Earth Day deserves respect

Another Earth Day has passed, and another Procession of the Species has joyously celebrated the miraculous diversity of life on our little blue marble in space.

But with every passing Earth Day, the undertow of sadness – for lost species, polluted waters and rising temperatures – grows stronger. The precarious balance between hope and despair teeters.

On the hope side of the ledger, the past year brought us the Paris climate agreement, rapidly falling prices for renewable energy, and a cool new Tesla electric car. Each one of these is historic and potentially game-changing.

But the same year has brought us a presidential campaign in which Republican candidates dismiss climate change, a Supreme Court decision that blocked President Obama’s clean energy plan, and state Senate action to stop Governor Inslee’s attempts to limit carbon emissions.

And as encouraging as the Paris climate accord is, experts still say even its full implementation – something they acknowledge is unlikely – would not be enough to forestall exceeding the global target for limiting rising temperatures to 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. According to NASA, global temperatures are already up by .87 of a degree Celsius.

Droughts, floods and wildfires are intensifying, and other signs of climate change abound. Many species are on the move as earlier springs, hotter summers, and changes in precipitation alter their habitats.

Yet the stubborn refusal to face the reality of climate change persists in our political culture. It remains an inconvenient truth for the fossil fuel industry and its minions, and for conservatives across the country.

Even among those who recognize its reality, it often seems that the devastation of climate change consequences have not quite sunk in. A world in which the sea level has risen several feet, the snow has disappeared from the ski slopes, and salmon can only survive in Alaskan waters is simply too hard – and too sad – to imagine.

But looking the other way is the ultimate folly, and the ultimate failure of human intelligence.

Too many of us are in the habit of thinking that we live in such a rich and powerful country that we can handle whatever happens. If the sea level rises, we will engineer solutions to protect our coastal cities. If there are droughts in one place, we will grow food in another. If the forests burn, we will put out the fires. If refugees from climate catastrophes in other countries are starving, we will send some foreign aid.

All of that is tragically magical thinking.

Our national Forest Service now spends more than half its budget on fighting fires – up from 16 percent 20 years ago. This means they lack funding for fire prevention. State costs for fighting wildfires are similarly catastrophic.

The estimated cost to protect downtown Olympia from a three-foot rise in the sea level is estimated at $100 million, which is not far from the city’s total annual budget. And Olympia is just one of thousands of coastal communities who will face similar challenges with similarly staggering costs.

The United States is not likely to remain a rich and powerful nation in a world beset by climate chaos.

So we need more than hope; we need action, and we need it now. This fall’s elections will be critical. We will we choose a president who will set the course for both national and global responses. And we will vote on Initiative 732, a carbon tax initiative that, despite its imperfections, moves the dial to reduce emissions.

We fervently hope that by next year’s Earth Day, there will be more to celebrate, and a broader recognition that we cannot claim to love the earth and keep burning fossil fuels much longer.

This story was originally published April 23, 2016 at 5:33 PM with the headline "Earth Day deserves respect."