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Editorial: United's biofuel flight offers climate hope

Buffeted by news of expansive wildfires, dreadful shore erosion and extreme weather events at seeming every turn, it is easy to feel intimidated by the threat of climate change.

To be sure, environmental experts lately have expressed alarm at the speed at which the planet's climate is deteriorating.

"The world as we know it is coming to an end," physicist Paul Behrens wrote in Politico during the international climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland last month.

Former President Barack Obama, speaking at the same conference, warned that time is running out.

"There are times where I am doubtful that humanity can get its act together before it's too late," Obama said. "We can't afford hopelessness."

There may be some debate about the prognosis of the planet's health and how much time we have to drastically cut carbon emissions, but there can be no debate about Obama's last point.

We cannot afford hopelessness.

The challenge is too important.

And those of us looking for hope, need only turn to Tuesday when United Airlines flew a jet with more than 100 passengers from O'Hare Airport to Washington using sustainable aviation fuel.

That innovative fuel, made from leftovers from cooking oil, agriculture and other sources, was created using research from the U.S. Department of Energy's Bioenergy Technologies Office.

It promises to cut greenhouse gas emissions by more than 60% from conventional fossil fuels.

That historic first flight, with one engine powered solely by biofuel, gives a hint of the solutions our technology can provide - if we pair that technology with a global commitment to make it happen.

"Two percent of all greenhouse gas emissions come from aviation," said U.S. Rep. Brad Schneider of Deerfield, one of the passengers on Tuesday's flight. "SAF (biofuel) cuts that by at least 50% or higher. If we convert the entire fleet, which is the long-term goal, that eliminates 1% of greenhouse gas emissions in just one initiative."

U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove, a member of the Select House Committee on the Climate Crisis and a participant at the Glasgow conference, also rode on the United flight.

He called it "a monumental step forward in decarbonizing our airline industry."

Yes, the challenge to confront climate change is foreboding. There is much to be done. And the stakes are enormously high.

But we cannot afford to be debilitated by hopelessness.

We must act.

The further devastation threatened by climate change is mind-boggling. But our capacity for technological advances is too.

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