A path for survival

I’m not denying climate change. But it could very well go back. You know, we’re talking about over a… millions of years. – Donald Trump, October 14, 2018

Trump is right. In millions of years, after his genocide, Earth may be habitable, and some form of life may find a home. Trump also said, “I don’t want to give trillions and trillions of dollars. I don’t want to lose millions and millions of jobs.” Trump is wrong. The United States of America is not a Trump Inc. subsidiary, his name is not at the ports of entry nor the White House. So, Trump would trade genocide for trillions and trillions of dollars?

Finding our path again

We are living in the most important time in human history. 2018 holds the key. If we start now, we have a good chance to survive.

Let’s try to understand the chaos. Humans have been around for about four million years. Our relationship with nature has changed over time, and we lost respect for Mother Earth. Early humans survived by collecting plants and hunting wild animals. Someone discovered fire, and that is when the trouble started. We must stop burning stuff.

The carbon cycle

Not all carbon dioxide (CO₂) is bad. Natural CO₂ is the key to life. Earth would be a frozen rock without it, like Mars. We inhale oxygen and exhale CO₂. Plants use CO₂ to grow and produce oxygen. Organic decomposition balances the carbon cycle and makes sure that the carbon that goes in comes back out again.

Man-made CO₂ is a byproduct of combustion used to heat water to make steam, to generate electricity. Internal combustion engines used in transportation are another source of CO₂.

Burning fossil fuels creates fossil carbon, which stays in the atmosphere for hundreds of years.

Want to supersize that?

What is the carbon footprint of a cheeseburger? It has pickles, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, cheese, meat, and a bun. Everything has to come from somewhere. Pickles, for example, are cucumbers grown on a farm, shipped to a pickling plant, then to a distribution center. If you do the math, “the cheeseburger footprint,” the total carbon footprint for one burger, is 10,000 pounds of CO₂. This is about the weight of an elephant, or two Ford F-150 pickups.

What is the carbon footprint of a Trump rally? Due to his attacks on the press, the networks have increased reporters’ security, adding to Trump’s massive carbon footprint. Lock him up in his office, he can tweet and hold televised conferences anytime he wants from there.

Survival metrics

It is all about reducing our carbon footprint, not about trillions and trillions of dollars. The Gross Domestic Product is used to compare the national economic activity in trillions of dollars per year. GDP dates back to 1934 when economic growth was the priority.

The national carbon footprint per person measured in metric tons, proposed herein, would include not only fossil fuel emissions, but all other man-made emissions. Cement, steel, and aluminum production, for example, should be included to promote low carbon manufacturing innovations.

New rules for survival

We owe it to our ancestors and future generations to find a way to thrive to survive. Last week was the beginning of a challenging new adventure, everything has to change.

Complex problems don’t have simple solutions. Survival requires new thinking, new priorities and new behavior. Sending chickens for processing to China to save a few pennies, is no longer permissible. Logging our forests to sell trees at stumpage prices is not acceptable. Living forests are the best way to draw down carbon.

Donald Trump was hired to keep Americans safe, and to follow and protect the constitution. He lied in his job application, withheld his tax returns and his business dealings with Putin and the Saudis. He deserves to be fired for treason.