FOWC with Fandango — Repercussions

Much is made of the U.S.’s contributions to greenhouse gas emissions, as well as particulate air emission, and plastic in the oceans. Rightfully so. We make major contributions, especially considering our size relative to other areas in the world.

Carbon emissions around the globe

The United States has a big chunk of this, but China’s piece is bigger with the EU, India, and Russia not far behind. Saudi Arabia is doing its best to catch up with the biggest polluters and doing a not half-bad job of it, too.

In point of fact, in all categories of terrible things we are doing to the environment, no one country is doing even the majority of the damage. We may not be able to work together to achieve positive things like peace, but we are very good at working towards unified planetary destruction that can take down every country on this planet, regardless of its location or form of government. Race and religion are immaterial.

When we do bad things — without any forethought or planning — we do a mighty good job of it.

Biggest ocean polluters. Surprised that the U.S. is not at the top? But China is — and that’s where everyone sends the work that needs doing. They may be the biggest polluters, but we all helped put them there.

I think most people (at least people who aren’t our government!) recognize something very bad is happening to Earth. It won’t ruin the Earth, mind you. The planet will repair itself. It just needs a few hundred thousand years, but it’ll get the job done.

It is us — people and other mammals — who will pay the price. We will destroy ourselves and all the things we love. Unless we can find some way to do the one, single thing humans have never been good at: COOPERATING. The repercussions of a failure to work together as a species are overwhelming and incontrovertible unless you are the U.S.’s buffoon president — or someone who “reports” on Fox News.

International energy efficiency

We were doing better at dealing with energy efficiency, though with the changes Trump has made, we’ll need another year of monitoring to see how much his interference has altered our position.

It’s not just total emissions by nation, but how much each individual in a particular country uses because this metric shows what an alteration dealing with climate change will make to an individual life

We do surprisingly poorly on deaths from air pollution. Much of the problem is the result of the massive wildfires — which are the result of the heating up of the earth which goes back to greenhouse gases to which most nations are making substantial contributions.

It’s all connected. We are connected.

The World Resources Institute publishes newsletters on various environmental issues and other international issues such as air, food, water, governance, etc. It’s a good place to get summary information on the climate and other world changes.

We are one human species living on a single planet. The planet can survive nicely without us, but we cannot survive without the planet. We not only need a leader with brains in his head and concern for fellow humans living in this world, but we also need an international, united approach to dealing with climate change. That means every country on every continent, regardless of how it is governed or its race, religion, or history.

For probably the first time in our history, we will work together or we will die. Not all at once. As T.S. Eliot put it so elegantly:

This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
This is the way the world ends
Not with a bang but a whimper.

Categories: #FOWC, climate change, Daily Prompt, Ecology, Fandango's One Word Challenge, Health, History, Marilyn Armstrong

Tags: #FOWC, climate change, Daily prompt, Marilyn Armstrong, one world, peace, repercussions