In a recent essay for The Guardian, climate activist and journalist Bill McKibben unpacks the implications for our climate and environment if Donald Trump were to win the election. He shows how a second Trump presidency would greatly slow down the transition to renewable energy at a time when it’s imperative we drastcially speed it up. McKibben writes:
If a Trump administration was merely going to be a four-year interregnum, it would be annoying. But in fact it comes at precisely the moment when we need, desperately, acceleration. We’re on the edge of breaking the planet’s climate system – we can see it cracking in the poles (the Thwaites glacier now undermined by warm seawater), in the Atlantic (the great currents now starting to slow) and in the Amazon (where savannafication seems to be gathering speed). The earth’s hydrological system – how water moves around the earth – has already gone kaflooey, as warm air holds far more water vapor than cold.
The world’s climate scientists have done their best to set out a timetable: cut emissions in half by 2030 or see the possibilities of anything like the Paris pathway, holding temperature increases to 1.5C above preindustrial levels, disappear. That cut is on the bleeding edge of the technically possible, but only if everyone is acting in good faith. And the next presidential term will end in January of 2029, which is 11 months before 2030.
If we elect Donald Trump, we may feel the effects not for years, and not for a generation. We may read our mistake in the geological record a million years hence. This one really counts.
Read the rest over at The Guardian
MORE ON THE ELECTION
Can young climate voters (or “Republicans for Harris”) tip the balance?
Sammy Roth’s Boiling Point column, “Young climate voters were tired of Biden. They’ve embraced Harris — mostly” (LA Times)
“Kamala Harris’ Favorability Is Sky High Among Young Voters in Battleground States” (Inside Climate News)
“Trump’s Latest Problem? Republicans for Harris” (Bloomberg)
That debate
Here’s a climate-focused debate post-mortem from
:For more debate analysis, check out “The Harris-Trump Debate and Environmental Policy” from Legal Planet.
INVITATION
The NorCal team of Clean Energy for Harris (a group of over 16,000 volunteers working to elect VP Kamala Harris as the next President in support of a clean energy agenda that aligns with US climate goals and commitments) is inviting folks to join a fun and inspiring fundraising event!
Event details:
Monday Sept 16, 6-8 pm at The Portal, 33 Reed Blvd, Mill Valley