This from the United Nations: Climate Change is the defining issue of our time and we are at a defining moment. From shifting weather patterns that threaten food production, to rising sea levels that increase the risk of catastrophic flooding, the impacts of climate change are global in scope and unprecedented in scale. Without drastic action today, adapting to these impacts in the future will be more difficult and costly.

This from Cummins: While we do anticipate a shift towards electrification in some markets over the coming years, diesel will be the primary source of energy in commercial vehicles for many years to come. Cummins will continue to lead the way in developing cleaner and more fuel-efficient diesel engines, such as the recently announced and industry leading 2020 ISX15 Efficiency Series, for the North American heavy-duty truck market, which is 5% more fuel efficient than its 2019 counterpart.

And from my financial advisor: This week the UN said greenhouses gases spew unabated, and we’ll all fry in eighty years. Global temps will spike over three degrees, and millions will become climate refugees. The economic destruction, political disruption and human misery will be legion. So why would you ever birth a child today? Action is desperately required. The deniers, Trumpers and pro-growth gang say the UN’s a criminal outfit full of globalists who wish to subjugate, tax, control and geld us. The climate change hoax is part of the agenda to create a one-world, borderless, pan-national reality serving the elites. It’s just weather. Resist. The debate is not going away. Meanwhile – agree or not – climate change is the dominant political issue.

Drastic action today or a shift in some markets over the coming years? I have no idea what to expect. The climate change alarmism seems excessive and overbearing. The response from governments, in the form of confiscatory taxation, seems ineffective as countries have made little progress in achieving international targets. Sticking our collective heads in the sand while we harm the environment is an inappropriate response to a global challenge.

In our retirement, we have dramatically reduced our carbon footprint even though our coach runs a Diesel engine, which, for most of the year, is idle.

But what will happen to the RV industry over the next few years? What will happen to the Diesel engine? Can the RV lifestyle, for those of us in Class A Diesel Pushers, be sustainable should drastic action in the form of punitive taxation and/or regulatory restrictions occur?

Difficult to predict the timing but I suspect some form of conflict will occur between those that embrace climate change as a defining issue and those that do not.

Cummins just announced that they will be laying off 2,000 people from their company. They currently employ about 62,000 people. They are taking this action as the company needs to do more to reduce costs. The downturn is happening at a sharper pace than expected.

During an analyst presentation last week, the Chief Operating Officer for Cummins, Tony Satterthwaite, made this observation: “Most of the markets in which we participate have either peaked or are on their way down. Demand has deteriorated even faster than expected, and we need to adjust to reduce costs.”

Cummins has launched a New Power business which includes existing electrification business as well as fuel cell and hydrogen production technologies. They seem to be preparing for a gradual market shift not a drastic one.

Change in how we use fossil fuels is coming. Whether it is drastic change or gradual change remains to be seen.