Always Changing

This began as an reaffirmation of what people should know about me, and then I realized was saying to my climate-denying friends was that if you knew me, you wouldn’t just stand by. And that is still my broader point, I suppose.

On this Earth Day, where we acknowledge that, yes, there is an Earth, and yes, we do live on it, and yes, maybe we should do something about protecting it, then it is tomorrow.

It’s true. It’s easy to ignore it when it doesn’t affect you. Last year was the third highest year of billion-dollar weather events (the other two being 2023 and 2024).

Not all of them were as dramatic as the LA wildfires. These events have become as common as school shootings: a week of coverage, and then the press vans move on, before the rubble has even settled.

But the Earth is always changing; shout the detractors given equal time in the algorithm. Okay. Tell me why it doesn’t matter what we do. It’s time for a story.

It is probably 1998 or so, and I work for a big, evil multinational oil company (I know). I was probably in the smoking lounge (I know) and desperately trying to explain climate change to people snickering about a May snowstorm. There was no nuance to be had even back then. No explaining the difference between weather and climate.

It was in their financial interest to be obtuse, of course. I justified my existence at the evil mega-corporation by being someone who wrote code, making sure the proper data was acquired for compliance with EPA and OSHA. It was still a big, evil, multinational, oil company. I knew what they were up to.

Today, the lack of nuance remains. It’s either hot or cold. I can try to explain the difference between weather and climate. Those who aren’t listening still won’t. I say we leave them behind. It is time to deny the deniers any power over policy and move forward.

If you knew me, you would know I wouldn’t just stand by, and I haven’t. I resent having to live in a carbon-burning society, blamed for my own carbon footprint. And that’s fine; we should be aware and do what we can.

The time has come to ask corporations what about their carbon footprint. I no longer work for a big evil oil company, having finished my work life in the public sector. I did however work at place who was partially paid by tax revenues from the surrounding oilfields. Those levy’s paid my salary long after my direct interactions with capitalism and the petrochemical industry. 

All these things happen because we live in a world that many can’t imagine being any different. Driving gas guzzling pickups, never more than a bag of fertilizer seeing the truck bed, consumption taxes paying for middle class lives. The big circle of carbon lives almost seems unsolvable, so better to deny it.

If you knew me, you would know I would follow the overwhelming science on climate. You would know I would be skilled enough to look at the data that agreed with what the majority of scientists say. You would know that I couldn’t stand in front of my lovely grandchildren and say I did nothing. Because I have already done my part in this. 

We are starting to see the effects of climate change, and I wonder what those people in that smoke room think today. Out west, some of us are clutched in a dangerous drought as fire season is arriving. Our hubris is coming due. 

If you knew me, I would meet that future to do what I can. It is time to move forward, and if you can only  see a hot or cold binary, then you will be left behind. The world is changing. Keeping your head in the sand won’t change that. If you knew me, you would know it is a future I will meet.

If you knew me, you would know I couldn’t do anything less.

All photos of this planet by me, except for the cover photo, which was one of many brilliant ones from the Artemis Two crew, really pointing out how it really is a small blue dot and it’s all we have