Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
We’ve been living with inflation all our lives. That’s why old folks can remember when a gallon of gas cost under a buck and bread cost about a quarter a loaf.
But now it’s getting out of hand.
The most recent Consumer Price Index report shows a whopping 8.6% rise in prices over the past 12 months. Prices are going up on gasoline and diesel, food and clothing, housing and household items, air travel and new and used vehicles, medical costs and recreation. Wages and salaries are also going up, but it’s not keeping up for everyone. Inflation hits people on low or fixed incomes the hardest.
There are several reasons why prices are going up so swiftly these days. The supply chain has been disrupted, which increases demands, and that’s the most basic recipe for inflation there is. The pandemic helped make that happen — it’s still a deadly public health issue in many parts of the world — as did the growing shift from in-person consumption to remote shopping and home deliveries. That’s causing a big shift in how goods and services are sold, and retailers are having to adjust, often by passing along the added costs to consumers in a changing marketplace.
But if we really want to get inflation back down to a reasonable level, and keep it there, we need to look at the greatest threat to our long-term economy — climate change.
It’s already upon us, as New Mexico and the American Southwest can attest. Our wildfires are setting records that might not even stand for long; as long as the temperatures keep rising, the snowpacks keep shrinking and the drought deepens, it’s only going to get worse.
To recover from this fire season alone will cost billions. To simply survive future climate-induced catastrophes will cost even more.
It’ll be worse elsewhere. Imagine living on an island, where rising sea levels — another direct result of a warming, thawing planet — are taking away inhabitable land. Imagine being one of about 60,000 inhabitants on the Marshal Islands — elevation above sea level, 6 feet. With sea levels rising by about an eighth of an inch a year, this Pacific island chain will be underwater in less than 50 years.
Closer to home, all this is going to disrupt our food production, storage and supply lines in adverse ways, as droughts and superstorms further their harm upon the land and water. Fossil fuels are making things hotter, which means our energy demands will rise — and cost a whole lot more, until we transition to clean and renewable alternatives.
The faster we can mitigate climate change with reduced carbon output, the faster we can regain control over our economy and contain inflation to a reasonable level. Market forces will do some of that — with the more forward-thinking industries already moving toward ambitious net carbon emission goals. But governments all over the world must do their part, too.
Unfortunately, politics these days is all about short-term gains and losses. Climate change is an immediate issue, but it requires a long-term response.
If we want to get back to a stable economy, we must shift gears dramatically, to create a new economy based on renewable, clean energy. Otherwise, a fevered Mother Nature will inflate the cost beyond our ability to pay.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: