This commentary is by Greg Dennis of Cornwall, a writer and longtime climate activist. An earlier version of this article appeared in the Addison County Independent.
“Humans are not simply an accident of existence or an experiment that has run its course. Humans are a risk taken by the forces of creation in the interest of bringing conscious awareness and liberating insight into both the failures and triumphs of existence.” — Michael Meade, “Awakening the Soul.”
If Michael Meade is correct, then studying our failures is as important as celebrating our triumphs. As someone who has been involved in environmental movements since the first Earth Day in 1970, I’ve come to some difficult conclusions about what’s worked for us and what hasn’t.
If we don’t solve the climate crisis, none of humanity’s other problems will matter all that much. And if we can’t learn from the recent past, we’ll never stop our rapid decline into a hot, unstable and increasingly uninhabitable planet.
So here’s a personal and necessarily incomplete assessment of some of the challenges we face, and what some of our opportunities are.
First the not-so-good news.
The limits of high tech. The ongoing debacle of the Chevy Bolt — an electric vehicle subject to a 140,000-car recall due to the risk of battery fires — is a reminder that it takes years to iron out the bugs of technological solutions. This remains true for carbon-capture technologies, “clean” hydrogen and other promising but unproven approaches.
Burning wood. Vermonters have relied for centuries on wood heat. It can be a semi-green solution, especially when pelletized and used in larger buildings. But it produces harmful emissions in wood stoves and fireplaces.
Hydropower. Vermont officially counts hydro as emission-free energy. But it’s not. Flooding forests in Quebec to produce more hydropower results in additional releases of CO2 and methane. Hydro may sometimes be better than fossil fuels but it ain’t perfect.
“Renewable” gas. Vermont Gas and other fossil fuel companies have undertaken a massive campaign of greenwashing to falsely claim they provide renewable gas. The truth is that many forms of biofuel require more climate pollution than they prevent.
What about cow power? Kudos to Middlebury College for trying to ease its climate footprint by buying gas generated at a dairy farm. Maybe it’s a short-term solution so long as Vermont cows are producing manure (which in turn damages Lake Champlain). But let’s not fool ourselves into thinking cow power is sustainable or renewable.
Population. The huge growth in human population, if unchecked, threatens to overwhelm any climate gains and what’s left of earth’s natural ecosystems.
The climate movement itself. Millions of us have helped build a global and influential climate movement. So far, though, we’ve failed to force governments to make the essential policy changes. Ditto for most efforts to force change upon the companies that are still pouring billions of dollars into new fossil fuel projects.
OK, enough of the bad news. There are some reasons for hope. Let’s start with …
The climate movement itself. It’s now planet-wide, beginning with the founding of 350.org in Middlebury less than 20 years ago. There’s a widespread recognition that climate change is a present danger caused by human activity.
Divestment. Among the big wins of the climate movement has been the ongoing, high-profile campaign to get funds that are worth trillions of dollars to withdraw their investments from climate polluters.
Wind and solar power plus battery storage. These already affordable technologies, if widely deployed, could supplant much of our fossil fuel usage.
The profit motive. There’s a lot of money to be made in sustainable solutions to global warming, along with many new green jobs.
Conservation. Preservation of open spaces got a big boost from Biden’s goal of “30X30,” an ambitious program to preserve 30% of the nation’s water and land by the year 2030. If America can do this, other nations will follow.
Heat Pumps for Peace. One silver lining of Russia’s immoral war against Ukraine has been the world’s growing realization that it needs to rapidly green-up and electrify its energy systems.
Indigenous wisdom. We’re beginning to remember the old teachings. Abenaki insights and scholars like Michael Meade remind us that we can draw upon traditional teachings to face modern problems.
Vermont. Many of us continue to draw inspiration from our smaller-scale, ear-to-the-ground way of life, the kind of “conscious awareness and liberating insight” that Meade says are keys to a better world. Among our state’s assets are healthier local food systems, a Climate Action Plan, a sense of community and comity, and a longstanding commitment to preserving the natural world.
Human ingenuity. Now that we realize we’re facing an urgent planetary crisis, who knows what amazing solutions we might be able to develop.
Will the climate emergency end in one of humanity’s failures or triumphs? It’s too soon to tell.
But for this longtime activist, fatalism is the order of the day. There is so much greenhouse gas already baked into the atmosphere that the next few decades are going to be rough ones.
Which makes it all the more urgent that we develop the political will, societal healing and lower-consumption lifestyles to help us find a way through this crisis.
