When the People Lead….

by Matt DeNoto

There is good news and there is bad news. The good news is that Congress seems well on its way to passing through a cap-and-trade scheme to begin the process of lowering our country’s carbon pollution.

The White House had been pressing for the cap-and-trade program to start with 100% of the pollution permits being auctioned off. This would give companies the financial incentive to begin thinking about ways to cut down on their carbon output now.

But the bill recently unveiled by the House of Representatives details a plan that would call for only 15-20% of the permits to be auctioned off. The large majority of the permits would be given away to the polluters.

That is the bad news. As if the mere numbers weren’t enough of a clue, it should also be taken as a bad sign that energy companies, such as Constellation Energy Group, Inc., are applauding the bill. If the people who should stand to lose the most money are praising the new system, it’s probably not going to be very effective.

I understand the arguments. If we force companies to pay for the right to pollute, those companies will simply pass those costs along to consumers. We, ultimately, will pay for the pollution.

And that’s the whole point. Just like businesses, we regular folk need incentives to clean up our act. Because it is our responsibility. Companies don’t pollute for the fun of it. They do it to create products and services that we, the public, pay them for.

Near the end of March, the Environmental Protection Agency finally announced that it had the authority to regulate Carbon Dioxide as a pollutant. Since then, not much has been done about it because lawmakers have stated that they would prefer to regulate CO2 through new legislation than through EPA regulation.

As I watch the legislative process at ‘work,’ I secretly hope that the Obama Administration is keeping the EPA under the radar to use as a secret weapon, in the event that Congress is unable to pass effective legislation.

In other words, if it turns out that ‘The American Clean Energy and Security Act’ is a lot of hot air that sets up a useless program with no chance of actually effecting real change, I hope the White House isn’t afraid to point out to the world that the legislative angle didn’t get the job done, but luckily the EPA still has the power to regulate the pollutants and it will enforce that power.

It’s depressing to have so little faith in our ‘representatives,’ knowing that nothing matters to them except the perception of their constituents and major contributors. Their habits seem so disconnected from the real world. When Clinton was in office and pushing for fiscal responsibility, Congress abided by the Pay-Go practice, not submitting for new spending without finding somewhere appropriate to cut in order to pay for the new program. When Bush stripped away any sense of idealism, Congress dove in head first, racking up a debt that now chokes us all and still somehow getting shockingly little done.

Now, with a new President actually trying to change things, the Congress seems incapable of making strong choices, bold decisions. In sports, it is sometimes said that the best offense is a good defense. In politics, it seems, there is only defense.

it is real, you know….

 

A new poll done by the Pew Research Center shows a trend that, if continued, does not bode well for the planet.  When people were asked what they were concerned with in the United States, the environment was at the very bottom of the list.  (The top priorities included domestic policy and economy.)

The study showed that 30% of Americans feel that global warming is a top priority.  Protecting the environment had the sharpest decline to 41%, which was a 15% decline in a one year period of time.  It should also be noted that the disparity between Republicans and Democrats was quite large.  In fact, where 50% of Democrats felt that protecting the environment and global warming were a priority, only 20% of Republicans felt the same way.

These priorities are slightly at odds with the Presidents agenda, as he has placed the environment as a top priority of his administration.  However, many have high hopes that Obama can tie in conservation, efficiency and renewable energy to jobs and sustainable economic future for the company, essentially hitting two birds with one stone.

What this also is an indication of, however, is that science is not doing its job in effectively communicating the severity of global warming and the environment to the public.  While another survey of 3500 scientists all confirm the global warming is real and a result of humans (via CNN), it seems that the smaller percentage that claims it is false get more press and seem more convincing.

The problem is that if when those non-believing scientists are proved emphatically wrong, it may well be too late.  Many already feel that we have crossed a tipping point of no return.  The disservice of this news is that it can have the potential of making people lazy and revert back to bad habits, because they feel hopeless and out of control in the situation.  

The best way to solve this issue is to help the general public understand the science behind global warming so they have no doubt that it is real and their daily activities have a global impact.  If people know what to do and can track the positive impact that it creates, they will be more likely to continue those behaviors and we may have a fighting chance.

he’s started already

At 9am PST, the White House website transferred over for the Obama presidency.  

Aside from being slick with the promise of weekly podcasts and blogs, the first thing we noticed: Obama’s agenda on Energy and Environment.

Here are some bullet points to whet your whistle:

 

The energy challenges our country faces are severe and have gone unaddressed for far too long. Our addiction to foreign oil doesn’t just undermine our national security and wreak havoc on our environment — it cripples our economy and strains the budgets of working families all across America. President Obama and Vice President Biden have a comprehensive plan to invest in alternative and renewable energy, end our addiction to foreign oil, address the global climate crisis and create millions of new jobs.

The Obama-Biden comprehensive New Energy for America plan will

 

 

• Help create five million new jobs by strategically investing $150 billion over the next ten years to catalyze private efforts to build a clean energy future.
• Within 10 years save more oil than we currently import from the Middle East and Venezuela combined.
• Put 1 million Plug-In Hybrid cars — cars that can get up to 150 miles per gallon — on the road by 2015, cars that we will work to make sure are built here in America.
• Ensure 10 percent of our electricity comes from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025.
• Implement an economy-wide cap-and-trade program to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050.

 

 

Go the website.  He’s our new president… he deserves to have a lot of hits, today.

change is upon us

I really like Al Gore. He wrote an Op-Ed piece in the NY Times. He is a man that when he talks (or writes), I listen (or read).

The piece is his suggestion for how we should embrace a new energy policy under President Obama’s administration. He outlines a five step plan and all of it seems doable and necessary.

Some excerpts:

As Abraham Lincoln said during America’s darkest hour, “The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew.” In our present case, thinking anew requires discarding an outdated and fatally flawed definition of the problem we face.

One of the five ideas:
Fourth, we should embark on a nationwide effort to retrofit buildings with better insulation and energy-efficient windows and lighting. Approximately 40 percent of carbon dioxide emissions in the United States come from buildings — and stopping that pollution saves money for homeowners and businesses. This initiative should be coupled with the proposal in Congress to help Americans who are burdened by mortgages that exceed the value of their homes.

A conclusion:
Of course, the best way — indeed the only way — to secure a global agreement to safeguard our future is by re-establishing the United States as the country with the moral and political authority to lead the world toward a solution.

I think the whole article is well worth the read and you can find it HERE.