Editor’s note: We’re facing an existential climate threat, but still waiting on the world to take action

I’m a huge fan of disaster movies. World-ending asteroid hurtling toward Earth? Moon falling out of orbit? Massive alien attack? Put it in my veins. It’s not so much that I love the death and destruction of it all. It’s more the uniting-humanity element of the apocalypse genre that speaks to me—the president, just before climbing into a jet to give the space invaders hell, making a rousing speech that will mark a new era of global co-operation. (“We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight! We’re going to live on! We’re going to survive! Today, we celebrate our Independence Day!”)
Reality could take a few lessons from Hollywood. Because despite the fact that we face an existential threat from climate change—with droughts, floods, violent storms and wildfires standing in for tentacled soldiers—we’re still waiting for someone to rouse the world to real action.
One explanation is a species-wide form of cognitive dissonance—the discomfort that arises when you hold two conflicting beliefs. To wit: We know climate change is an imminent threat, but we also continue to rely on oil—the burning of which is the primary cause of climate change. To help ease our discomfort, we come up with all sorts of excuses: Hey, if we don’t pump the stuff, the Saudis will! Ours is cleaner! Besides, there’s no viable alternative—what about when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow? Jobs, jobs, jobs!
Cognitive dissonance is a generous explanation, of course. You could just as easily call it greed. And indeed, money is a powerful motivator—for governments, for investors and for consumers, too.
I know this. Of course I do. But I still found it jarring to read Emma Graney’s profile of Suncor CEO Rich Kruger. Over the past 18 months, the oil lifer has executed a deft turnaround at the country’s largest producer — and by his own account, he’s having a blast doing it. Forget the fact that scientists are literally screaming that we need to slam the brakes on fossil fuel development. Suncor — which sold its renewable assets not long before Kruger took over — plans to keep right on pulling oil out of the ground for the foreseeable future, along with its oil-patch compatriots, minting billions along the way.
Here’s the thing, though: Burning fossil fuel is not the most economic way to generate power — not when you actually account for the costs associated with the effects of climate change, a bill that’s going to come due sooner rather than later. (Climate-related disasters have already cost the U.S. alone trillions since 1980, and they’re only getting worse.) Oil producers, however, aren’t forced to bear those costs — future generations will be. In the meantime, Suncor et al will be allowed to continue selling oil even as the world quite literally burns down around them. Just this past summer, scores of wildfires raged across Alberta, burning down a third of Jasper and prompting the evacuation of some oil sands operations — which … irony.
Maybe there’s someone out there who can put a stop to it — who can rally the world to head off its own destruction. But maybe they’re just taking a cue from Hollywood after all, waiting till the countdown clock is a millisecond away from zero to act.
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