On Oct. 10, Dr. Audrey Depeltau, director of the ETSU Innovation Lab, and ETSU student Irene Poulton joined former Vice President Al Gore and The Climate Reality Project for “24 Hours of Reality”, a 24-hour event dedicated to raising awareness about climate change.
The event and events like this are great opportunities for academics, scientists and individuals concerned with climate change to exchange ideas and learn from one another. But at this pivotal moment in our history, is the exchange of ideas enough?
We need to move beyond “having conversations” about climate change. The problem is not a lack of dialogue around this issue. Climate change has been a part of our national discourse for the better part of three decades now.
The effects of climate catastrophe are all around us: the West Coast is routinely on fire, each successive year breaks the record for “hottest year on record” and the water supply of entire cities are poisoned by corporations. Still, no substantial change has been made and on the pollution-hazed horizon, there is no promise of respite.
The few concessions liberal politicians are willing to make conveniently do not affect the bottom line of their biggest donors. In all climate policy on the table, save for the Green New Deal, workers are left out of the conversation almost entirely. In the transition to a green economy, entire sectors of the economy will dramatically change to accommodate the massive structural changes.
Any climate policy that does not include a federal job guarantee fundamentally fails to recognize the most vital economic force in the climate debate: the worker. Other climate “solutions” point the blame at developing nations with high emissions, suggesting they should be punished for the crime of industrializing later than the imperial core. These are just some of the more nuanced conversations about climate change the leaders of our country refuse to take part in, let alone take action on.
Both presidential candidates firmly refuse to commit to the climate policy necessary to save our planet. While Trump and his cohort deny the existence of climate change, Biden’s response is perhaps crueler. He is proud to tout his belief in its existence, even solemnly nodding as he calls it an “existential threat”, but when asked outright if he plans on adopting the Green New Deal or even simply banning fracking he responds with a resolute “no”.
What good does it do anyone to have faithful witnesses to our suffering if they are unwilling to do anything about it? If the man who wears the mollifying mask of compassion shakes the same hands of oil barons and defense contractors as the man who laughs in our face, what difference does it make?
We do need to advance the dialogue with regards to climate change. However, this conversation will never move forward so long as those with a vested material interest in the continual polluting of the earth remain in power. As we move dangerously close to the point of no return, it is imperative that we recognize climate change for what it is: class warfare waged against working people by people whose infinite reserves of wealth will always protect them from hardship. The conversation must continue, but that conversation must be met with action strong enough to take on existing powers.
