Arino grabbed his thought as if he had heard it. “I thought not, and we pussyfoot around them again. It’s pathetic!”
“OK, folks,” said Tanner, moving on. “So where is the US effort in all this Wayne?”
Wayne always had a smile but this time his customary wisecrack was not funny. “It seems that man is the first species in the history of this planet to predict its own demise.” He laughed and tapped his notes. “We have the technology to prevent it but lack the wisdom to use it! This document is a tribute to ignorance, stupidity and plain pig headedness.” He picked up the papers, glanced at Tanner and passed them along the table.
As they sifted through the handout and began reading, Magnus Devaurno surveyed their bowed heads. He despised them all. ‘Celebrity trumps reality. What a joke.’
He smiled to himself. His time had come.
Myers was speaking. “You may remember,” he said, “that my brief was to put together options that would allow us to sign up and still hold the electorate on side, but as you will see, there aren’t any, short of a state of emergency or martial law.”
“Forget it!” Arino interrupted. “Let it work through the market. It works and always will if we don’t fuck with it. Let market forces do it.” He thumped the table. “That’s the American way and don’t even think of trying to legislate coal and oil out of business, the Tea Party won’t stand for that…and martial law! You’ve got to be joking!”
“I know you’re too busy shuffling shares to read the science, Tony,” remarked Myers. “We adjust or we’re dead and as Harry says, China is offering the world hope and unless we catch up pronto we lose the lead.”
“And lose the election!” snarled Arino.
“Arino,” Myers snapped back. “If we don’t get this right you’ll have an ocean beach right outside your Second Avenue office!”
“Thanks Wayne,” Tanner said tersely. “Can we get back to your brief?”
“Sorry Mr President,” he apologised, “but I have seen the evidence and am convinced that unless the planet achieves zero emissions and quickly, we will face rapid decline into unprecedented conflict. We must act now.”
“That’s impossible, dammit!” complained Tanner. “How can we… anyone expect industry to go from near total dependence to nil in the five years?”
“This is insane!” barked Arino. “You want to make every home, industry and car obsolete? Americans will not give up their Suburbans! You’re dreaming!”
“The science has been clear for thirty years and for twenty we denied it. Europe started then and except for a bit of fiddling in California and Nevada, we didn’t.” Myers glared at Arino. “In the worst case scenario, within fifty years, over one billion people will be displaced. Within a hundred that number could reach three billion and some predict human extinction within two hundred years!”
“Crap!” from Arino.
Myers ignored him and closed the folder. “Please read the facts and you will understand there is no choice but to put the country on a war footing to meet this challenge. There is no longer room for doubt. The door is closing so fast that even zero emissions within five years probably won’t do it. Climate change is not something for the undefined future. It is here!”
Arino groaned and slapped his forehead, then turned to face away from the table.
All other faces were on Tanner. He had run his presidential campaign as a climate change sceptic. He was all too aware what they were thinking.
Arino turned back and broke the silence.
“This is crap, right? We’re planting trees and burying biochar! We’ve invested billions in coal seam gas and shale oil. What do we say to those investors: ‘Sorry fellas; fill ’em in and go home?’ You’re crazy!”
Tanner’s hand was up to stop him, but he went on: “We’re paying out millions on clean coal research and…”
Myers laughed. “Haven’t heard much about that lately!”
“No,” asserted Arino. “That’s because it’s working and no longer news.” He appealed to the table. “We’ve got our policies out there and they need to be given a chance to work.”
Arino sat back and Tanner turned to Myers. “What do you think Wayne?”
“Tree planting and biochar can claw this back a little, but coal seam gas is still polluting big time, so is shale oil and clean coal is an oxymoron!”
“You’re the fucking moron,” fumed Arino. “Th is country runs on coal and Defense runs on oil!” He turned to Devaurno. “Right?”
Magnus Devaurno waved a hand in recognition of the point but remained silent.
Harry was puzzled by Devaurno’s changed attitude; no longer the hawk. It was as if the whole subject were passé. He was drawn back by his name.
“Harry, what are the Chinese doing and we aren’t that they can be so damned cocky? Maybe you had better try to find out.”
Harry nodded as Arino exploded. “How about we tell Fromm to ask those slit-eyed bastards why they are still building coal fired generators?” he snarled. “Why is the heat always on us?”
Harry realised they were used to Arino outbursts but wondered why they tolerated him as they waited on Tanner who seemed to have retreated into a reverie of his own.
Overloaded every day with information flooding in from all sides, keeping the press happy, answering dumb questions, security in tatters, with every man and his damned computer a potential Manning or Snowden, he could not give every issue due diligence. And recently, with re-election looming, his energies had been directed towards maintaining his political base, confident God was taking care of the rest.
In the silence that held, he prayed for guidance. Head bowed and silent, he heard the voice of God and was buoyed by its clarity. Feeling of purpose lifted his mood, with confidence that whatever happened after this moment, glory was his. But he still had the present to deal with and six pairs of eyes were looking to him for leadership. He needed a time-filler.
“I think we have the picture, but if we suddenly declare a new direction we’ll be crucified by the press and our own party, long before we face the people.”
“At last some fucking sense!” interjected Arino, ignored by Tanner.
“We need some fear in the electorate we can use to advantage,” he mused. “So here’s the deal. We talk up the China threat to hold the attention of our, shall we say, more xenophobic voters, and to pull in the bleeding hearts, we announce an inquiry into zero emissions by an expert panel. They deliver the bad news, not us. In that way, we are seen to be listening while they absorb the anger.”
Harry smiled in appreciation of the guile.
“The experts we choose will need to be high profile and have public support, so we draw that support to ourselves. We would need to appoint six or seven to bring in their supporters and spread the load. That may be the way to go.”
He
