By Robert Kunzig, ENVIRONMENT Executive Editor, October 5, 2021
Not long ago Nature reported a disturbing study of the world’s youth—a survey of 10,000 people age 16 to 25, from 10 representative countries, for their feelings about climate change.
Some 75 percent said the “future is frightening.” Fear was more common in poorer, more vulnerable countries—but according to the study, 46 percent of young Americans, and 56 percent of youth worldwide, think that “humanity is doomed.” (Pictured above, protesters during a Climate Change Awareness rally in Sydney.)
Leave aside for now whether the forecast is accurate. Isn’t it heartbreaking that so many young people believe it?
In September, Alejandra Borunda and I spoke with two astute observers of the climate problem, atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe and writer Katharine Wilkinson. You can read excerpts here. Over the weekend, when news came in of the oil spill off southern California, I found myself thinking about something Hayhoe had said (pictured below, oil threatens Talbert Marsh in Huntington Beach, California).
Last week I told you about one hopeful story—on the electric car revolution. The revolution may not unfold as fast as needed to address climate change, Craig Welch writes, but it’s definitely coming. By the middle of this century, there are likely to be many more electric cars and many fewer piston engines on our roads, at least in developed countries.
Think about what that could mean for our world.
Even if governments take bold action to accelerate the energy transition, Earth will be hotter in a few decades, and seas higher and storms more intense. That’s because carbon dioxide sticks around once we put it in the atmosphere. Earth won’t stop warming until we reduce carbon emissions to zero.
But other nasty side effects of fossil-fuel burning aren’t like that; we don’t have to get to zero to feel the benefits. Once demand for oil starts plummeting, we should see fewer oil spills and foul beaches. We’ll surely see less air pollution—which these days kills seven million people a year worldwide.
And don’t forget the noise. Near Atlanta this weekend, after visiting an amazing nature reserve in a former granite quarry (that’s another story), my wife and I noticed especially ugly sound barriers along I-20, built to shield homes from the traffic noise. There were walls like that behind my parents’ house on I-66 in Virginia. In the coming decades maybe we’ll tear some of them down.
On the long road to fixing climate change, our cities should get cleaner and quieter first.
Thinking about the future that way may not make it less frightening—but maybe a bit more exciting.
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