A JOURNEY INTO THE MUDDY CLIMATE MIDDLE
On Amazon On AudibleNEW: Listen to the interview with Marc Cortez on NPR's IdeaSphere with Guy Rathbun.
Why write this book?
That's the question I keep getting from my renewable energy colleagues. You spent 23 years in cleantech, so why throw wrenches now?
Well, if wanting the truth is throwing wrenches, then maybe it's already too late.
There seems to be only two sides in the climate discussion. On one side are the climate deathers, those who truly believe our planet's heating atmosphere is leading to human extinction; and on the other side are the climate deniers, those who believe that all's-fine-and-there's-nothing-to worry-about-here. Try having a conversation with someone on either side and you'll see what I mean.
Most of us, however, lie somewhere in the climate middle between those two extremes.
We believe the planet is warming and that mankind has had some impact on it, yet we don't know how serious it really is. We're told by the climate media that we're dying, yet we're not. We're told by climate scientists that their models accurately predict the future, yet they're wrong every time. We know it's a different type of science -- one that uses models to predict the future instead of tests that prove scientific certainty -- yet no one explains the difference and why we should believe it. We're told by our leaders it's Armageddon and an existential crisis right before they board their gas-fueled jets and call OPEC to deliver more oil. They scare our children then celebrate their fear on magazine covers. We're told the debate is over and when we ask questions we're yelled at, labeled, ostracized and bullied -- then handed the check to fix the problems.
Above all, no one is telling the full truth, and we know it.
This is no way to fix a global problem.
I've spent nearly 25 years on the front lines of the climate battle and have worked hard to solve our climate problems. I've worked for and built companies in solar, electric vehicles, energy storage, and now water conservation -- and have fought the good fight. I, along with my colleagues and competitors, were united in the fight towards a better climate future. I'm proud to have worked on the climate front lines for as long as I have.
But the climate death narrative has changed the dynamic and screeched climate progress to a halt. We've let the climate deathers steal the bullhorn, creating blueprints to scare us, strategies to sue us, and campaigns to tax us. Today as a university professor I deal with these after-effects daily: young adults suffering from acute eco-anxiety, this suppressive feeling that our climate journey is hopeless and that their children will likely die from runaway climate change. And so I ask: how did we fail our children so miserably?
Enough.
Those of us in the climate middle believe that our climate problem is real but not terminal, and we genuinely want to solve it in a practical, pragmatic and affordable way. We are willing to make sacrifices and do what's best for the planet once we understand the real problem, solving it in ways that don't reverse mankind's economic and societal progress. We're on board with it once we stop being yelled at, labeled, hated, manipulated, lied to and pick-pocketed. We want a plan to attack climate change head-on, one that most of our country can get behind.
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While I am an engineer and businessman who has spent decades building climate solutions, I am not a climate scientist. The opinions I express herein are mine, and the questions I ask have been formed over years working in the industry. Many of you will find fault with my analysis of the science and the opinions I derive from them, and I'm fine with that. I would love for you to do your own research, develop your own opinions and create counterarguments to everything I've said. Fantastic, I encourage you to do just that.
We need everybody's eyes and ears on this critical problem. We're being handed a whopping multi-trillion-dollar bill to fix it, so we as Americans have both a right and responsibility to ask these questions.
Please join me in crafting a new climate narrative, one where we can carve a new path down the middle with open dialog, pragmatic thinking and forward-looking solutions.
Please join me in creating a new era of climaturity.
~ MC