Yesterday I had a discussion with some colleagues about joining our renewables forces with fossil fuel representatives to advocate for more transmission capacity while the Texas Legislature is still in session. Additional transmission lines built around the state are useful to more than one form of energy, and many of the personnel working in Big Wind formerly worked in Fossil Fuels, anyway- we aren’t so far apart. But even with everything we have in common, when I talk today with people that work for Fossil Fuels organizations, I get a feeling that they see us as part of a zero sum game- if renewables gets a win, they lose. If fossil fuels get a win, renewables loses.
But we aren’t in a zero sum game. It’s more complex than that. If renewables get a win and grows, we all win. They can feel like fossil fuels lost, but they, as humans in a swiftly changing climate, won. If fossil fuels wins and grows, and renewables shrinks, we, still as humans in a swiftly changing climate, all lose. Maybe there are more fossil fuel points on the board in the short term competition, but together we can’t continue to ignore the increasing storms, floods and fires.
Climate change isn’t playing our game, and continues whether we want to pay attention or not. My colleague also mentioned that a climatologist spoke with the Texas Leg, and when that person brought up climate change, they were interrupted and told not to go there. But, the climatologist argued, we ARE going there, whether or not we want to hear about it. Who is ready to pay attention to the real issues, and not localized scoring points? When we’re a hurtling ball of fire zinging across the universe, your winning and my losing won’t have mattered. Let’s try to all win.