Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

millennial hope S 159
assumptions that the Earth is a machine and that it can be fi xed by
other machines, a variant of the kind of thinking that got us in the
mess in the fi rst place. As with earlier technological fi xes, they will
incur unanticipated consequences that will create still other problems
to be fi xed by still more machines, at a great profi t to large
organizations that will bear no part of the liabilities arising from
consequences of their making. Geoengineering, salvation by gadgetry,
rests on the belief that we are incapable of better behavior,
learning, foresight, sacrifi ce, or exercising wisdom about the longterm
consequences of what we do. In the words of one analyst,
“No one knows today whether geoengineering could ever make
sense” (Kunzig, 2008, p. 55). It is clear, however, that at best it is a
temporary patch on a deeper problem whose solution begins by
changing the way we harness and use energy.
Even in the most optimistic scenario, however, no known
technology could be deployed on the scale necessary in the time
available to avert the gathering storm. The conclusion is unavoidable:
a great deal that we have long taken for granted, like the
Sunday drive, the trip to the mall, the SUV, cheap food on wellstocked
store shelves, or even the transition from one season to
another, will likely become intermittent, or perhaps even distant
memories. As climate destabilization bears down on us, there will
be a lot less talk about economic growth, progress, individualism,
empire, and defense of “the American way of life.” These concepts
will some day be no more useful to us than the ghost dances once
were to the Plains Indians in halting the tide of white civilization
sweeping across what was once their land.
Given the evidence is that the road ahead will be longer
and more diffi cult than our leaders have been willing to admit,
and likely longer and more diffi cult than they understand. But our
immediate steps are clear: preserve soil and forests, save species,
use less, deploy solar technologies, throw the rascals out, demand
accountability in government and business, elect leaders with the
courage and intelligence to lead in the right direction, and shift