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Moving the U.S. Off Carbon With Less Pain, More Gain
Carl Pope, Yale Environment 360
Many environmentalists assume that putting a price on carbon and creating a renewable energy economy will require major public sacrifice. But the Sierra Club’s Carl Pope argues that a well-designed package of market reforms — not austerity — will lead to a prosperous, low-carbon future.
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How painful will a low carbon economy be — and how painful will the transition be?
Confronted with the urgent need to reduce our economy’s greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent to 35 percent in the next 12 years, and 80 percent to 95 percent by mid-century, it is difficult to imagine this shift not requiring massive sacrifice.
In a recent article for Yale Environment 360, Bill McKibben stakes out that point of view, even warning that if President Barack Obama does what needs to be done about climate change it “will be politically… unpopular isn’t even the word. It might well wreck his political future…”
Indeed, the widespread implication that the key policy needed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions is a price on carbon does reinforce the notion that the most important things needed to solve the climate crisis are higher energy prices and lower consumption.
But if, as Bill McKibben has said elsewhere, there is no silver bullet for climate change, just lots of silver buckshot, then insisting that sacrifice is the key has the effect of distracting us from the reality that it will take many answers to solve the problem.
The assumption that the costs of climate recovery will be prohibitively high simply does not stand up to scrutiny.
climate change, just lots of silver buckshot, then insisting that sacrifice is the key has the effect of distracting us from the reality that it will take many answers to solve the problem. Often, advocates of inaction or tokenism say the reason we must do too little is that the price of doing more is too extreme. It is not strategically helpful to reinforce this notion.
Carl Pope, the executive director of the Sierra Club, has served on the boards for the National Clean Air Coalition, California Common Cause, and Public Interest Economics Inc.
(22 January 2009)
44% Say Global Warming Due To Planetary Trends, Not People
Rasmussen Reports
Al Gore’s side may be coming to power in Washington, but they appear to be losing the battle on the idea that humans are to blame for global warming.
Forty-four percent (44%) of U.S. voters now say long-term planetary trends are the cause of global warming, compared to 41% who blame it on human activity.
Seven percent (7%) attribute global warming to some other reason, and nine percent (9%) are unsure in a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) of Democrats blame global warming on human activity, compared to 21% percent of Republicans. Two-thirds of GOP voters (67%) see long-term planetary trends as the cause versus 23% of Democrats. Voters not affiliated with either party by eight points put the blame on planetary trends.
(19 January 2009)
The “war on science” is over. Now what?
Chris Mooney, Slate
The “war on science” is over. Or at least it is in the sense that I originally meant the phrase: We’re at the close of the Bush administration’s years of attacks on the integrity of scientific information—its biased editing of technical documents, muzzling of government researchers, and shameless dispersal of faulty ideas about issues like global warming.
The attacks generated dramatic outrage and considerable activism from the traditionally staid science community and the sympathy of politicians like Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. So it’s no great surprise to find the president-elect setting out to restore dignity to the role of science in government.
(15 January 2009)
Related from the NY Times: Scientists Welcome Obama’s Words.
Design Contest Announced: Green Patriot Posters
Green Patriot Posters
During World War II the United States was able to mobilize industry and motivate its citizens in breathtaking speed. Factories were overhauled and consumption habits transformed. Conservation (in the form of rationing) became a patriotic act. Strong, graphically compelling posters played a crucial role in the success of this campaign.
Taking action was presented in these posters as vital for the common good of the nation and those who were willing to sacrifice were portrayed as attractive, dynamic American heroes.
To face the ecological crisis posed by global climate change today a similar mobilization of America is required.
To help meet this challenge The Canary Project and its partners are running a campaign to commission poster designs from leading firms and designers and also to solicit other designs through a national competition.
(January 2009)
Sarah Kuck comments at WorldChanging.
US lawmakers okay energy tax breaks in Obama plan
Tom Doggett, Reuters
The U.S. House Ways and Means Committee on Thursday approved $20 billion in energy tax credits and related financial incentives that are part of the Obama administration’s plan to revive the American economy.
The legislation’s energy tax breaks would benefit the wind and solar energy industries, encourage energy-efficiency improvements to existing homes and help service stations recoup their costs for installing alternative energy pumps.
(22 January 2009)
