Elizabeth WeiseClimate news can seem dire with little hope for a better world. Talk to climate scientists, engineers and researchers, however, and they see a different future – a positive one that's well within our reach.
For Earth Day 2023, instead of imagining the worst, USA TODAY invites you to envision the best. Conversations with a dozen experts give a glimpse of what a time traveler from today might see as they experience life a generation from now in a United States that put its mind to solving climate change – no miracles or as-yet-uninvented technology needed.
As climate futurist Alex Steffen says, "The big secret here is not how bad things are but how good they can get – if we move fast enough."
So imagine it's now 2050. Hard work, cutting-edge engineering, America’s nimble business culture and a bipartisan pivot pushed by voters and corporations alike have allowed the United States to achieve its goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions.
Problems still remain, of course. The world’s seas have risen a foot, inundating many coastal cities. Multiple plant and animal species are on the brink because of habitat change and destruction. Hotter, drier and more erratic weather has hurt farming and farmers. The massive shifting of population because of flooding and in some places heat is an ongoing social calamity.
Though relocating millions of Americans wasn't cheap or easy, the new inland cities are more compact, with accessible green areas interspersed among apartment buildings and some single-family homes. This density makes them more walkable, with light rail, buses and self-driving vans offering easy access to transit.
To help pull more carbon out of the air and stabilize coastal systems, mangrove forests and seaside ecosystems have been restored, suggests Romany Webb, a research scholar at the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia University in New York City. Offshore oil and gas rigs have been repurposed to grow kelp and other seaweeds to nurture sealife.
The article mentioned many other aspects of having a better future with a climate crisis somewhat averted.
I'm always wary of these people who think they can predict the future. There used to be a BBC TV programme called Tomorrow's World - there are a few episodes on YouTube if you fancy some entertaining viewing!
ReplyDeleteOh the fun is looking at past episodes of predicting the future, like now. Poor someone who thought we'd be flying around like the Jetsons by now. I would rather look for some postitive possibilities than all the naysayers.
DeleteWho knows how it might go.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet we keep on doing things just the way we always have done them. My hope comes when I add or subtract something different to my life.
Delete...I do know that I won't be be around then.
ReplyDeleteWell, your memory will still be alive!
DeleteI have confidence in our young people. One has to be positive.
ReplyDeleteThat's the choice I've made...it helps me get up and greet each day with joy!
DeleteBarbara, I want to be positive...for our grandsons' sake. But I'm not all that hopeful We currently have a government that doesn't get anything done, no matter which political party is in the majority and we have a national debt that precludes spending enough money on the major infrastructure improvements needed for us to go green. Then of course, there is the rest of the world... Take Care and Keep up the Battle! Take Care, Big Daddy Dave
ReplyDeleteHi David...I tend to think all the millions of people who care about their lives/environment/families/future...have more power in the long run than the governments and fools in politics. They just are who's on the news, because it's owned by them. But walking around, seeing new efforts by younger people, I do have hope. For my age group, I can connect people and effforts in a networking way...all of which doesn't get on the news, nor into politics.
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