There is this prevailing narrative – and a lot of it is being pushed by the fossil fuel industry and their enablers – that climate action is too difficult, it’s too expensive
The thing is, adequately addressing the climate crisis is going to be very difficult and expensive. We should do it anyway, because if we don’t the consequences are likely to be severe, but I don’t think we should lie to people and say it’s going to be cheap and easy. This is going to be hard. Really hard. This is our moonshot, only many times more difficult. But that’s exactly why we should do it.
Somewhere along the line, we turned into a country that is afraid of doing anything too difficult. We used to do things because they were difficult, now we shy away from anything that’s even remotely challenging. Do people remember JFK’s ‘We Choose To Go To The Moon’ speech?
We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win
What happened to us? I think I answered my own question: we need leaders who can inspire people to take on incredible challenges. We need someone who will stand up in front of the American people and say, “yes, addressing climate change is going to be hard, and that’s exactly why we are going to do it! We can do it, we must do it, we will do it.”