Defining Sustainability

            Greetings, readers! Let’s talk about the term “sustainability”. I’ve touched upon it before as the phrase is ubiquitous in the field, but today, we deep-dive!

            The U.N. defines sustainability as, “Meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” https://www.un.org/en/academic-impact/sustainability. These needs refer to our ability to feed, water, clothe, and shelter ourselves, all of which are contingent upon the resources and ecosystem services that are provided by our natural habitats.

            Now, what precisely do I mean by “ecosystem services”? Well, think back to the Salmon and Grizzly Glaciers. Those flowing rivers of ice gave us FREE water storage and allowed water to slowly melt throughout the summertime, feeding our creeks and rivers. Now we have no glaciers remaining in the Alps, and will likely not receive enough snow in the future to rebuild them in our lifetimes. Another example is wetlands, whose hydrophytic plants are able to filter and clean our water. Thanks, Nature! We couldn’t live here without you!

            Simply put, we are consuming materials (i.e. clean water and fertile soil) faster than they can be regenerated by nature, and we are polluting and defiling our water, air, and soil with noxious chemicals (fossil fuels, pesticides, cleaners, microfibers, etc.) faster than nature can filter and dilute them. A new phrase has popped up with respect to this overconsumption and pollution: Earth Overshoot Day, which refers to when humanity has exhausted Earth’s budget of resources and services (https://www.footprintnetwork.org/our-work/earth-overshoot-day/). In 2021, Earth Overshoot Day fell on July 29th, meaning that in just 7 months, we consumed all the water, soil, nutrients, and energy Earth was able to generate and then moved into the red, racking up a huge ecological deficit while pumping billions of tons of CO2 into the atmosphere.

            It is worth mentioning, yet again, that nearly all of the lifeforms presently living on Earth are adapted to live within a very narrow range of temperatures, humans included. Hyperthermia (overheating, heat exhaustion, heat stroke) is a very real threat today and will become an increasingly common problem in the future. Remember the heat dome in June last year? A billion sea creatures died off the coast of Vancouver (https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/pacific-northwest-heat-wave-killed-more-than-1-billion-sea-creatures/). In my personal opinion, 106 degrees Fahrenheit is too hot for comfortable human habitation. South Asia has already had temperatures soar past 120 degrees Fahrenheit this year! (https://www.carbonbrief.org/media-reaction-south-asias-2022-heatwave-and-the-role-of-climate-change). It breaks my heart that we are roasting our planet and ourselves. Children and the elderly are especially vulnerable to heat.

            I’ve not written this column for even a year yet, but the backlash has been persistent, dogged, devoid of facts and figures, instead replaced with personal insults, targeted public threats of violence, and attempts to get me fired at my job. Yep, three separate men tried to cancel me this past year! They were unsuccessful, but I was still shaken.

Sometimes I fear for my safety. Writing this column honestly might not be sustainable. Human civilization is tumultuous and chaotic. People have been shot for far less than challenging those who maintain the status quo, who hold power and choose to enable dangerous actions and actors. Verbally striking back at those who threaten and commit violence can get one killed.

I’ve been accused of hating America and nothing could be further from the truth. I believe we have many problems to solve, but generally my days are peaceful. I love America so much that I want us to heal, thrive and flourish forever. I want future generations to have enough clean water, air, and nourishing food to meet their needs. More than anything, I love the First Amendment freedom of speech, knowing that we will destroy ourselves if lies, threats, and abuse remain unchallenged.

If you’re reading this and you’re angrier at ME than at our collective lack of care for all we presently have, I implore you to readjust your moral compass and priorities.

Protect our children and grandchildren, our planet, and our future.

Please.

We should all be on the same team: Team Life on Earth.

It is NOT China’s NOR India’s Responsibility to Cut Emissions!

            Welcome back for another climate myth debunking!

            One of the most vicious ‘retorts’ I hear from climate change deniers is, “China and India are at fault—they should cut first!” So, let’s analyze this bad-faith, factually incorrect argument.

            First, a historical perspective. The U.S. has been emitting CO2 since roughly 1800. Coal was the culprit, then oil and natural gas. More than two hundred years’ worth of emissions. Over that time, the U.S. emitted 404.77 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide, resulting directly from the growth and expansion of the U.S. economy (https://www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54719577). In contrast, China only began emitting CO2 in earnest in the 1980s, resulting in a cumulative 210.20 billion tonnes of carbon (Ibid.). For India, the timeframe is the last fifty or so years, and the emissions are significantly less than China’s.

            Mind you, in 2016, China’s population was 1.414 billion, India’s population was 1.324 billion, and the U.S. population was 323 million. That means per capita (per person) emissions were 7.38 tons per person in China, India’s was a paltry 1.91 tons/person, and the U.S. was a whopping 15.52 tons/person (https://www.worldometers.info/co2-emissions/co2-emissions-per-capita/). The average American drives more, eats more red meat, and buys more consumer goods than the average Chinese or Indian person. These are choices we can alter.

            Second, an economic, social, and cultural justice perspective. China and India are just as deserving of economic development as we are. It is morally wrong and shameful to suggest they deserve to suffer harsh living conditions because we refuse to cut emissions. China and India have every right to build public transportation infrastructure, as well as plumbing, electrical, sewer, and wastewater infrastructure. This necessitates carbon emissions, just as the U.S emitted for centuries. And more than that, China produced 895 gigawatts of electricity from renewables in 2020, India 134 gigawatts, and the U.S. only produced a modest 292 gigawatts (https://www.statista.com/statistics/267233/renewable-energy-capacity-worldwide-by-country/).

It is hypocritical and embarrassingly immature to point fingers at those who are much worse off, force them to cut emissions, and limit their economic prospects and upward mobility. Especially when China and India are decarbonizing faster than us!

            Now, there are things I dislike about China. I found the One Child Only policy to be brutally dystopian, the air pollution from coal plants is extremely unhealthy and bad for the population, the lack of free and fair elections angers and horrifies me, and the governmental censorship is a nightmare. 

But this is a climate corner. So, we’re just talking about carbon emissions. And economics.

            One more point to make: We cannot change China. We cannot vote there; we cannot influence events there. We can only change ourselves. We can only build a better America. That is our new calling. We must amplify indigenous voices, elect them to higher positions of power, and we must cut our emissions and our consumption—fast.

            The United States already has public infrastructure built. Unfortunately, we’re also letting it crumble before us. Bridges are collapsing in Pennsylvania. Flint, Michigan still doesn’t have access to safe drinking water. Everyone in Trinity County knows how rough our roads are. We have stopped investing in our public, common goods and interests. This serves no one and hurts everyone.

            I am so deeply tired, and I am still not yet thirty. We all used to agree that actions have consequences. Now, not even that universal truth resonates with everyone anymore.

I wonder what I could do with my energy, with my life, if I didn’t have to battle liars who can’t accept the physical and chemical consequences of our actions. I wonder what I could do with more hope.

Look yourself in the mirror. Can you honestly say you’re doing anything to help future generations survive the rapid shift to a blisteringly hot future? I still don’t have children . . .

We capitalist, over-consumptive humans are the harbingers of Hell on Earth. We are awake, self-conscious, knowingly roasting our one and only planet. Even if we pray for rain, I don’t think God would show mercy to an abusive species killing His good, green Earth.

Reimagine our future. It’s time to repair and build. Time to do better. No excuses.

Change starts here.