For many people it is very clear that we live in a time of climate crisis caused in large part by the burning of fossil fuels, which causes the emission of greenhouse gases that trap the sun’s heat, raise temperatures and cause a cascade of consequences. unwanted and unwanted.
The climate crisis affects the Earth (its territory, its atmosphere and its bodies of water) and also deeply affects the health and behavior of the planet’s inhabitants, large and small, including humanity. And CNN chief climate correspondent Bill Weir has a front-row seat to the ever-evolving situation.
When Weir became a new “old” father at the beginning of the pandemic — his son, River, was born in April 2020 (daughter Olivia was 16 at the time) — he had an epiphany.
“I looked at this little bundle of joy waving in my arms and realized this child will live to see the 22nd century,” Weir told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta recently on a special episode of the Chasing Life podcast. “And I started writing him a sort of apology letter for the planet we broke up and he was moving to.”
That letter eventually became the introduction to Weir’s new book, “Life As We Know It (May Be): Stories of People, Climate, and Hope in a Changing World,” which came out in early April, on time for Earth Day.
Weir said that everything in our lives depends on a planet in balance, and currently that is not the case.
“Five million people die prematurely each year from particulate pollution alone from burning fossil fuels around the world,” Weir said. “I think the heat already kills more people than all other disasters combined.”
Throughout all this turmoil, people are still trying to satisfy their needs, Weir said, pointing to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.
“Layer one is just what keeps you alive: air, water, temperature around 68 degrees Fahrenheit, (the) right amount of minerals, sleep. “If you don’t get them, nothing else matters,” she said.
Weir said something clicked for him when he thought about the world his son was inheriting. “What if we can no longer take the base of our pyramids for granted, as I did? “I never thought about the origin of the water or the quality of the air,” he said.
“The Earth I joined in 1967 no longer exists and no one knows what kind of planet will replace it,” Weir wrote to River.
The degradation of the planet has created climate pain: mourning for a place we still live in, precisely because it is changing so dramatically under our own feet.
Weir draws a parallel between these feelings and another well-known model: the five stages of grief created by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance.
“You can take a road trip across the United States and go through huge swaths of denial,” Weir said. Basically, to deal with rising sea levels, he said, the city of Charleston, South Carolina, is putting up a sea wall and Miami is putting up streets. “There is a lot of anger, a lot of depression. But ultimately, until acceptance is reached, that is what turns people from survivors to thrivers or leads to a more peaceful end.”
Weir said he hopes humanity can quickly reach the acceptance phase and come together to address the problems we face. He’s optimistic, which is perhaps surprising given the dire warnings we continue to ignore.
What can you do to help the story end well for humanity? We have these five tips.
End our addiction to fossil fuels
Globally, we need to control our consumption of fossil fuels. The United States is among the top three greenhouse gas emitting countries. When we burn fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation, the process generates these heat-trapping emissions.
We remember talking to a Maine fisherman, who called our addiction to carbon-based fossil fuels “Godzilla.”
“Cutting ‘Carbon Godzilla’ and returning him to where he came from is humanity’s number one goal. 1 job in the future.”
“There are technological ways to do this, several nature-based ways to do it,” Weir said, noting that until that happens at scale, “it’s going to be difficult to save this patient.”
Learn to adapt to a warmer climate
Take a page from the Camels’ playbook. Camels are native to Canada, but they adapted to the heat when they found themselves in the desert, Weir explained.
“Twenty-five thousand years ago, camels dodged bears and jumped beaver dams. And that big fat hump evolved to give them energy during the winter, and their eyelids evolved to protect them from snow storms, not sand storms,” Weir said. “After a couple of camels got lost and wandered across the Bering Land Bridge to Asia, they discovered that all of these tools work great in the sand and on long desert hikes.”
Humans don’t have time on our side, Weir said, referring to the thousands of years it took camels to evolve, “but we have the technology.” As an example, he cited the whitest paint ever created, which reflects 98 percent of light back into space and can cool a building by up to 19 degrees Fahrenheit (10.6 degrees Celsius).
look for the helpers
Identify people who make positive changes and support them.
Weir said the best advice he received for covering a disaster was from Mr. Rogers, who said his own mother told him to “get the helpers” when she saw a frightening event on television.
“There are always helpers who rush to deal with disasters,” Weir said. When you’re really down, “I need to look for help, not just people who are managing communities after something like the Lahaina wildfire or after a hurricane, but also people who are looking for better ideas and ways to fix the problem and create parts of our lives.” healthier, more sustainable and resilient.”
Join forces to save the environment
Become an active member of your community; Treat the environment and others with the same respect and care as many indigenous communities.
“It’s caring for water, soil and air… that meets those (Maslow’s) needs in ways we can’t imagine in our modern, convenient world,” he said. “We live in the golden age of self-isolation, while we need each other more than ever,” he said.
To do this, help in the way that suits you best, whether by organizing a demonstration, putting your experience at the service of a good cause or helping to clean up a park in your neighborhood.
“I just want people to connect with each other and with nature in the best way possible,” he said.
Reduce emissions where you can
When you have the chance, give the environment a break. Think about meeting your basic needs from Maslow’s pyramid in a way that is more sustainable.
In his book, Weir reminds us that Maslow wrote: “Man is an animal who always needs something.” But, Weir wrote, “he (Maslow) leaves ‘on a planet with finite resources.’”
“(It) does not matter how the Pyramid of Needs is drawn; “What matters is how you fill it,” Weir wrote.
So consider how you fill it. Maybe reduce your dependence on single-use plastics; walk to the market instead of driving; consider the carbon footprint of your diet; Be careful not to waste food, water, materials, clothing. The little things add up.