A Stitch in Time Saves Nine

Today I pulled out a couple sewing projects. One was a pair of old jeans. I guess I will never be a fashion guru, I still mend the holes. I adhere to the old saying a stitch in time saves nine.  My sewing project coincided with listening to the CNN Climate Townhall and reading the Time magazine article on Mississippi River Flooding.

Climate wise, the last time we could have pulled out our climate needle and put in a couple climate stitches was 1989. In 1989 the United Nations assembled the best climate scientists to assess the challenge. There was widespread agreement among the scientists of all participating nations. Despite Republican President George Bush’s pledge to confront the greenhouse effect with the White House effect, he directed his Chief of Staff, John Sununu, to torpedo the UN effort.

 We cannot go back to a single stitch inexpensive solution.  The opportunity was lost. Except for a carbon fee and dividend, (HR763), there are no low budget easy fixes. Today’s climate reality means we must move aggressively, or we will be the next generation’s villains.

The Democratic Presidential Contenders, during the marathon climate town-hall, came out swinging with some pretty impressive proposals with large projected costs. I trust they are doing their homework, but I am afraid the costs projections are far too low. The cost of fixing the climate, if we choose to do so, will be large…BUT it is a fraction of the cost of choosing irresponsible shortsighted inaction again.

The world’s biggest financial institutions have known this for years. The international businesses who have the biggest patch of financial skin in the climate game are the world’s banks and insurance underwriters. These massive companies get together annually in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum (WEF) to analyze global risks. The WEF determines what and where the biggest financial threats are. They put together a chart called the “Global Risks Landscape”. The chart identifies numerous potential catastrophes like terrorist attacks, cyber-attacks and nuclear war.  The four most likely risks with the highest potential damage factor are extreme weather events, natural disasters, large scale involuntary migrations, and failure of climate change mitigation and adaptation. These risks are all interrelated and are, as we painfully know, playing out world-wide.

If you read the (SEP 2-9, 2019) Time magazine report about our Mississippi River and this year’s floods you realize the Army Corp of Engineers Herculean task to semi-manage the great river was done well despite the flood damage. Or, they got lucky.  Things could have been much worse.

We will have to get lucky in the future or we will have to pony up the money to adapt and to mitigate. The effects of a warming ocean and warming atmosphere means, according to the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), we will have up to five times more big storms packing up to 70% more rain by the year 2100. To meet the flood threat, escalating with our continued use of coal, oil and gas, our Corp will be challenged both technically and financially.

It is time to elect a president and congress with the courage to tackle the climate threat. Every day we put off implementing solutions the more expensive the solutions become.  A well researched 2015 Citi-Corp report put the cost of climate inaction at 44 Trillion by 2060. Similar warnings have been issued by the International Energy Agency. The World Bank warned inaction means future generations will be saddled with endlessly increasing adaptation costs.

At this stage of the game, we need to elect functioning adults. One of my criteria to be labelled a modern functioning adult is a person must be curious, determined to understand climate science the best they can, and possess the courage to implement solutions. It was refreshing to see ten adults, the democratic contenders, accept the settled climate science consensus. They know the bigger forest fires, warming oceans, deeper floods and larger storms are not hitting us by a quirk of fate.

The climate atmospheric fabric is torn in many places. To fix it will take knowledge, innovation, determination, cooperation and an attempt to be fair and compassionate. The economy will shift and grow. It will modernize as we grab our needles and thread to mend the atmospheric fabric. There will be plenty of work, challenges, and even failures on the road to success.

Some folks will have a tough time in the transition. I believe Americans are people with a heart large enough to ensure no one is left behind; especially our kids.

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