Opinion: Don’t kid yourself — climate change is coming

Climate change is coming.

This year climate seems to be the forgotten topic (there are a few other things going on!). But ignoring something doesn’t make it go away.

Have you heard that due to climate change impacts (fire, flood, storm) in “10 or 15 years, there are going to be regions of the country where you can’t get a mortgage,” quoting Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s recent testimony to Congress?

Did you know during the last year the United States spent 3% of its GDP on recovery from climate disasters? That’s a trillion dollars. Throw in increased insurance premiums and the figure goes higher. Oh, about insurance, particularly homeowners insurance: it’s required for a mortgage and the price is going up, particularly in areas more prone to fire, flood and storm. Premiums have doubled since 2017.

Got kids (or grandkids)? A recent study published in the journal Nature concludes that “children and young people born in the present decade face exposure to heatwaves, crop failures, floods, droughts, wildfires and tropical cyclones, in a way that their parents and grandparents never did — and that this applies pretty much anywhere in the world.”

Climate change is coming, even if you believe, hope or pretend it isn’t.

And what is our government doing about it? It would be bad enough if it were doing nothing, but it is worse than that. This administration is doing everything it can to promote dirty fossil fuels and to discourage clean energy. This in spite of the fact that clean energy has become in some ways cheaper than fossil fuels. All over the world, (and particularly in China) governments are speeding the transition to the clean energy future, while the United States doubles down on the energy systems of the past. It’s been said the world is heading for 2030, while the federal government heads for 1930.

The administration is also gutting scientific research on climate and clean energy, while at the same time slashing the systems that warn of impending disasters (think NOAA), and that help people recover from them (its goal is to “phase out” FEMA).

Climate change is coming, and the world is acting.

The good news is that governments, investors and businesses around the world recognize the need to move to clean energy. And they are acting. Last year approximately 90% of new power plants in the U.S. and around the world used clean energy.

From 2010 to 2024 the percentage of new cars that were electric vehicles worldwide went from near zero to 20%. In China this year, it’s over 50%. The U.S.? We’re at just 10%.

Climate change is coming, and you can help.

So what can you do to help? Plenty! Action is possible when people engage with hope and common purpose. Talk about your worries about climate change with family, friends, and neighbors. Arm yourself with solid, reliable information from the many available sources, such as NOAA, NASA, EPA, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, etc. Most of us are worried about climate change, but few of us talk about it.

Make a habit of letting your representatives in government know of your concerns. Many governments already are pricing carbon, either with cap-and-trade, or carbon fee and dividend laws. America needs to do the same. Support organizations that are working for robust climate solutions. In these times, democracy is not a spectator sport.

At the very least, we need to reverse the disastrous course our federal government is setting. If our government won’t help, it should get out of the way, so that market forces which favor cheap, clean energy can do their work. Of course, we will not be leading the world in developing the power systems of the 21st century, but we won’t be actively delaying the clean energy transitions.

It’s just a matter of time. But how much time this takes will determine how livable our children’s world will be. The longer the transition, the worse things will get. Join us in acting today. We can do this!

Yaeckel, a retired attorney, is leader of the San Diego Central Chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, a nationwide nonpartisan group working for climate solutions. He lives in Ocean Beach.