Tag Archives: Al Gore
The Battle Over the New Climate Bill
Today, hundreds of citizens are on the forefront of the climate movement; 20 years ago, in the summer of 1989, the fight against global warming had only two well-known spokespeople: Senator Al Gore and NASA Scientist Jim Hansen. (Bill McKibben, now at the helm of the indispensable 350.org, joined this august roster with the publication of The End of Nature). Recently, I was lucky enough to hear each of them share their strong opinions about American Clean Energy and Security Act (ACES), the House’s energy and climate bill that just passed in a 219-212 squeaker. Their opinions diverge, but together Gore and Hansen map out the movement’s next critical steps.
At a mid-May gathering in Nashville, Gore fired up hundreds of climate troops on behalf of ACES. The bill is many ways a dream come true for Gore and others who have been in this fight almost from the get-go:
- It sets the aggressive target of 83% emissions reductions (compared to 2005) by 2050, and a modest but acceptable target of 17% by 2020
- With a permit system, it places an economy-wide cap on emissions; to minimize costs, it gives polluters the right to trade these permits.
- It sets a federal renewable electricity and efficiency standard and prioritizes investments in a smart grid and other necessary technologies.
In short, this is the kind of bill that was not even a remote possibility for most of the last 20 years. Sure it’s full of disappointments and potential loopholes: it’s far from the ‘100% auction’ of emissions permits that President Obama has called for, and the 2 billion tons of emissions offsets are a real concern. But Gore’s case is simple: “ACES is not the last step, but it is the necessary first step.”
Yet if you are giddy about this bill, Jim Hansen’s assessment should give pause. During his keynote address at our ‘Getting to 350’ workshop at Middlebury College, he minced no words: “ACES will be a disaster.” Hansen’s argument hinges around, among other things, the dark-side of the market forces that underlie the bill’s cap-and-trade provision. But Hansen’s biggest worry is that ACES does not put coal in the bull’s-eye. For as his current work illustrates, atmospheric CO2 can peak by mid-century if the global economy rapidly transitions away from coal. With a coordinated global effort to change forestry and farming practices, we can then be on a path back to 350 ppm.
To get on this path, Hansen calls for a carbon tax and research into “4th generation nuclear power” (as well as carbon capture and storage.) But above all, he calls for a moratorium on coal – which ACES in no way supports. In fact, the prices of coal stocks jumped up in the last week as investors realized that coal’s future is not in doubt here in the US. This is depressing stuff.
And yet on ACES, I fall into the Gore camp. We need a climate bill, fast – in part to be credible at the December meeting of global climate negotiators in Copenhagen. And as enamored as I am by alternatives to cap-and-trade – I’m a big fan of cap-and-dividend – I think that the goals of ACES are essentially the right ones, and the approach has the potential to work.
That’s the key – the potential. Just as the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1965 did not represent anything close to the final victory for racial justice in the US, climate movement activists will not be able to rest if President Obama signs a bill like ACES in the fall. Indeed, it is at that point that each of us will need to redouble our efforts – in particular, in the fight against coal.
And like Hansen, I believe that the key lever of that fight is to take on mountain top removal. For in shedding light on this injustice, the broader, multi-generational injustices associated with coal will also come to light. Credit goes to Hansen and other dedicated activists: see this (at times chilling) video of what they faced last week in getting arrested last week in Coal River Valley. More mass arrests are in the works; all of us should be involved. (Learn more at http://ilovemountains.org/ and http://climategroundzero.org/)
In a note that just went out to all supporters of Energy Action, Jessy Tolkan – certainly the embodiment of this next generation of climate leaders – wrote: “The fight for bold federal climate and energy policy has only just begun. We need to make sure that the Senate passes a MUCH stronger version of this bill in the fall.” I say amen to that! And right now, let’s all offer up our support to those who are fighting the injustices associated with coal extraction, use and disposal.
About Jonathan Isham
Jonathan Isham Jr. is Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, where he teaches classes in environmental economics, environmental policy, introductory microeconomics, social capital, and global climate change. Since early 2005, he has spoken widely throughout the nation about building the new climate movement. Isham serves on advisory boards for Focus the Nation, Climate Counts, and the Vermont Governor’s Commission on Climate Change. He was the co-recipient, representing Middlebury College, of the 2005 Clean Air–Cool Planet Climate Champion Award for advancing campus solutions to global warming. In January of 2006, he was featured on National Public Radio’s Radio Open Source program “Global Warming Is Not an ‘Environmental Problem.’” In January of 2007, he was trained in Nashville, Tennessee, as a member of Al Gore’s Climate Project. He has published articles in Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of African Economies, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Rural Sociology, Social Science Quarterly, Society and Natural Resources, Southern Economic Journal, Vermont Law Review, and World Bank Economic Review. He was the coeditor of Social Capital, Development, and the Environment (Edward Elgar, 2002) and has coauthored chapters in books published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and New England University Press. He holds an AB in social anthropology from Harvard University, an MA in international studies from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in economics from the University of Maryland.
Elizabeth Grossman: Sea Levels Rise and Scientists Wade In
If anyone doubts that the world’s environment is in a state – if not of crisis then of grave concern – I suggest attending a major scientific conference. Among the sobering assessments offered at the 2009 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science held this past weekend in Chicago, came from climate scientist Chris Field, director of the department of global ecology at the Carnegie Institution for Science. “The actual emissions of fossil fuel carbon dioxide since 2000 are outside the entire envelope of possibilities considered by the IPCC’s 4th Assessment released in 2007,” Field told us. Atmospheric CO2, he explained, has been rising 3.5% annually between 2000 and 2007, compared with annual increases of 0.9% in the 1990s.
“We’re looking at a future climate beyond anything we’ve actually considered,” said Field. “This is very serious.”
