The big news in the country is how to survive, yet again, record heat and its consequences. Going on for decades has been the constant message that this would happen, the causes should be dealt with, and we, like frogs in the pot heading toward the boil, have not been adequately concerned.
We continue to assuage ourselves: our personal impact on the climate is insignificant, the government will fix it and science will find a miracle. Effective action toward the root of the problem, greenhouse gas emissions, will require genuine sacrifice now, something that many of us are loath to encounter, or huge, perhaps unmanageable, sacrifice from our following generations. This woolly blanket that we’ve created around us means that if all manmade emissions stopped today, the climate would continue to warm for some time before that blanket dissipates. Alternatively we can continue to add to this blanket — it will only be a little warmer next year. Warmer. Warmer. Warmer.
