Down to the wire : confronting climate collapse / David - Index of

chapter 8
The Upshot: What
Is to Be Done?
The question of whether technology, politics and economic muscle
can sort out the problem is the small question. The big question is
about sorting out the human condition. It is the question of how we
can deepen our humanity to cope with possible waves of war, famine,
disease, and refugees. . . .
—Alastair McIntosh
As i write, the president-elect and his advisors
z
are pondering what to do about climate change
amidst the largest and deepest economic crisis since the Great
Depression of the 1930s. Their fi rst round of decisions will have
been made by the time you read this book. But whatever policy
emerges in the form of cap and trade legislation, taxation, and
new regulations on carbon, they are only the fi rst steps, and they
will quickly prove to be inadequate to deal with a deteriorating
biophysical situation. Emerging climate realities will drive
this or the next president, probably sooner rather than later, to
more comprehensive measures—as a matter of national and global
survival. The problem for President Obama presently is that we
are running two defi cits with very different time scales, dynamics,
and politics. The fi rst, which gets most of our attention, is
short-term and has to do with money, credit, and how we create