Healing the planet is all about time

Cost is irrelevant when dealing with planetary extinction

Last week we heard the Republican Senate would not pay for the Green New Deal. The Sunrise kids made an excellent presentation of the facts and stood their ground. The kids’ clear thinking and deep understanding of the climate emergency were compelling. The cost is irrelevant. Paper money is used to freely trade goods and services. You decide when to use it. The GND will create a sustainable economy.

The Monday arrests at Mitch McConnell’s office and his responses are unacceptable. McConnell said the GND is unattainable, a dishonest response.

Running out of time

Healing the planet will be difficult but there are numerous solutions. Microbiology, ecological ecosystems, and many other sciences and proven technologies hold the keys for survival. The GND offers peace, safety, health, and a strong economy based on cooperation and compassion.

Why hold to the present reality, a world full of hate, inequality, and war? Our brothers in Central America, Mexico, Venezuela, Palestine, Syria, Yemen and North Korea are crying out for justice.

If your doctor says, “I have good news and bad news,” followed by, “you have cancer,” chances are you will ask, “what are my options and how much time do I have?” If he says, “If we act now, you have a great chance of survival,” you would immediately schedule your treatment. Some types of cancer grow slowly but pretending the diagnosis is a hoax would be an irrational response. If you choose to ignore the threat, it doesn’t matter how much money you have in the bank, cancer kills.

Time-based strategy

For the GND, time is key, it continuously moves forward. The past is gone, and the future is in your hands. Calendar time measured in days, weeks, and months is the way to cut the project lead-time in half. Using concurrent teams and eliminating delays, the project will finish in time. Mapping the project from start to end will help see potential delays.

Time-based planning

There are many things we need to do. Some are more urgent than others, and some more important than others. For a global climate recovery, all nations will have to be involved. Some things can wait, some can be eliminated, but some must be done now. The GND is urgent and important. Either we all survive, or no one survives. Reducing carbon dioxide emissions is the top priority.

350 ppm by 2030

The goal is clear. My OpEd, Healing the planet, posted last week discussed banning fracking, and a massive tree planting and soil restoration solution to draw down CO₂ and store it in the soil.

Inspired by Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Kenya Green Belt Movement, helping rural women plant 30 million trees, a nine-year-old German activist, Felix Finkbeiner, started the Plant-for-the-Planet campaign with his school friends in Bavaria, to plant one billion trees in every country.

What children do to protect the future, is unstoppable. Hear what Felix says, YouTube “Plant-for-the-Planet Initiative: The Trillion Tree Campaign.”

Please join the Trillion Tree campaign at plant-for-the-planet.org and make a pledge. I will plant 10 trees in 2019. As of February 25, 2019, 13.62 billion trees have been planted! Planting trees is not easy, many seedlings die with drought and floods. Felix and his team have found better and more successful ways to plan trees.

Dr. Thomas Crowther and his team have made amazing breakthroughs understanding the global carbon cycle and mapping the forests, the soils, and the underground network of fungus – the social network of plants and trees. The magical world of soil holds the key for survival. For details, visit crowtherlab.com.

It’s all about Time

What does the leader of the U.S. Senate propose? Other projects have higher priority? Exxon knew the global warming’s threat over 40 years ago, years before the Sunrise kids were born! Please support the Sunrise Movement and visit SunriseMovement.org. They say, “We’re building an army of young people to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.”

Dr. Luis Contreras