In a recent column titled “They can say they don’t care, but they cannot say they did not know” [Recorder, May 18], John Bos made it clearer than ever what a dire situation we are in. He included scientifically verifiable facts about our planet and included quotes from surveys and from colleagues.
Like many he quoted, I also see the collapse of life as we know it as inevitable, and I, like others, will keep working with Greening Greenfield and others to offer what I used to call “climate solutions.” I hope you will join us in this effort at the ballot box next November.
Several days later, the Recorder printed a My Turn [May 21] by columnist Russ Vernon-Jones about the tools democracies use to try and get oil and gas companies to do what needs to be done to support our planet. Vernon-Jones explained that democratic governments use “carrots” (incentives and gifts) to encourage good practices and behavior, and “sticks” (taxes and fines) to discourage bad practices.
He goes on to explain how the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was crafted. While the purpose of IRA was to protect the climate, the process of getting to agreement to support a transition to zero carbon energy was fraught with challenges. The oil and gas industries would only agree to the act after all the “sticks” were removed.
So in the end, IRA includes a lot of carrots (incentives) for zero carbon energy growth and use, but the oil and gas industries avoided all the sticks and received the green light to continue to expand their businesses, which is in contradiction to the intended goal. This is our democracy at work with all its flaws.
I’d like to add “Nature” to the discussion of achieving climate goals. Greening Greenfield recently launched a new website to make it clear that to restore our climate, we need to address “energy” and “nature.” While the U.N. and other climate plans have focused almost exclusively on cutting fossil fuel use and emissions to date, there is now consensus that cutting fossil fuel use is necessary, but not adequate.
All agree that we also need nature to remove carbon from the atmosphere. The only way to do this is to increase the amount of living plants, especially plants native to each area, which will not only remove and sequester carbon, but also support biodiversity. Mechanical means of removing carbon from the atmosphere are promoted by the oil and gas industry … but remember, creating and using these devices use fossil fuels.
Greening Greenfield also added a third category under climate change, which we call “Matter.” We added this to make the point that “stuff” that we use and dispose of also has a huge impact on our climate. While disposal has been the focus for many years, creating “stuff” and how we do it is now in the spotlight.
“Stuff” uses oil and gas at every step of the way, from extraction and production to disposal. “Embodied energy” is the word that refers to the amount of oil and gas used to create a product. For example, foam insulation made from oil and gas has a high embodied energy, while cellulose insulation made from waste paper has a low embodied energy. At least 45% of all greenhouse gas emissions are embodied in the things we consume.
People are also looking at Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), which goes a step further. LCA analyzes the toxics emitted, water used, etc. to produce and dispose of “stuff” we use. Just think about what is involved in producing and disposing of a car, or a strawberry.
While creating stuff grows our economy in the short term, Donella Meadows pointed out in the 1970s that there are “Limits to Growth.” There is not enough land to support the population we have, and changes in climate have exacerbated the problem by reducing land productivity, which has caused famine, political chaos and wars. So people are migrating.
While immigrants, housing, and wars, etc. are in our face and need our attention and action, I believe that focusing on the cause — on restoring and stabilizing our climate — needs to be our No. 1 priority.
In November, I hope you will join me at the ballot box and vote for candidates who support restoring our climate by cutting fossil fuel use and building a healthier planet, and a better life for all people and all living things. I believe we cannot leave this to chance, or to others to decide.
Nancy Hazard is a member of Greening Greenfield, a former builder and retired director of the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association. She invites feedback at NancyHazard30@gmail.com.