An Inconvenient Truth

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But there’s something even more precious to be gained if we do the right thing.

The climate crisis also offers us the chance to experience what very few generations in history have had the privilege of knowing: a generational mission; the exhilaration of a compelling moral purpose; a shared and unifying cause; the thrill of being forced by circumstances to put aside the pettiness and conflict that so often stifle the restless human need for transcendence; the opportunity to rise.

When we do rise, it will fill our spirits and bind us together. Those who are now suffocating in cynicism and despair will be able to breathe freely. Those who are now suffering from a loss of meaning in their lives will find hope.

When we rise, we will experience an epiphany as we discover that this crisis is not really about politics at all. It is a moral and spiritual challenge. At stake is the survival of our civilization and the habitability of the Earth.

The understanding we will gain — about who we really are — will give us the moral capacity to take on other related challenges that are also desperately in need of being redefined as moral imperatives with practical solutions: HIV/AIDS and other pandemics that are ravaging so many; global poverty; the ongoing redistribution of wealth globally from the poor to the wealthy; the ongoing genocide in Darfur; the ongoing famine in Niger and elsewhere; chronic civil wars; the destruction of ocean fisheries; families that don’t function; communities that don’t commune; the erosion of democracy in America; and the refeudalization of the public forum.

Consider what happened during the crisis of global fascism. At first, even the truth about Hitler was inconvenient. Many in the West hoped the danger would simply go away. They ignored clear warnings and compromised with evil, and waited, hoping for the best.

After the appeasement at Munich, Churchill said: “This is only the first sip, the first foretaste of a bitter cup which will be proffered to us year by year — unless by supreme recovery of moral health and martial vigor, we rise again and take our stand for freedom.”

But when England and then America and our allies ultimately rose to meet the threat, together we won two wars simultaneously in Europe and the Pacific.

By the end of that terrible war, we had gained the moral authority and vision to create the Marshall Plan — and convinced taxpayers to pay for it! We had gained the spiritual capacity and wisdom to rebuild Japan and Europe and launch the renewal of the very nations we had just defeated in war, in the process laying the foundation for 50 years of peace and prosperity.

This too is a moral moment, a crossroads. This is not ultimately about any scientific discussion or political dialogue. It is about who we are as human beings. It is about our capacity to transcend our own limitations, to rise to this new occasion. To see with our hearts, as well as our heads, the response that is now called for. This is a moral, ethical and spiritual challenge.

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