Almost at the tipping point

By K.L. Huntley
Reader Contributor

My much-loved sister and I grew up sharing everything from clothes to friends and faith philosophies. What we did not share in our adult lives was our political views. She stoically stood by one news source, whereas I would avoid that one, looking for other viewpoints with what I considered more substantiated facts. 

We separated geographically; however, like most siblings, we talked on the phone frequently and occasionally discussed politics from our different viewpoints. Loud voices were verboten, even if the topic took us to opposite viewpoints and both undoubtedly rolled our eyes.

One was her ideas about global warming. Believe it or not, the theory of the atmosphere trapping heat was first theorized by a French physicist, Joseph Fourier, in 1824. Nevertheless, it wouldn’t be until the 1970s that the term “greenhouse effect” became widely known and that it had the potential to change Earth’s climate. My sis would accurately but curtly tell me that Earth’s climate has always been changing. That was true, but she didn’t live long enough to see it accelerate to its current point.

This year we have witnessed unprecedented fires in Spain, France and the United States, and a melting glacier on the Tibet-China border. That area is referred to as the Tibetan Plateau and is often called the “Third Pole,” which is warming at roughly twice the global average rate. The results of that heating we witnessed last week as a glacier melted and roared down the mountain, taking with it an estimated 6,000 souls. 

Severe heatwaves this summer resulted in approximately 14,000 heat-related deaths in Germany, more than 7,300 in France and nearly 3,000 in Belgium. The United Kingdom’s estimates place their heat-related death toll somewhere at 2,800 humans.

Unprecedented floods have roared across the globe this year. The World Visualized website posted information on flooding in Zimbabwe, Kenya, India, Brazil and Bangladesh. They reported death tolls ranging from dozens to more than 100 in each of the major events included. Many more than that have been lost in the past two years, not to mention the cost of property damage.

I’m not going to get the big, “I told you so!” with my sis. I do know that this year’s wild, chaotic weather would have undoubtedly changed her mind. We just don’t get tornadoes in New York — but then we did. Some individuals still don’t fully realize that all the stuff that we use daily is actually contributing to the weather chaos.

Now, it is easy to point out the problems and the scientific facts that, globally, we are almost at the tipping point. Yet, there is something — to be honest, multiple “somethings” — that we all can do to slow this down. China, in the past two years, has dropped its carbon dioxide emissions. We can do the same.

It is almost too simple, but if each one of us made a few changes as a whole — regardless of our politics — we could make a huge impact by mitigating our use of fossil fuels, including petroleum and petroleum products.

A few suggestions that together make a huge impact: One is simply to consolidate your trips to town or whichever destination you have in a vehicle. Carpool. We don’t need the big pick-me-ups chugging fuel with one passenger and another behind it heading to the same destination. 

Personally, I like to go organic; however, it wasn’t long before I realized my organic products were also coming in a plastic (petroleum product) container. I switched to bar soap, along with a few other products. Do we need plastic plates when paper would do?

My biggest peeve with my sis was her use of plastic water bottles. At that point, she was a desert dweller and purchasing water in plastic bottles by the case. That was a giant, huge step from drinking out of our backyard hose when we weren’t allowed in the house as kids. I bought her a plastic (yes) water filter along with a box of refills, only to discover that she never used it. But folks, you have been sold a bill of goods. The plastic bottle producers reached an estimated total revenue between $323 billion and $451 billion in 2025, with the clear plastic ones accounting for roughly 80% to 85% of that market share. That is not counting your soda pops.

People don’t like their tap water for a list of reasons, and legitimate ones. I don’t blame them, but there are a wide variety of ways to filter your water. Look into the handful of options. You may save a bundle and contribute to healing our environment, or at least not being part of the major contributors.

Don’t get me wrong, I love to see the flat of water bottles being delivered to firefighters and the millions of victims of disaster. I am a realist, but the kids down the block can get a personalized water bottle and refill it. We currently have plastic islands floating in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and each year volunteers undertake a clean-up of our own Lake Pend Oreille during which tons of garbage are removed. True, it isn’t all plastic, but a great deal has been associated with one petroleum product or another.

Baby steps, people, look around your environments and think: What can you do to mitigate global warming? Canned cat food or cute plastic containers that will take 1,000 years in a landfill to break down? I am not a purist; I can’t afford to be, and I love the plastic Tuffy I use to scrub a few pans. I’m just saying we are all in this together, and together we can mitigate the problem.

I frequently wonder what my sis would be thinking about now as she sipped water from her plastic bottle. Would she finally admit that global warming is a real thing?

Meanwhile, the evening news recently announced that the World Meteorological Organization has alerted us that the El Niño for the upcoming months is stronger than ever recorded. The oceans are warmer. For us, that may mean another mild winter and more drought next year. Not a happy thought.

K.L. Huntley is a novelist and former teacher living in Hope.