To the editor:

2024 was a year of worsening climate crisis records. Global fossil fuel use peaked at an all-time high. CO2 emissions were the highest ever. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere rose to a new high. An additional record was set by global temperatures on the rise. 2024 was the hottest year on record. Such records provide a powerful reason for seeking great change.

We need to pay careful heed to a very sobering fact: burgeoning development of renewable energy fell far short of equaling the 2024 increase in demand for energy. Record highs of coal, oil and natural gas use resulted.

Two major things caused the increase in demand. Economic growth in the developing world, especially in the nations of billions, India and China, pushed up energy demand. The record-high temperatures of 2024 brought increased needs for cooling. This climate impact created increased demand for energy.

Think about this. Billions of people in China and India want to adopt the level of energy and consumer product consumption enjoyed by residents of the developed nations: the countries of Europe, the U.S. and Canada, as well as Japan and South Africa. The Chinese and Indian people’s desire to consume more (like they see wealthy nations doing) causes the economies of China and India to grow. Economic growth requires the consumption of more energy. The increasing energy demand that will come from India and China, plus all of the other developing nations building economies that satisfy the desires of their residents to live at the high consumption level of rich countries, is going to drive energy use through “the roof”.

Considering the grave climate harm about to be unleashed by what is described above, Climate Crisis action is an extremely urgent essential. All people must join forces to develop renewable energy at the greatest pace that can be attained. Even more critically important, all people must work together to take up a whole new way of living that fills life with meaningfulness, experiences of the natural world and good health, throwing off the empty life of over-consumption that has plagued modern people for far too long.

All of us can start upon the path of consuming a little more than what is truly necessary. There are better ways of living than Consumerism. Let’s throw this mistaken way of living off, throw it off for the Good of Life on Earth.

The facts stated above come from a 2024 International Energy Agency report.

Don Hassig, Co-Leader

Living Lightly on Earth

Colton