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The papers are filled with stories about a hotly debated issue in which even the basic premise that there really is a crisis is in contention. Foes on the right argue against taking any action and resist all plans for change. Foes on the left argue against current proposals as too long on compromise and too short on fundamental change. Industry groups are pouring millions into well-organized ad campaigns and "spontaneous" citizen protests.
Yes sir, that climate change debate is a corker. Oh, excuse me; did you think I was talking about health care reform? Well, I guess I could have been. Both debates are unfolding along very similar lines as important deadlines for action loom ever closer. Congressional action on health reform must be completed in this legislative session. A critical climate meeting in Copenhagen in December will determine the likelihood of effective action on climate change any time soon.
Climate change and health care reform are both caught in a vise, with the right pushing on one side saying that too much is being done and the left pushing on the other side saying that not enough is being done. Turning the handle are the special interest groups and the media, both of which have a vested interests in ratcheting up the rhetoric.
In both cases I will boldly predict that some action will be taken. In both instances it will be far short of what most experts feel is needed. There is one big difference.
As a consequence of failing to adequately deal with the health care issue, things will continue pretty much as they have been for the last several decades. Some people will definitely die sooner than they would have had they been able to receive quality medical care at a reasonable cost free of arbitrary constraints imposed by the insurance industry. Millions more will continue to struggle with no health insurance at all. The federal deficit will continue to pile up as a result of unrestrained entitlement spending, limiting our collective ability to deal with other problems, such as climate change.
As a consequence of failing to adequately deal with climate change, the planet as we know it will slowly morph into an environment far less hospitable to mankind, directly threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundred of millions of people around the globe. More importantly, unless something is done soon, we will very likely reach certain tipping points - most notably the release of methane from the melting permafrost - that will set in motion changes that will be beyond our capacity to control.
Sound pretty grim to you? Well, it should. Think I'm too alarmist? Well, time will tell. Whether the methane does or does not get released into the atmosphere is pretty easy to determine. Whether health care costs are contained or continue to spiral out of control is pretty easy to determine.
What you need to be asking yourself is where do you stand (or sit) on these issues. This is a critical moment. Failing to act now will very likely mean that no effective action on either issue will occur soon enough or deep enough to forestall an even graver set of problems from developing.
This essay first appeared on www.PlanetRestart.org
