My dad took the long view

My dad had a crazy-broad range of interests, not surprising for a man who had both a PhD and a JD. Some of his interests were recreational: he loved cryptic crosswords; he was fascinated by genealogy; he loved playing board games; he was surprisingly good at golf.

He was also interested in many areas of basic science, particularly those that were involved with what he thought of as existential threats to the human race. He was interested in public health, in education policy, in foreign affairs and diplomacy, in international trade and economics, in military policy, and more.

He read voraciously. Just in the last few months of his life he was reading books on world history, on cosmology, even a biography of Emma Noether, who collaborated with Albert Einstein on the mathematics of the general theory of relativity.

A topic that my dad was particularly passionate about was climate change. He was fascinated by all the different ways that climate change was (or wasn't) affecting our modern society. How would zoning codes change? How would the insurance industry change? How would tax assessors adjust? How would transportation systems adapt? Almost everything he read, he immediately held it up to a climate change lens, thinking about the future.

I thought about this aspect of my dad when I came across this powerful essay by Michael Bloomberg: The Texas Floods Were Made Worse by Climate Denialism. Bloomberg writes:

Not every life can be spared from climate change, unfortunately, but many more could be saved if elected officials stopped pretending that they’re powerless to do anything about it. The fact is: Climate change is a manageable problem with practical solutions. Those solutions will not only save lives, but they will also improve our health, reduce our energy bills and create more jobs. The longer these officials pretend otherwise, the more the public will suffer, and the more people will die. And yet what are those in power in Washington doing? Worse than nothing: They are actively thwarting efforts to address climate change and help communities cope with its harms.

I can see my dad now, sitting in his reading chair, nodding his head, and forwarding the essay along to everyone he knew.