Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
The other day I heard a program on NPR discussing how children and youth are taking in the threat of climate change.
One teenager spoke of how he became keenly aware of the threat when he had to leave his home as he viewed an approaching wildfire just outside his window.
He’s an example of someone who recognizes the threat because he’s had a glimpse of it up close and personally. Other children and youth see it from a distance, like a cloud choking off their future. Anger and depression grow from such a dark view of what’s ahead.
The NPR discussion included how adults should talk about climate change with their children. My takeaways from the conversation were this: We’ve got to be honest about it with our children — and hopeful.
In keeping with that, I went on a search for reasons to believe that we can mitigate and maybe even reverse humanity’s contribution to this changing climate. It might surprise you that hope isn’t that hard to find.
One source I found was in a recent Time magazine package called “Best Inventions,” where several climate-change-fighting developments made the list. In it were brief writeups about new ways to air condition buildings in extreme heat, grow crops in hotter and drier conditions, recycle our water and other vital resources, and more.
Take transportation as an example. If you think Tesla’s leading the way in electric vehicles, check out the recently unveiled Lucid Air, which can go 520 miles on a single charge, with astounding acceleration speeds (from 0 to 60 mph, they claim, in less than two seconds). Meanwhile, a newly developed battery called the CATL Qilin can get you and your EV some 620 miles down the road on just one charge, while a charging station called the ABB Terra 360 has brought charging times down to just 15 minutes per charge.
As for energy generation, a mini nuclear reactor is being developed that would make nuclear power safer and cheaper to build. NuScale Power Module, with a reactor that stands 76 feet high and is 15 feet in diameter, is the first such reactor to get design approval from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
It’s designed to automatically shut down and self-cool if a power failure occurs, and it can generate enough electricity to power 60,000 homes, so it could be made for rural environments especially.
Of course, a lot of people don’t like the idea of returning to nuclear energy because of its radioactive dangers. Nuclear energy may be clean upon release, but it leaves behind a dirty waste byproduct. Is it worth it or not? I think it is, but you might disagree.
It wasn’t so long ago, we were debating the existence of global warming, then we argued over whether humans were the cause. Now, those who put their heads in the sand and deny the threat before us are becoming fewer and fewer. Instead, we’re now debating what to do about it — and that’s a huge step in the right direction.
And that, young people, is where your hopes lie.
Time and time again, humanity has shown we can accomplish great things when we set our minds to it. The younger generations taking on this existential challenge have the tools needed to build a tomorrow through the science and technology of today.
Tom McDonald is editor of the New Mexico Community News Exchange. Contact him at: