Global Warming Should Create a Lot of Jobs

Global warming threatens our economy but may generate many new jobs, too.

I'm not saying we're going to do this right. Mankind has found a lot of ways to screw up the planet. But we haven't done such a bad job of cleaning up our rivers and forests over the last 50 years. When pollution became so bad that even the government decided something had to be done, America looked almost like a toxic wasteland. Companies were dumping chemicals into rivers and everywhere without penalty. It took a long time to clean up that mess but we're making good progress.

Now we have another job to do. And we're doing it despite the Trump administration's efforts to derail humanity's health. Every year we're burning less and less coal. Now we have to do something about all the forest fires. And I'm not happy with the way wind farms have killed tens of thousands of birds and bats. If we're going to change the way we develop energy, we have to be kind to our fellow animals. We can't replace them as easily as we can replace coal-burning power plants.

The way I see it, this country is going to need clean up specialists in a lot of different areas. I know, I know, who is going to pay for these jobs? That's a question the politicians have to answer. But every time a big hurricane comes ashore we see pictures of cities flooded with toxic waters. It's pretty bad.

And what about the small towns that are leveled by tornadoes? I hate seeing people lose their homes but all that stuff that's blown away, it ends up landing somewhere. Mother nature is taking our trash and smearing it across the landscape.

The scientists say that as climate change continues to worsen storm patterns will become stronger and more unpredictable. You don't know where the next big winter storm or hurricane will come from. All we know is that weather will be different for our grandkids than it was for us. And that's because we keep releasing carbon into the atmosphere. It collects heat from the sun and all that heat stirs up air and water currents. That's how we get big, unpredictable storms.

Rising ocean levels are eroding our beaches. Beach erosion is only part of the problem. The land is literally slipping into the water. In the next century, scientists say, hundreds of coastal cities will vanish. Wealthy countries like the United States may be able to save some cities by building huge seawalls across the landscape. Think of the Netherlands' dike system on steroids. If sea levels are going to rise 50 feet then we just need to build dikes that are 70-100 feet tall around our coastal cities.

We'll also need better pumping stations. Remember when New Orleans was flooded because the pumps failed? More cities, including many smaller ones, will eventually face the same fate. It's impossible to pump water out of a city faster than a raging ocean can push it in. But a combination of sustainable pumping systems and seawalls might protect a lot of coastlands.

We can also try to reclaim some of the lands that are sinking. If we can build dikes to protect the cities we still have, then why can't we build dikes farther out to sea? These would be high-paying jobs. If we can protect the mainlands from raging storms with new artificial reefs and barriers, we'll have more time to deal with rising sea levels.

The huge forest fires that rage across the landscape every year have become too big a problem to ignore. We need to find ways to preserve the land so that new forests can grow there. We need to build new water desalination systems and pump some of that seawater inland. If we can create an inflow of fresh water to the parts of the land becoming desert we can give the interior ecology a fighting chance.

So who is going to pay for all this? Well, I think it's obvious that the infrastructure has to be paid for by state and federal governments. But once they have everything in place, they can open up reclaimed lands to development. We're going to need new cities. It's not easy to build cities in a desert but if we've built a fresh water extraction and pumping system, we can change deserts into gardens.

The less to learn from Las Vegas is that you can't just dam a local river and hope it never dries up. Las Vegas has sucked down a lot of the water in Lake Mead. They are working on ways to get the last of the water out of the lake. Seriously, guys, I'd rather be working on ways to get more water into the interior. The oceans are filled with it. We just need to remove the salt and pump it inland. That should be doable.

Given the right opportunity the economy will take care of all these costs. Maybe if we stop our warmongering ways we can spend some of our defense budget on infrastructure projects. I'm not saying I want a weak army and navy. Far from it. The United States has the best military on the planet. But if we stop intervening in every country that has a problem we won't have to spend so much money on foreign wars.

To the veterans who have served our country, thank you. I really mean that! But don't you agree that we have problems we need to fix here at home? If people aren't attacking us any more then we should pull back and change our priorities.