I can remember as a child in 1978 reading an article in my Jr. Science magazine that said that solar power was on the way. The magazine heralded this amazing new technology as a cheaper, cleaner way to get energy. A year later, the president of the United States, Jimmy Carter, had solar panels put on the roof of the White House to heat water with. Yes, it looked like solar power was going to be a big thing. So what happened? Well, seven years after Carter had those panels put up, his replacement, Ronald Reagan, the man who once said that trees cause pollution, had them taken down.
When one looks at the devastation caused by the effects of global warming, the 1980 election of Ronald Reagan, and his singlehanded pulling of the entire Republican party away from caring about any environmental issues has to seen as one of the defining moments. Before Reagan, the Republican party at least pretended to care about the environment (it was President Nixon, after all, who created the Environmental Protection Agency), but after his election the party has always sided with big corporations and fossil fuels over environmental protections every time. From George Bush and son both leading invasions into Iraq in which American oil interests were part of the reason for invading, to Donald Trump tearing up the Paris Climate Accord, coddling fossil fuels and Republicanism have gone hand and hand. Now I'm not saying that the Democrats have been perfect on this issue, far from it, but at the end of the day at least they admit that climate change is real. The Republicans still deny it, despite worldwide record temperatures, flooding and droughts and other indicators of climate change.
One of the most depressing things is that the world would be much better off right now if some helicopters hadn't malfunctioned 41 years ago. What am I referring to? Well, in April of 1980 President Carter ordered operation Eagle Claw, a military attempt to rescue the 52 hostages that had been held in Iran since November of 1979. The operation planned to use helicopters to airlift the hostages out under military cover. Up to that point, Carter's inability to negotiate a release of the hostages was seen as proof of his ineffectiveness as a leader. Obviously, this kind of bold action was intended to end that perception. It's hard now to not look back and wonder at what would have almost certainly have happened if the operation had succeeded. Positive coverage of Carter greeting the freed hostages at the White House and a national swell of pride would have easily won him a second term, and the more moderate wing of the Republican party would have turned away from Reagan's brand of extremism.
Sadly, it wasn't meant to be. Of the 8 helicopters that were deployed for Eagle Claw, only 5 managed to arrive ready to the first staging area; one was lost in a sand storm, another had a cracked rotor blade, and the third had hydraulic problems. The military recommended the mission be scrubbed, so Carter did so. Even worse, on the return trip one of the helicopters crashed, killing 8 servicemen. So, what could have been a triumph for the Carter administration was a failure, one that he openly admitted to when he addressed the nation about it afterwards, sowing the seeds for his eventual defeat.
History is, of course, full of small moments that lead to huge consequences, (just look up Gavrilo Princip!) and who knows, maybe climate change would be just as bad now if Carter had won. There's no way of knowing. Still, it's hard for me not to look back and wonder how much better things would be today if those damn helicopters hadn't cracked up.
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