by Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist (read the original in Noozhawk by clicking here)
For my 200th column for Noozhawk, I had no choice but to cover the most consequential problem of our time: climate change.
Climate change threatens to subsume nearly every other contentious issue from pollution to immigration to terrorism. Likewise, reducing the human causes of climate change may ameliorate these issues.
The hope for our future lies in learning to take care of Earth so it can continue to take care of us.
Look at one tiny case of pollution: honey bees. Last month the Environmental Protection Agency listed imidacloprid, a nicotine-emitting chemical, as a potential risk to bees.
Imidacloprid is found in at least 188 farm and household products in California (including Santa Barbara). The chemical’s ubiquity is implicated in the decade-long collapse of commercial honey bee colonies.
Hopefully the $14 million honey bee industry will recover, but climate change will likely force new adaptations on bees at a time when their very survival is threatened by chemicals.
Take a more visible case: immigration. We can devise solutions on a spectrum from border walls to welcoming arms, but however we balance our varied interests, refugees from water-inundated land could overwhelm our finely crafted compromises.
More than 200 million people currently live along the coast less than 20 feet above sea level. Coastal populations are growing fast, especially in low-lying countries like Bangladesh.
How many climate refugees will try to find their way to the land of the free and the home of the brave?
Finally, take terrorism. Climate change doesn’t cause terrorism, but going forward, is it far-fetched to imagine that the U.S., as the second largest emitter of greenhouse gases, would be considered to be a “rogue nation” as countries harmed by climate change look for someone to blame?
What can we do? Already entrepreneurs are devising ways to produce sustainably for human needs. Aquaculture, for one, has expanded 14-fold since 1980.
While it takes seven pounds of feed for every pound of beef produced, a pound of feed yields a pound of fish, making fish a very efficient protein source. Fish farmers are experimenting with land-based fish tanks and pelagic fish pens to produce without causing other ecological problems.
Ranchers are experimenting with sustainably-raised cattle, too. Some farmers are trying crops grown using water desalinated with solar and wind panels.
A UC Davis program is testing ways to work with California’s rain volatility, directing El Niño flood water onto winter fields to percolate into overdrawn aquifers.
Because we give away the air and water practically for free, we need creative incentives to avoid the worst of what is to come. A carbon tax is essential — a carrot rewarding those who devise ways to produce goods minimizing fossil fuel and pollution.
We need sticks for the likes of the Southern California Gas Company, whose Aliso Canyon leak has emitted more greenhouse gases than 440,000 cars emit in a year. Likewise, a stick for Exxon Mobil, which the California Attorney General is investigating for publicly refuting climate research findings they internally planned around.
Working across all fronts is necessary, from stabilizing human population to limiting resource use. The benefits could be legion.
Working in good faith with other countries to slow climate change likely will improve the other intractable problems.
Through the efforts needed — and the insights gained — we can learn what it means to deal fairly with other cultures and economies of the world.
Cooperating in this future-challenging endeavor, we can learn to live sustainably on this island we call Earth.
Karen Telleen-Lawton, Noozhawk Columnist
Karen Telleen-Lawton is an eco-writer, sharing information and insights about economics and ecology, finances and the environment. Having recently retired from financial planning and advising, she spends more time exploring the outdoors — and reading and writing about it. The opinions expressed are her own.