Well, another Earth Day is here, and we’re still killing life on our planet by burning fossil fuels.
What will it take for us to move past the 17th century technology that pollutes the air we breathe and the climate? Time will tell. Well, maybe it has.
Time magazine named Greta Thunberg, a Swedish schoolkid who started a movement to strike for climate action when she was only 15, as one of our world’s most influential people. She’s already sparked policy changes with school strikes by millions of children. The May 24 strike (coincidentally the anniversary of Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si) will be the largest strike in Earth’s history, though, and should even get Americans to finally act.
Science denialists will obfuscate about how we need to burn fossil fuels by saying we’ll have to live without cars, heat or any of our modern technologies. But science has produced the tools necessary for us to live even better without so much pollution. Does your smartphone have a gas tank, or can you charge it with solar panels?
Science and innovation haven’t proven up to the task of getting any country besides Costa Rica to move away from fossil fuels, though. It’s going to take a lot of political will to overcome the resources of the coal, oil and gas lobbyists and, hopefully, the children can finally convince us adults to act like adults.
Kevin Leecaster, Salt Lake City