We've got the green light
WHEN IT COMES to fighting global warming, these are - to use a tired but accurate phrase - the best of times and the worst of times.
They are the worst of times because the increasingly clear and terrifying science tells us that we have started to pass the point of no return. Human interference in the climate has reached the point where real harm is occurring and will continue to get worse. Only the willfully blind insist that every major national academy of science and every relevant professional association of scientists is wrong and that humanity is not changing the climate.
The question, according to our best scientists, is how quickly will we slow the increase of, and then reduce, the emissions that are damaging our climate. How much harm are we going to inflict on ourselves, our children, future generations, and the entire natural world?
However, these are the best of times because this monumental challenge is finally the subject of serious debate in Washington. Pronouncements emanate from the White House about the need to enact energy legislation with a major climate component, and the administration has made clear that it will take action even if Congress will not - with authority recently reaffirmed by the US Supreme Court. Congressional debate of Representatives Edward Markey and Henry Waxman's climate bill is heating up with full support of congressional leadership. Each represents major progress toward finally addressing this most fundamental of problems.
Seizing this moment will mean doing a number of very difficult things all at the same time. Here are just a few of the most essential.
First, we must realize that deep and rapid change is needed, and commit to corresponding action. At the outset, this must take the form of a cap on greenhouse gas emissions that dictates quick and aggressive reduction of these dangerous emissions. Science tells us we need to reduce our emissions of the greenhouse gases causing global warming at least 80 percent by 2050. If we delay meaningful action and only reduce emissions by 5 percent over the next five years, the curve we will need to travel to meet that goal will require that in 30 years we will need to be reducing emissions by 25 percent every five years. Foisting this daunting challenge onto our children because we won't make tough choices now would be cowardly and profoundly unfair - we must not do it.
This need for speed contradicts the advice of those who counsel against quick action on the basis that fighting global warming is a marathon not a sprint - advice that ignores the truth that great marathoners maintain a fast and consistent pace from start to finish.
Second, we need to learn from early models like the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, the landmark program regulating carbon dioxide emissions from fossil-fuel-fired power plants in Northeastern states. These efforts tell us that if we do this right, we can greatly reduce the cost of a program through an increase in efficiency efforts. Reducing electricity, heating, and cooling loads (and bills) in our homes, offices, and buildings, and our consumption of gasoline by making our transportation system more efficient, can be accelerated if we auction, instead of doling out for free, the pollution allowances that are the heart of a cap-and-trade program. Then we must invest the auction proceeds in efficiency efforts.
Efficiency in buildings can be as simple as upgrading heating and cooling systems and installing insulation and new lighting fixtures. Revamping our transportation system will mean investing in transit-friendly urban communities, building new rail systems, and investing in operating funds to pay bus and train drivers and mechanics.
Providing funding for the massive national effort that will be needed to make our society and economy far more efficient and provide green jobs, clean energy, and transportation choices can be a welcome side effect of a program that finally and courageously takes on the fundamental challenge of global warming.
The only question is whether we have the guts, the will, and the intelligence to seize the moment and make this vision real.
Seth Kaplan is the vice president for climate advocacy at the Conservation Law Foundation. 