In late November, 2019, the United Nations Environment Program (well, OK, it’s “programme”) issued a new annual report on the “Emissions Gap,” which is the difference between the current rate of greenhouse gases being pumped out around the world, and the level of reduced emissions needed to curb the worst of climate change.

The major finding is that a) there seems to be is slight progress since 2015 thanks to the countries that are implementing the Paris Agreement, and b) the progress is not nearly enough.

[T]he updated analysis and review of the progress set against national commitments under the Paris Agreement makes clear that the current pace of national action is insufficient for achieving the Paris Long-term Temperature Goal or even for achieving the emissions reductions implied by the NDC pledges. Increased emissions and lagging action mean that the gap figure for the 2019 report remains very large, and similar to the 2018 report. Translated into climate action, the analysis reconfirms that nations must triple their current efforts, – as reflected in the difference in projected emissions between current policies and conditional NDCs – to limit warming to 2°C and multiply their current efforts by at least five times to align global climate action and emissions with limiting warming close to 1.5°C7.

You can read the full UNEP report here.

I don’t have a lot to say about the science of climate change, and others are saying it better than I could. But this part of my page is about justice — especially justice for future generations. I can’t think of a more important form of justice than keeping the planet inhabitable.

There’s a further aspect of this issue that shouldn’t be overlooked. When we think about greenhouse gases being emitted into the air, we should consider what those greenhouse gases are made from. And the answer is, of course, petroleum. Petroleum that was deposited in the Earth around 300 million years ago — before the dinosaurs.

Those petroleum deposits are the work of a process that probably will never be repeated, and which preoccupied the whole planet. Only because the planet was super-heated and super- oxygenated could the heavy vegetation grow, die, decompose, and then . . . turn into oil.

Notice what happened next. And by next, I mean for the next 300 million years. And the answer is: Nothing. The petroleum stayed right where it was. The dinosaurs came and went, then the era of fantastical giant mammals. Eventually, mankind stepped into the picture. But the first man, whether you name him Adam or australopithecus afarensis, left the oil alone.

Julius Caesar, and Charlemagne, and Genghis Khan and George Washington all knew something about petroleum. They used asphalt for roads and they burned it for light. But they only used a little of it. That all changed in the 20th Century. When the internal combustion engine was perfected and mass produced, people went after the oil seriously. In the second half of the 20th Century extracting and refining oil became one of the main drivers of the world economy.

The good news, according to this recent report from the US Energy Information Agency, is there is still plenty of oil left in the world. The bad news is that “plenty” only means enough to get to the year 2050 . . . .with serious conservation.

All the petroleum the planet will ever have — petroleum that the planet took 300 million years to produce — was squandered almost totally by just two generations — the “Greatest Generation” and the Baby Boomers. And they not only used it up so future generations won’t enjoy it. They used it so irresponsibly that it has poisoned the planet.

Discuss:

• Is it fair to blame the Greatest and the Boomers? Were they just lucky to come at the right time to enjoy the benefits of oil?

• Because these two generations enjoyed something unique in human experience, do they owe anything to the generation that follow?