I may work as a software engineer, but my degree is in physics. I've read the reports, as well as a lot of other researchers comments on climate. We're in real trouble. Frankly, panic attacks are an entirely justified and justifiable reaction, if not the most productive.
The IPCC, which has consistently been proven to have been overly optimistic about climate change, is sounding a drastic alarm. They're saying we need to cut carbon by 45% in the next decade across the board or face "catastrophic" consequences. As if nearly semi-annual thousand year hurricane events and the west coast in flames weren't already catastrophic consequences.
Reducing carbon emissions by 45% means making half the cars on the road electric or getting them off the road entirely in 10 years. It means converting half of our power system to solar, wind, nuclear, or hydro in 10 years. It means forcing carbon producing industry to cut emissions by half in ten years, and getting half the people who use home heating oil to use alternatives in the next ten years. And if we fall short in one area, we need to make it up in another. And this needs to happen globally.
To be brutally honest, we're _not_ going to hit that target. Period. It's just not going to happen. The level and speed of change that needs to happen is effectively out of reach. We've, realistically, already locked in catastrophic consequences.
But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. Every tiny bit of progress we make helps reduce the consequences we face and could potentially save lives. I'm, most likely, going to be running for city council in my city on a climate response platform that involves building out the transit, bike, and pedestrian infrastructure -- disincentivizing driving in the process -- and finding ways to get solar panels on people's roofs that don't require the local power company's consent. Who knows whether I'll win or not, but at least I can force the conversation.
You can do the same. It doesn't matter how small or insignificant your town may seem, every little bit helps. A lot of people think this is going to take national action, and they're not wrong, but it's also going to take local action. And we can't afford to wait for the national action.
We need to build infrastructure that allows people to forgo driving. We need to build dense housing that makes it easy for people to live with in walking or biking distance of their work and the amenities they need. We need to get people using solar and wind to power their homes. We can do these things at the local level. In fact, most of things things _have_ to happen at the local level. Even if we end up with a federal green new deal program, we're going to have to enact these things locally.
Again, we're not going to hit the target and we're going to be facing catastrophic consequences. If you're in a coastal region, think about getting out now. If you're in southern Florida -- seriously, get out now. Find a new community and start putting down roots. The IPCC thinks we're not going to have to worry about Florida until sometime around 2080 or 2100, but the IPCC has consistently been wrong. James Hansen's team's finding, which suggests we could lose most of Florida as early as 2050 keeps getting replicated.
Luckily, for the communities not at risk of annihilation the things they need to do to prevent climate change are also the best ways to prepare for the consequences: build lots of dense, walkable housing so that we can absorb the migrations with out emitting carbon in transportation. Build large resilient local food systems. Get people using renewables.
We pretty much know what we have to do -- we have to totally transform our society -- and we know how we have to do it. The issue is over coming the inertia and building the political will to do it.
So you can totally be forgiven for having panic attacks (and for the love of all that is holy, don't you dare make fun of people who are experiencing them -- those people are accurately grappling with reality while you're in denial), but do your best to get through them and then just get to work. We know what we have to do. Lets do our best to get it done.