The existential reality of net-zero ambition
I find a lot to agree with in Daniel Lyons’ guest column (“The economic reality of net-zero ambition,” Aug. 1), for instance that our state makes only a tiny fraction of global climate change emissions. Thus, if only Massachusetts takes initiative to work towards a zero emissions target, the effect will be negligible and a waste of capital. I also agree that our state plan for net zero is imperfect. However, Mr. Lyons then concludes that we need to abandon the effort because it’s too expensive and imperfect, and wait for future technologies like modular nuclear reactors to come on line.
Waiting for the next great technological breakthrough rather than doing whatever is currently available strikes me as profoundly foolish. The climate is changing at an accelerating rate, with apocalyptic fires, floods and droughts rapidly on the increase, polar icecaps and glaciers melting, sea levels rising and oceans acidifying. The idea that we can take our time to respond to these things seems naive at best. We cannot put off action because of expense, nor can we afford to wait until we get a perfect plan of action.
There is an allegory about a frog sitting in a pan of water that is slowly coming to a boil. The frog doesn’t respond as the water slowly heats up, and he boils to death. If we tweak the allegory to include lots of frogs in the pan, if they think it’s too much effort to jump out, or wait until other frogs jump, they perish. We are the frogs, in a very large pan. We can’t jump out, because this planet is the only one we have, but perhaps we can turn down the heat. If we don’t do so soon, good luck to us all.
Massachusetts must take the lead on climate emissions reduction. Someone has to. There is no way to know in advance whether it will help enough, but if we all wait until someone else shows some leadership, our inaction may be our demise.
Jody Nishman
Haydenville