Get Smart, the G8 and Global Warming

Scanning the news for stories on climate change can be depressing. For example, I read this week about a report put out by the Green New Deal Group that says that humanity has only 100 months or less to stabilize concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere before we hit a potential point of no return. According to a BBC report the group says that rising greenhouse gas emissions, combined with escalating food and energy costs, mean the globe is facing one of its biggest crises since the 1930s.  When I saw the headline it made me pause. 100 months - that's a little over eight years.  Not much time in my opinion.

Then I read another article (actually several) - that the G8 leaders had agreed to back a 50% cut in GHG emissions by 2050 without identifying any specific or binding medium-term targets. Yikes.  After all, it is widely agreed that we must reduce GHG emissions by at least 25-40% below 1990 levels by 2020 if we are to have any chance of beating back the worst of climate change. Based on the latest report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), this consensus holds that preventing global mean temperature from rising above the critical threshold of 2 degrees centigrade in the 21st century will require radical cuts in greenhouse gas emissions of 80-90% by 2050. The 25-40% below 1990 levels reductions is an intermediate target on the path to achieving this goal. The G8 "commitment" of about half of this 2050 target is, quite frankly, a joke.  

So with both of those news stories percolating through my brain I thought it best to take a break. My niece was performing in a children's stage production of "Get Smart" -- what better way to forget about the destruction of the world then to watch the bumbling secret spy agents of "Kaos" (the bad guys - pronounced "chaos") and "Control" (the good guys) battle it out.

During the intermission of the play I noticed that all 38 of the actors had a picture of themselves displayed on the school auditorium wall (2 casts, hence the large amount). For their accompanying bio each one was clearly asked a set of questions: What do you love about acting; what's your biggest goal in life; what do you wish for the world, or something to that effect.  First I read my nieces - she was most interested in ending poverty, saving the planet, being on Broadway and giving everyone in the world free ice cream. Okay - I can get behind that.  Then I went on to the others. . .  "Protect the earth" "End global warming" "Stop global warming" "Clean up the planet" "Stop climate change". AT LEAST ¾ of these kids had mentioned ending global warming as their wish for the world. I was bowled over.  These kids were getting it!  

And then it hit me . . .so if these kids recognize the dire need to do something about the problem why not the leaders of 8 of the most powerful countries in the world?  Is it because they will likely be dead and gone when our earth is hitting crisis mode? Or more likely is it that politics, posturing and greed supersede simply doing the right thing.  And with that thought, the second half of the show began - once again Kaos and Control swarmed the stage battling out for the future of our world.  Whoa, I thought - this is just like real life.  We have our real life Kaos and Control fighting it out.  Now if only we could get these kid actors to Copenhagen for the next round of talks.  They could teach those guys in Kaos. . . er, I mean, the leaders of the world, a few things.