The atmosphere
To control carbon dioxide in the atmosphere we must reduce the burning of fossil fuels, especially coal. The challenge is to increase wind, solar and other energy alternatives while we reduce fossil fuels so that there is a smooth transition from one to the other, allowing our homes and factories to continue to function. This also means that we must create high-efficiency transmission lines to move power from the prime areas for wind and solar to the cities where most people live and work. To do all of this efficiently, I think we need a- Power Change-Over Agency to plan and control these developments.
For all their efforts, most of the Congress lacks the technical and scientific background to achieve the best results with a minimum of unexpected side effects. They are also subject to intense pressure from the fossil fuel industries and others to compromise their laws to benefit those industries. An independent agency, dedicated to planning the change, would have the long-range perspective to design better solutions and monitor their effects. They could provide the Congress with a series of change-over plans for their enactment into law.
For example, high temperatures are usually reached in the afternoons of summer days. If all air conditioners were required to be powered by solar panels on the property, that strong sunshine energy would be used to cool the interior of buildings without stressing the power supply. A new law could require that all air conditioners be accompanied by solar collectors of sufficient capacity for their operation. Such a law would likely eliminate brownouts during heat waves.
The preservation of the remaining species is primarily a matter of preserving sufficient areas and quality of their habitats. By limiting CO2 we can reduce the acidification of the oceans that threatens the survival of many corals and shellfish. The large mammals require much greater preserves. This means the purchase of many privately owned lands and the elimination of poachers. Here in the U.S. only a few small areas of the original prairie grasses remain. They may be important as future sources of food for humans and animals. It is important that they be preserved and protected from contamination by genetically altered species.
The patenting of natural DNA by corporations inhibits the use and breeding of new varieties. The existing patents should be bought up by government and released from protection so that all peoples can save the seeds they grow and benefit from the plants that they have historically cultivated.
Fighting the Right War
Most of the projects that I have mentioned require a far greater investment of talent, money and energy to be effective. The hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on the military are useless against rising temperatures, storms, droughts and the flooding of low-lying areas, etc. In fact, the military is the greatest single consumer of petroleum fuels.
We have yet to reduce the greenhouse gasses that cause climate change, even though they are a greater threat than any likely attack on the United States. Normally, it is the job of the military to prepare for the worst imaginable situation. They pay for the development of weapons to counter other weapons that could possibly be developed in the future. But our situation is not normal, and these preparations stimulate other nations to prepare their own defenses and counter attacks.
Why should we install unproved anti-missile systems in Europe to anticipate attacks by unstable Iran? Because the anti-missile business is one of the most challenging, expensive and profitable lines of business in the whole military-industrial complex. But we must end this lavish luxury, because we urgently need these brains, energies and moneys to solve the difficult problems of developing and making alternative forms of energy that can replace the climate-changing effects of fossil fuels.
Climate Change is the Big Threat. Properly handled, we can minimize global heating and the chaos that will accompany it.- And while doing so we will be developing a whole new energy industry and the production of alternative energy systems that are urgently needed by people around the world to reduce their output of greenhouse gasses. But we cannot succeed while devoting half of the federal budget to preparing for wars, weapons and enemies that do not exist.
Over and over again we are told that we must defend our "interests" around the world. That we must continue to be a global power, even though our army, our treasury and our people are exhausted by war. President Johnson proved that we cannot have "guns and butter." It is obvious that we cannot afford the effort to dominate the world and solve the problems of climate change at the same time. If we forgo our largely corporate "interests" and seriously invest in the reduction of global warming and the repair of the biosphere, we will lead the world to a new life in which national defense will become what it was meant to be, the defense of our nation.
Peter G Cohen, artist and activist, has been concerned about the environment since the 1950s. In 1952 he designed a pamphlet for the government of West Bengal on the use of green manure. In the 1980s his painting series, "Syngamy," called attention to the threats to the human gene pool (see petergcohen.com). He is the author of the website nukefreeworld.com and other internet articles. Peter now lives in Santa Barbara, where he can be reached at aerie2@verizon.net
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