A story by Bill McKibben, Schumann Distinguished Scholar Middlebury College from 2023
Certain things can no longer be changed. We can't 'prevent global warming'—we've already overheated the earth, and it will get hotter still.
But much remains within our power. One is how high the temperature will get: if we move with agility and grace to build out a clean-energy planet, then we will endure a difficult passage, but perhaps not an impossible one.
And another is what kind of world we build in the process. Renewable energy offers more than the chance to cut carbon. Since every place has some sun and some wind, it also offers the chance to undercut the concentrations of power that come from living atop the few pools of fossil energy. Russia, Saudi Arabia, Texas would lose some of their influence; the rest of us would be the better for it.
In fact, we have a chance to build a world that really operates on principles of solidarity: where the rich countries of the north assist the poorer nations of the south in an energy transition--and on coping with the climate damage they have done nothing to cause. Where the top-down practices of domination and exploitation begin to yield to communities able to meet their own needs and to share with those around them. Where those currently at risk--the poorest and most vulnerable, the other species, future generations--are considered and counted.
Climate change is the biggest thing humans have ever done. So we need to think big as we take it on.
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