What does the American West cost? It will burn until there's nothing left to burn, and dry out first, taking the hydroelectricity with it. The air will burn the fields, vineyards and orchards, the pastures and the pools, the national parks, Hollywood, Disneyland, and the oil refineries.
What does the Gulf Coast cost? The hot, dead water will rise in oil slick waves, topping the levees, washing out the streets and the music, while the rain and wind will come and stay.
What does a glacier cost? When its water changes the sea chemistry, who will raise the krill from the dead, weigh the continents back down, paint the bare land a reflecting white again? What will speed the course of the Gulf Stream when it slows and stops moderating Western Europe's climate?
What does permafrost cost? What will freeze the methane back into the collapsing, burning soil?
Costs such as those under debate are nothing compared with the debt to the earth, an earth that is now collecting its debt from all life, not just the ones responsible, and the interest rate is climbing.
