OMG, can you believe what is happening in regards to the election! Yesterday it was reported that up to 70% of Republicans still believe there was some kind of fraud even though there is no evidence of any kind as stated, in many cases, by Republicans in charge of the election process. We are in the midst of a horrific escalation in Covid-19 cases and deaths, but still a large number of people believe it is a hoax and I just saw the end of VP Pence rally in Georgia where less than 30% of people were wearing masks and not socially distancing!
My point here is what does this say about people and how can we hope that they will begin to deal with the huge challenges around Climate Change? Everyone is going to have to make significant changes in their lifestyles and the cost to convert from a fossil based economy is going to be in the neighborhood of 70 trillion dollars worldwide. Keep in mind that although we are faced with the biggest pandemic in the last 100 yrs, I doubt that globally, more that 5 trillion dollars has been spent to deal with it (this does not count the economic impact but rather the subsidies provided and monies spent for vaccine, therapies and hospitalizations).
I used to be a inconvertible optimist, we can do anything we set our minds to, I said. Well, I actually still believe that but the pragmatist in me realizes that getting everyone on board is pretty unlikely. Always a more important fight to pay attention to. Good news is that we have seen a absolute record in developing vaccines for Covid-19 and if everyone gets them, maybe by the end of 2021, this problem will be under some level of control (at a huge cost in lives and livelihood). That shows we can do amazing things but will we?
So as we end 2020 and enter 2021, maybe it is time to start thinking about how best to prepare for the impact from Climate Change while doing everything we can personally do to minimize our carbon footprint. I am developing a sustainability farm project Washington State which is in year 2 and more than likely won’t be completed for another 3-4 yrs. This is a very big project and on the extreme end of what one might do to prepare for the next 30 yrs of challenges but that said, getting a strategy in place does take time and I would suggest that 2021 is the time to do so.