You try to put it out. You run over with buckets and hoses. You do everything you can to be useful.
After all, you started it. You should be the very last person to surrender.
Our climate is hurtling toward 1.5 degrees Celsius of heating over preindustrial levels. One recent study estimates that if emissions continue apace, we have a 50 percent chance of reaching a global annual average of 1.5 degrees C in just six years.
But as we approach this grim milestone, we still have choices. Those of us who live in the West or the Global North (two geographically dubious terms that essentially mean wealthy, powerful nations) have the greatest responsibility for igniting the blaze that now threatens the entire neighborhood.
So will we run toward the fire, determined to help? Or will we set up lawn chairs and watch it burn?
instead of action, we're increasingly obsessed with prognostication: Will we, or won't we, hold global average temperature rise to 1.5 degrees C?
From there, it's a short leap to a narrative of surrender: if we're going to breach 1.5 C anyway, maybe we should just give up trying.
We're relating to the climate crisis as if it's something we're watching instead of something we're causing.
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