#2. a. Blue

#2 Joanthan Simeral Sep 29

I suspect you will receive pushback from a variety of angles. One will be the denial of the science of climate change. The scientific evidence is incontrovertible. I spent many many years not wanting to believe it, but the more I read, the more I realized my reasonings were political, not scientific. Scientific consensus is not “scientists agree with each other”, it’s that the EVIDENCE agrees with each other. Temperature sensors, CO2 sensors, satellite measurements of ice melt, ice cores, carbon dating, tree ring data, and even time measurements of when cherry blossoms bloom, all point to a warming world. That’s scientific consensus. And no, it’s not the sun or orbital dynamics (milankovitch cycles); that’s all been well studied and is already baked into the models.

The real question is “what do we do about it?”. And the economics of that question is quite difficult and complex. Unfortunately, a lot of hyperbole gets thrown around using words like “socialism”, “communism”, “they want to destroy the economy”, “they want to force everyone to buy electric cars, solar panels, and eat bugs”, etc. All of those, of course, are a red herring.

Another (albeit valid) criticism is the environmental toll of producing batteries. Then add the complexities of nuclear power in the mix, and it’s clear there are no easy answers.

All that said, the world is taking a “both/and” and a “all the above” approach. Basically, we all need to move towards more efficient and diversified energy sources, and the US needs to keep up with this trend. For example, China is the world’s largest producer of solar panels and electric cars. We should want those things built in America. We should be quite supportive of all the electric car factories being built in America right now due to the Inflation Reduction Act. We should celebrate the highest manufacturing investments in US history being made right now. Many of these new high paying jobs will be in “red” states. This is a good thing for the country and world. Let’s not muck it up by electing an authoritarian who tickles the ears of those who don’t like change.