The coming bomb drop
You can expect knock-on effects when the most powerful nation on earth dismantles its own infrastructure. Internationally, it leaves America vulnerable to attack from cyber, economic and even military perils. America’s hostility to its former allies adds to the problem. But the greatest danger from such ill-advised policy is the danger few speak of any more. It’s the danger of climate change. And that danger is worse than most people think.
As bad as things are otherwise, there is still a plausible path to fixing it. It may seem like an eternity, but four years from now we could find ourselves with a sane Democratic administration and Congress. By April of 2028 it’s conceivable that America’s former allies could be its allies again, the unforced errors of economic self-immolation could be on the road to healing and Medicaid and Social Security could once again be safe and secure bastions for the sick and elderly. But we’ll still have one hell of a global warming problem on our hands.
The pledge to keep average global temperatures below 1.5 degrees centigrade over pre-industrial averages is now a fading memory. March recorded 1.6 degrees centigrade above worldwide, the hottest March in recorded history. That temperature upswing is no longer a spike in the graph but part of an upward trend. We are sitting on a climate bomb and that bomb is, metaphorically speaking, thermonuclear.
Like diabetes and heart disease, climate change is deadly but can sometimes exhibit few obvious symptoms. Here in England you would have a hard time convincing Britons that March was hot. But that’s part of the problem. You feel the local weather. You don’t always feel the climate as it truly is. That’s a subtle but deadly distinction that’s hard to educate people on, particularly the deliberately stupid.
So I don’t mean to add to your already considerable burdens, brothers and sisters, but I’m not going to lie to you either. It’s true, calling Trump a disaster is the understatement of the 21st century, but next to climate change he’s a stupid fad that will soon go the way of suicide nobs on steering wheels. Climate change is here to stay, and it’s probably not a problem we’re going to solve in our lifetime.
What we can do is keep climate change in our thoughts and in our speech. The little we can do now as individuals is a teaspoon of water in the Pacific Ocean, but we must never forget that the Pacific Ocean is composed of lots of teaspoons of water.
The shockwave from the April 5th “Hands Off” protest is having its effect on America’s politicians. Millions of angry people can make a difference. Here in Britain there was even a lively protest in Trafalgar Square in London. We will have to channel that same energy into protests about global warming. Politicians won’t listen to us if we don’t hit them where it counts, with our votes and angry voices.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.