Bright Future!
“Somehow, after decades of shouting ourselves hoarse - people started to finally get it - we only have this ONE planet. There's nowhere else to go! ”
It took all we had, but in the end we won. Do you remember our names? Each one of us was born into a world where we had a hopeful future - and we felt at the very least we owed you the same. We couldn't stand by and let profit and greed rob you of this basic right. But man, was it a fight! Our opponents had so much money and they used it to churn out unbelievable amounts of anti-science nonsense for decade after decade.
To be honest - I wish I could say that science, ethics, and altruism won the day on their own. In actuality, lots of other people with money and profit on the line ended up joining the fight on our side - people who had a LOT to lose if sea-level rise threatened to engulf hundreds of coastal cities around the world. And it wasn't just wealthy property owners - the agricultural sector also came to realize - almost too late - that a stable climate and predictable growing season was pretty important to their profits. 2015 really seemed to be the tipping point - the crazy weather was obvious to everyone - the 100 and 1000-year storms that kept coming year after year - the rapidly retreating glaciers and snowpack threatening water supplies the world over - the "recurring flooding" in hundreds of cities reached a point that the people said - "ENOUGH"! Poor people, rich people, powerless people and powerful people all seemed to wake up that year. Somehow, after decades of shouting ourselves hoarse - people started to finally get it - we only have this ONE planet. There's nowhere else to go!
With a speed that surprised all of us, suddenly everyone seemed to want to be on the right side of history - and in fact - they claimed they had been there all along! That was fine with us. Transitioning to a clean energy future was a massive challenge and it was made needlessly harder and more expensive by decades of inaction, so once the cultural shift occurred, we wasted no time pointing fingers at our former opponents. It was all hands on deck for the next 30 or so years. Here's my only regret - I just wish I could be there to see that bright future with you.
