sustainability

For those of you who have been following climate change in newspapers, science magazines, and other media over the past couple of decades, there’s nothing new here. While scientists cannot predict the exact trajectory of climate change, we are already experiencing it, and the main cause is the amount of carbon that we pumped into our atmosphere during the 20th century. Even by conservative estimates, we will face rising oceans, droughts, powerful hurricanes, and a host of other global changes. Worst case scenarios are even more dire. Director Davis Guggenheim succeed in putting this familiar data together in a package that is designed to motivate. The main point of the film is that we must act now.

Unfortunately, the potential effect of the film is diminished by the fact that it will tend to preach to the choir, people who have already reviewed the science on climate change and respect it. When asked if he’ll see An Inconvenient Truth, our President quipped, “Doubt it.” The attitude that this issue is not worth exploring is, perhaps, the greatest obstacle that we face.

For now, we can reasonably expect—like the residents of New Orleans last September—that we are on our own when it comes to help from the federal government. Still there are things that we can and must do in the meantime. We all need to start with ourselves by examining our lifestyles and looking for ways to dramatically reduce carbon emissions. Over the years, the Voice has published many articles on such efforts, most notably the work of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. We will continue to do our best to explore real solutions.

We also need to organize through local politics. For this year’s elections, the issue that I am most concerned about is climate change. Of course, I am interested in where candidates stand on a variety of issues (education, policing, housing). But I will be especially tuned to hear how they intend to make our community, our county, our state, our country energy sustainable. I would like to hear some urgency in their plans. In other words, I would like to hear that they “get it”.

Montgomery County is on track to getting 20 percent of its energy from wind within the next five years, thanks in large part to County Councilmember George Leventhal. That’s a good start. Let's see the Montgomery County continue to lead the way in even more dramatic fashion, rethinking our approach to transportation, electricity, heating, and agriculture.

Then, on to Maryland. We need leaders in the General Assembly who will do likewise. By so doing, the economy and unity of Maryland will benefit.

We tend to look back on World War II with nostalgia, perhaps because it was a time that Americans came together to defeat a global evil. In recent years, the people who united against fascism have been called “The Greatest Generation.”

Why can't we be a “greatest generation”? We need to be. The challenge is clear. And what could be more exciting than taking part in a clean energy revolution? Once we've suceeded, we'll look back on the petroleum and coal age of today much as we do now at the era when we hunted whales for lamp oil. How crude!

The prospect of global warming can be overwhelming. And scientists polled about Gore's movie say that he may be overly optimistic about reversing the trend. But, for the sake of our children, we cannot throw in the towel. We need to establish rings of sustainability. We make our households sustainable. We make our community sustainable. We make Montgomery County sustainable. We make Maryland sustainable. We make the U.S. sustainable. We make the world sustainable.

We don't give up. And we vote for candidates who get it.

This month, the Voice willl inaugurate a weblog on which we can (civilly) share ideas about sustainability: takoma.com/sustainability. Please check in and contribute to the conversation.

— Eric Bond
Voice Editor-in-chief