COP26, the 26th United Nations Climate Change conference, is happening in the UK right now. So far, the event appears to be more a celebration of the status quo than a prelude to meaningful climate action. Swedish activist Greta Thunberg is entirely unimpressed by the conference. According to CNBC:
Thunberg said COP26 had been described as “the most exclusionary COP ever,” saying those at the sharp end of the climate crisis remain unheard. She added that the event could be considered a “two-week-long celebration of business as usual and blah, blah, blah.”
This blah, blah, blah echoes some of the activist's other recent comments about climate inaction. From the same CNBC article:
“Net zero by 2050. Blah, blah, blah. Net zero. Blah, blah, blah. Climate neutral. Blah, blah, blah. This is all we hear from our so-called leaders. Words that sound great but so far have led to no action. Our hopes and dreams drown in their empty words and promises,” Thunberg said in September.
Having spent some of my younger years deeply involved in environmental activism, I've found the environmental movement's direction in the last decade disappointing. Thunberg's sentiments echo my own. Actually, I think the focus on carbon is itself problematic. It ignores too many equally pressing environmental concerns.
The insect apocalypse, amounting to the disappearance of 75% of the world's insects in the last 50 years, is a case in point. Pesticides and habitat destruction are driving this problem. The solution is simple. Stop wrecking and poisoning ecosystems. But world leaders want to keep wrecking and poisoning ecosystems. So they talk about carbon, and consistently manage to avoid real action even on that narrow front.
If the US was serious about the environment, it could start by leaving Bakken oil in the ground, completely overhauling its regulation of agricultural and industrial chemicals, and shifting away from single use plastics on a national level. Unfortunately, the US isn't serious about the environment. Neither is most of the rest of the industrialized world.
One area where progress is starting to be made concerns two-stroke gas-powered leaf blowers. These things produce significantly more emissions than heavy trucks due to their inefficient engines. Recently, some parts of the US have started phasing these toxic blowers out. Replacing the gas-powered leaf blowers with electric equivalents won't make them any less damaging to the insects whose life-cycles they disrupt. But it will result in fewer emissions.
Another area where I see some hope is in our understanding of soil health and how to cultivate this. Healthy soil is the literal ground on which robust ecosystems are built. And there's still much for us to discover about what we can do to make soil more healthy. If we can figure out soil health, then large scale carbon sequestration will become more feasible, and our leaders may be less likely to attempt to fix the environment with insane technological band aids.
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
Read my novels:
- Psychic Avalanche is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- One Man Embassy is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Flying Saucer Shenanigans is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Rainbow Lullaby is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- The Ostermann Method is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
- Blue Dragon Mississippi is available in print via Blurb and for Kindle on Amazon.
Check out the comic I wrote:
- Finney Vol 1 Immutable Journey is available as a free e-comic.