organizations led by Bill McKibben and 350.org, planned and organized the People’s Climate March on Sept. 21. Hoping for a turnout of 100,000, they were thrilled to see more than 300,000 lining Central Park West from 59th Street to 100th and beyond!
It’s not as though there haven’t been an abundance of previous calls to action.
As early as 1952, the Paley Commission argued for ending America’s reliance on oil and in favor of solar energy to fill the gap. In 1958, C. D. Keeling began compiling data on the concentration of atmospheric CO2 in Hawaii. (We passed 300 ppm in 1960 — 400 ppm in April of this year.) In 1970, the first Earth Day saw an estimated 20 million Americans protest environmental ignorance, leading to the passage of a raft of effective environmental laws, many of which have been considerably weakened since. The 1992 “Earth Summit” in Rio de Janeiro established the Climate Change Convention, among other agreements.
The so-called “Conference of the Parties” began in 1995 to convene annually to seek agreement on appropriate responses to global warming. The result of all these meetings has been mostly rhetoric. The 20th Conference of Parties meeting will take place in Lima, Peru this December. If something substantive is to come of this meeting, pressure will have to come from someone. Maybe we really are the ones we have been waiting for.
In advance of this year’s conference, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon convened a UN Climate Summit on Sept. 23 to “galvanize and catalyze climate action.” In his speech to the assemblage, President Obama cherry-picked and, in some instances, misrepresented our nation’s record on global warming.
Our “leaders” have demonstrably failed to lead on this issue. As was seen at the People’s Climate March, the people are ready to step up.
The challenges are many and solutions few. But a growing number of people are joining the “Thin Green Line” between fossil fuels and the future of our grandchildren. Whether the issue is oil and coal trains or hydraulic fracking, people are standing up in opposition. Others are proactively working to prepare for the transition away from fossil fuels that must take place if we are to avoid the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming.
If, like me, you are feeling the “fierce urgency of now,” take action! Do what you can, where you are. Walk, ride a bike or take transit instead of driving a car. Plant a vegetable garden. Relearn the skills of our parents and grandparents, who knew how to get along without fossil fuels and all the conveniences they bring.
While individual actions will not be enough, they nonetheless have value. The Transition Initiative Movement puts it this way: If we wait for the government to take care of things, it will be too little, too late. If we try to solve things individually, it will just be too little. But if we work together in community, it might be just enough, just in time.
And, when we have the opportunity to stand together in solidarity with hundreds, thousands, even millions of others around the world, well, let’s do that too.
More than 20 years after the Earth Summit in Rio, the problem continues to grow worse, not better.
So, to quote a well-worn question: If not us, who? If not now, when?
Jackie Minchew lives in Everett.
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