It's time to panic over global warming. Already we can no longer prevent the catastrophe, only weaken it, researchers say. How should we explain this to our children?
The car has to go! And it is not flown anymore! Never again! In general, we have to change a lot, in general we have to change. Right now. Before it is too late.
That's what I thought as I walked home from the train in the dark. During the train ride, I read an article in New York Magazine. It was about global warming and its consequences for humanity. The text said that it is already too late for humanity. That was last year in October.
It was about that even the consequences of a warming of 1.5 degrees would lead to a worldwide catastrophe, but that even two degrees are hardly realistic anymore, according to the UN climate report. And we are not talking about a far, far away future. The gloomy prospects, which the report describes, he dates to the year 2040. Just under two decades. Willem and Benjamin will then be 23 and 27 years old.
Already with an unlikely two degree warming, millions of people would die as a result. Millions, probably billions of climate refugees would go to safety. From droughts and storms, unleashed forest fires, crop failures and famines, from the rising sea level that will engulf coastal regions and major cities around the world.
Change that reminds of the end of the world
Apart from the fact that their hometown of Hamburg will sink into the sea, the two would probably still be lucky here in Germany. But what luck would that be? It is likely that European countries would raise heavily guarded borders to protect their wealth, as Europe is already doing to keep refugees out.
Willem and Benjamin would have to make momentous decisions: shaking hands with the victims of climate change or living in a fortress and accepting the suffering of millions as a price for their relative wealth and relative safety. They would live in a time when the world is changing so much that this change will be reminiscent of the end of the world. They would live in a time when it's hard to be a good person.
And all that Therese and I will have done to you. We gave birth to this world without first looking closely at the best-before date of humanity as we know it. And now? If we do not do enough, we do not look closely enough, we are not loud enough, and we do not call enough "no!" To stop the misfortune.
Ridiculous efforts
Therese and I make every effort not to overburden the environment. We only use cosmetics, detergents and detergents that are completely biodegradable. We almost only buy organic products. We adults only eat meat at home - and that's what we get from the health food store around the corner, which gets it from the farm in the next village. We buy almost exclusively used clothes. And if new things, then only sustainably produced and fairly produced things.
Sometimes, though, I still think that we are not consistent enough to make it too easy for us. That all our efforts are ridiculous and do not change anything.
The evening after my personal climate shock, I am on the birthday of my friend Michael. I'm talking about the article in New York Magazine. That does not bring anything, he says. The only thing that could save the world would be quick and harsh laws from the very politicians who can not even bring themselves to limit speed on motorways to 130 at the moment. Or a quick rethinking of the big companies.
He laughs and tells how, as early as the 1980s, an oil company had data that the ice of the Arctic would melt away. "And you know what they did with that information, they've calculated how much cheaper it would be to drill for oil at an ice circle without ice."
I said that I still want to change my life. But why, he asks, if you can not change anything anyway? I have no idea.
The children will pay the price
Two days after his birthday, I call Michael and tell him I have an answer now. Which question? Why I want to change my life, even if it will not save the world. And? For Benjamin and Willem. To show them that our life, our wealth is not self-evident to me. That I know the price you will have to pay. That their future has consequences for my presence.
That's about four months ago. The car is still at the door. We rarely use it, but we use it. One month ago we went on holiday in Italy. We flew over because traveling by train with the kids was stressful and eight times more expensive. We have paid for the CO2 emissions compensation, it felt bad anyway.
If Willem and Benjamin are as old as I am, their lives will be dramatically different from mine. That is unforgivable. And I can not do anything. At least I have not come up with anything yet. And I am so terribly sorry.
Dear Readers, How do you react to global warming? What are you doing specifically? And do you sometimes feel as helpless as me? I look forward to your letters!