Global warming is fundamentally about water. The atmosphere changes and water translates those changes to land and all life on earth. Global warming changes the balance of water geographically and we get floods, drought or more subtle changes in between.

We use water to make energy from coal and we pollute the water with the waste products from coal plants. We use water to grow corn for ethanol and pollute the water with pesticides. Global warming changes the wetlands and the aquifers. The relationship between climate change and water is pervasive and central to our understanding of both impacts and solutions.

There was a time — not long ago — when most people thought of global warming or climate crisis as an abstract idea. It was complicated and far from a sure thing. Maybe environmentalists were right, but scientists disagreed. If the scientists disagree, doesn’t that mean it might not happen? Why should we change anything if all the scientists don’t agree? Won’t it cost a lot of money and jobs? In fact, all credible scientists have been in agreement on global warming for many years.

Since serious research emerged on this issue in the 60’s and 70’s, it has always been a matter of “when” not “if ”. In recent years, as more environmental groups have been reaching out to the public with educational efforts, skepticism has remained, fueled by those who have economic and political interests in sustaining the carbon economy. Since it is not really possible to refute the science, the main opposition tactic has been to introduce confusion and fear into the issue.

This has been possible to a great extent because the consequences of global warming were always in the future. People did not think they would be dealing with them in their every day lives. It turns out, the abstract notions of what climate change will mean to people are becoming reality at a pace faster than anticipated.

The effects of the climate crisis are upon us and we are aware of them in daily life now. If we think back just 12 years ago few expected that 11 of the 12 hottest years on record were immediately before us. We were unprepared for the changes in global weather patterns which brought floods, famine and drought. We did not correctly predict the accelerated rate at which glaciers would recede and polar ice would diminish. In short, we did not realize that we were moving rapidly in the direction of irreversible consequences. Many of us thought of those ideas as speculative or abstract. Others, including members of Clean Water Action and other environmental groups kept carrying the message forward.

We have solutions which will ease the impacts of global warming and set us on the road to adapting to the damage if we implement them quickly. We no longer have 12 years to sit back and see what happens. What we do in the next three to five years is likely to make the difference between pulling back from the brink or going over. I believe we have the power and the collective will to demand the best energy policy possible to avert the worst potential impacts of climate crisis, but we all must act now. Every decision we make from the products we buy to who we elect to the White House is important. We can transform our energy technology, our public policy environment and our economy to meet this global challenge. But we live in the real world now and must stop thinking of consequences as abstract. Global warming is happening in real time at a pace that demands intelligence, creativity and hard work. Just as important is our responsibility
to come together around this challenge to change course and change the world.

John DeCock is Executive Vice President of Clean Water Fund and CEO of Clean Water Action. This article originally appeared in Clean Water News, America’s Energy Future: Why Water Matters Issue, Summer 2008.