Sitting at a small noisy coffee shop in Washington D.C.
“If we don’t take drastic measures soon, the world is going to end because of climate change and we are all going to die.”
I shifted the hot coffee from my left to right hand, “We are all going to die one day. So far that has proven to be unavoidable.”
“Yeah, but the global temperature is on an undeniable trend upward, ice caps are shrinking at never seen before rates, the oceans are rising and will soon be flooding cities, vital drinking water sources are being evaporated, deadly droughts are causing global food shortages, extreme weather events are becoming more deadly and more common, animals are being displaced because their habitat has been deforested, disease is spreading at higher rates than ever, a dust bowl might be forming in the West, and fair-trade coffee beans are getting harder to find!” She hollered.
“Don’t forget the bees are dying also.”
“Don’t even get me started on the bees.”
“Lover of honey?”
“Huh?” She leaned in to hear better as the coffee shop grew louder.
“Lover of honey?”
“No, just a passionate advocate of all things nature. I can’t stomach sitting around and watching things die.”
“Everything dies, even passion. That’s a fact.”
Bagel delivery.
“It just doesn’t add up, you say you want to protect nature, but you don’t support candidates and legislation that are pro-environment.”
“Define environment.”
“I mean the world, nature, trees, life, biodiversity, frogs, bugs. The natural world really.”
“Seems like an awful broad definition if you ask me. Doesn’t add much clarity to the conversation.”
“Regardless, clarity is not the issue here. We need to stop relying on fossil fuels and go fully electric by 2030!”
“2030? Why did you pick that date?”
She was visibly annoyed. “Ugh”, arms crossed, “I bet you don’t even support environmental justice and restitution for minority communities.”
“Slow down, one issue at a time. No need to muddle ourselves.”
“Ok, ok.” She took a gulp of her vanilla latte (almond milk of course, she would never dream of stealing milk from cows).
“Let’s start with global warming. We have to keep the temperature from rising more than 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. The best way to achieve this goal is to remove and reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere by going fully electric.”
“What does the pre-industrial levels mean? How many degrees Celsius are in a degree of Fahrenheit? Producing electricity doesn’t add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere?”
Another bagel delivery, this time with cream cheese.
“You are just avoiding the real issues with your silly word games again.”
“Never. Definitions are important to any discussion, that’s all.”
“Well, your desire to define every term is getting in the way of the real current problems, like the bleaching of our oceans’ corals reefs.”
“I don’t want the coral reefs to bleach, just like I don’t want to use the same word as you and have it mean something different. Both seem equally problematic. What I really want is to be on the same page as you. To use the same words and have them mean the same thing. To discuss complex issues using meaningful words. To actually understand the issues at hand and not conflate theory with reality. I want to use real sentences and not evening news talking points. I want to dissect real ideas, not just slogans.”
“Like the Green New Deal?” She smiled smugly.
“Yeah, like the Green New Deal. You don’t even know what the hell that is in its entirety, other than you heard it on the news one night and decided to regurgitate it to a friend over coffee.”
“Now, now, no need for cursing. I understand your point, although I do believe you are dodging the real issues. But let’s actually get into it, shall we?”
“Gladly.”
The door of the coffee shop flew open, ringing the small silver bell above the door. Standard practice to have one, no real reason why. The barista wasn’t blind.
“I’ll start simple.”
“There is no simple when it comes to. . .”
“OK, well, I’ll start here, whether it’s simple or not. I think we need to dash our reliance on fossil fuels, specifically coal, and move strongly towards other forms of cleaner energy.”
“Can’t say I disagree with that. We need cleaner energy, we just need too much of it.”
“Well good, sounds like we somewhat agree. It’s away with coal power plants and hello to clean nuclear power plants.”
“Well hold on a minute, don’t nuclear power plants produce radioactive waste as a result of energy production? That’s not clean. What do you propose to do with this radioactive waste? Seems rather dangerous to those that live around the plant.”
She pushed her clean plate forward.
“Well sure, but nuclear is the only power source that we currently have that can produce the amount of energy we need to eliminate our coal usage completely. I’m sure they have the technology to safely dispose of radioactive waste. Even if they don’t, the research has gotta be in the works, and we can’t be far away from a practical solution.”
“Possibly, but accidents happen. What if instead of nuclear power plants and radioactive waste to dispose of we just consumed less electricity? You know? Bought less things we didn’t need. Drove our electric cars less often. Watched less television. Opened windows instead of A/C. Read more books.”
“Oh, so you are against economic growth and anti-jobs? Consuming less would damage the economy you know. You don’t want that do you?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“But you would rather destroy the economy than use nuclear power!”
I paused to gather my thoughts and shifted my half-drunk coffee from right to left hand.
“I’m anti-endless growth and unnecessary waste. I’m anti-consumerism. Anti-excess. I think our society has grown exponentially in both size and scale and this growth has birthed vast amounts of needless waste and pollution into the world. Nuclear energy isn’t clean, just like solar, wind or hydro aren’t without their drawbacks. I don’t think the issue lies in finding the perfect alternative energy to coal, because it doesn’t exist. All fall short in one way or another. But what if the discussion looked different? What if instead of investing trillions of dollars into boundless energy research to meet our carnivorous demand for energy we just consumed less to begin with. Used less. Lived simpler, with less excess and less demand for energy. Maybe we don’t need to dash our reliance on fossil fuels at all, but rather our excessive energy consumption in general.”
“Perhaps.” She pondered for a while.
“So you do admit that something needs to happen in order to prevent the catastrophic effects of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere?”
“Of course, only a fool would disagree. I am merely suggesting that we aren’t viewing this issue with the proper lens that its complexity demands. A changing climate won’t be solved by any talking point or slogan and certainly not through a single policy from those bloated bureaucrats in Washington. We gotta stop looking elsewhere for what can be found under our own nose, in our own community and in our households. I think the most effective remedy to a changing climate is plainly less of the bad and more of the simple, right? Less waste, less trees cut down, less driving of cars, less buying of produce from faraway places, less A/C, less TV watching, less buying of things we don’t need, less needless waste, and absolutely less dogs in sweaters. More farmers markets, more produce co-ops, more local, more reading, more reuse of things not terribly broken, ride sharing, more open windows, more outside entertainment and definitely more front porch conversations.”
“Why must I change?” The tone escalated. “Why do I have to change the way I live? It’s ridiculous to suggest this is the individual’s problem and we can somehow solve it by small change in our lives. IT’S NOT THE INDIVIDUAL’S FAULT. IT’S NOT OUR FAULT. It’s the industries, the corrupt corporations and the child sweatshops in Indonesia. The evil politicians and the dark money. It’s the wastewater treatment plants polluting our rivers, the coal power plants dumping clouds into the sky, the logging companies attacking the forests. It’s them, it’s their fault, not ME. Not US.”
“And why do you think they are still in business, all these evil corporations? Who is buying the trash and trinkets they produce? Who is voting for them because they promised more stimulus money? Who is funding their endeavors by donating to political campaigns? Who is demanding more energy than can be produced? More lumber than exists? Who is it?! Who’s doing it?! If it’s not you then who?!”
The coffee shop was quiet now, most customers had long departed from their lunch break and back into their LED lighted office buildings (LED light bulbs save energy and money). The bell above the door rang again. It interrupted a long silence that hung over the corner table where two young stubborn and unpaid Capitol Hill interns sat, discussing the present issues.
Coffee cups and plates now empty.
“And if we need more front porch conversations, why are you working on Capitol Hill as an unpaid Senate intern?”
“Now that’s a damn good question.”
Image Credit: Jean-François Millet, “The Angelus” (1859)
