How to begin wrapping your mind around climate change

Ok. So. The journey of 1,000 miles also has a second step.

If you’re like me, you love a trite intro device you agree that human-induced climate change is a significant problem, but you’re unsure what to do with that belief. Should you go study urban sustainability? Should you become a farmer? Should you get Lasik eye surgery now, so you’ll still be able to see water vandals coming even after the world runs out of contact lenses? Hell, you don’t even know what talking points to bust out when your relatives start talking crazy.

Let’s tackle the last mystery first. For those who need it, begin exploring Joe Romm’s recap of 2009, “The year climate science caught up with what top scientists have been saying privately for years.”

It is the year 2010…

Heat-trapping greenhouse gases are at unprecedented levels … [T]he Arctic is the hottest in at least two millenia …  [G]lobal warming is driving melting at extraordinary rates every where we look, including places nobody expected … [and] given that unexpectedly fast ice melt, it’s no surprise the science now projects much higher and much faster sea level rise than just a few years ago. [Other anticipated consequences include:] massive wildfires, widespread Dust-Bowlification, large oceanic dead zones, and 9°F warming — much of which could be all but irreversible for centuries.  And that’s not the worst-case scenario!

Denialists: Take it up with Romm. I’m only a messenger.

Once you accept that catastrophe is a distinct possibility, then of course you want to know, “What can I do?” In my case, I turned to my former Sci Am colleague Christopher Mims, who keeps close tabs on climate science and sustainability, to talk me down. His take home was simple: Prepare to adapt.

To clarify what that will entail, Chris also passed along this fascinating timeline, The Next Decade’s Top Sustainability Trends, by one Warren Karlenzig. Again, you’ll want to explore it, because, hell, now that the economy has compromised your ability to rationalize away your job dissatisfaction, why not?

I like Karlenzig’s trend number 9: Resiliency planning: cities, towns, homes.

The purpose of transition thinking is to prepare people for potential shortages in global energy supplies and food caused by peaking oil and climate change. In contrast to earlier “off-the-grid” movements of the 1970s, Transition Towns can be located in urban neighborhoods as well as in the distant boonies, and they focus on community-scaled solutions in transportation, health, economics and people’s livelihoods and personal skills. Tactics of local groups vary widely, with events ranging from the familiar–clothing swaps and art festivals to the seemingly more obscure–”unleashings,”–to policy-laden activities, such as launching a long-term (15-20 years) “Energy Descent Action Plan.” The emphasis is on understanding and using collective community resources, including knowledge and skills, that people have in their own sphere of influence, versus waiting for top-down government decrees.

Dig that, conservative libertarians and other rugged individualists. No government required!

Here’s how you can get involved in the Transition Town movement.