But as greenhouse gas and sea levels rise, there seems to be another trend afoot. As the news from the field becomes more disturbing, an increasing number of scientists are becoming outspoken about the need to engage – not just in technical solutions but also in policy decisions that will make solutions possible. Science and policy have traditionally remained very separate, so this development is striking.
For example, several years ago while interviewing a senior EPA scientist, I asked if what she had learned about a particular substance’s toxicity made her think its use should be reconsidered. Before the scientist could answer, an EPA PR person on a third line cut in saying, “Not her area!” I had strayed to the realm of policy.
Now the message coming from many scientists is that we no longer have the luxury of this hands-off approach. “I’m not going to hang up my citizenship at the Senate hearing room door because I’m a scientist,” Stanford University biology professor Stephen Schneider said to a standing room only crowd at a AAAS symposium. During a session on deserts, an Egyptian scientist stressed the need to fill the gap between science and policy so that his country can effectively link climate issues with agriculture, poverty, food and societal security. Marine biologists emphasized the need to fold climate science into fisheries management and economic development programs, particularly for countries that depend on fisheries for food and financing. And scientists considering the future of agriculture and biofuels production outlined starkly how imperative it is to mesh science and policy to avoid exacerbating multiple environmental and social problems.
This doesn’t mean scientists are becoming advocates and abandoning professional objectivity and skepticism – and my observations are, of course anecdotal. Yet it does, I think, speak to the urgency of what we’re now facing in terms of climate change and all its ramifications. And if the impassioned plea Al Gore made during his AAAS talk is answered, this trend will continue.
“I believe strongly that scientists can no longer in good conscience accept the division between the work you do and the civilization you live in,” said Gore. “The stakes have never been higher,” he said. “I’m asking you for help.”
What do you think? Leave us a comment.
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Elizabeth Grossman is the author of High Tech Trash: Digital Devices, Hidden Toxics, and Human Health.
About Elizabeth Grossman
Elizabeth Grossman is the author ofHigh Tech Trash, Watershed: The Undamming of America (Counterpoint Press, 2002), and Adventuring Along the Lewis and Clark Trail (Sierra Club Books, 2003). She is also the co-editor of Shadow Cat: Encountering the American Mountain Lion (Sasquatch Books, 1999). Grossman’s writing has also appeared in a variety of publications, including Amicus Journal, Audubon, California Wild, Cascadia Times, Chicago Tribune, Environmental News Network, Grist, The Nation, New York Times Book Review, Newsday, Oregonian, Orion, the Patagonia catalogue, Salon.com, Seattle Times, Washington Post, and Yes! A native of New York City, she has a BA in literature from Yale University. She now lives a minute’s walk from the Willamette River in Portland, Oregon. When not at her desk writing she's out exploring—hiking, camping, paddling, sketching, and watching birds.
Jonathan Isham: Yes, we can!
Yes we can! – That unforgettable call-and-response, heard again last night in Barack Obama’s stunning acceptance speech, echoes today around the world. And I and my fellow climate activists are happy to take all the credit for the President-elect’s use of this phrase.
Well, not really. But I do feel that there is more than karma in the fact that this declaration was also the organizing theme of Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement. The opening line of Ignition — which features chapters from leading climate activists Bill McKibben, Gus Speth, Mary Lou Finley and many others — is “Can we really win this fight against global warming?” The response comes one paragraph later: “Our answer — and the resounding answer of this book — is Yes, we can.”
OK, maybe Obama and his team didn’t steal our line. But I’m not surprised that leaders of the climate movement and of the Obama campaign have adopted the same language. Consider what they have in common. Both the movement and the campaign are driven by optimism about our future, a realistic assessment of present challenges, and an overarching sense that it is time — it’s time for a mobilized groundswell to rebuild our world, fueled by the energy of the grassroots and the vision of leaders who get it.
Now it would be wrong to say that the climate movement is partisan. As we celebrate in Ignition, both Republicans and Democrats are at the helm: think Schwarzenegger and Gore. But it is right to say that the raw energy and drive of Obama’s team is akin to what drives the climate movement.
Early this morning, I prepared a note of thanks to a dozen friends who, over the last several months, put their life on hold to help Barack Obama win last night: they are dedicated volunteers, fund-raisers, organizers. As I was about to hit the send button, I had an ‘aha!’ moment: so many of these inspiring folks are equally committed to the climate movement (Billy Parish is a great example of this.) And since the skills and tools put to work in the Obama campaign are transferable, last nights’ results are a promising sign for the world’s drive for a clean-energy future. It really is time, and our leaders are ready to go.
So yes, we can! Let’s all pause and savor those words today — and then get back to work.
What do you think? Leave us a comment.
Jonathan Isham is Luce Professor of International Environmental Economics at Middlebury College in Vermont and co-editor of Ignition: What You Can Do to Fight Global Warming and Spark a Movement. Visit his website.
About Jonathan Isham
Jonathan Isham Jr. is Professor of Economics at Middlebury College, where he teaches classes in environmental economics, environmental policy, introductory microeconomics, social capital, and global climate change. Since early 2005, he has spoken widely throughout the nation about building the new climate movement. Isham serves on advisory boards for Focus the Nation, Climate Counts, and the Vermont Governor’s Commission on Climate Change. He was the co-recipient, representing Middlebury College, of the 2005 Clean Air–Cool Planet Climate Champion Award for advancing campus solutions to global warming. In January of 2006, he was featured on National Public Radio’s Radio Open Source program “Global Warming Is Not an ‘Environmental Problem.’” In January of 2007, he was trained in Nashville, Tennessee, as a member of Al Gore’s Climate Project. He has published articles in Economic Development and Cultural Change, Journal of African Economies, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Quarterly Journal of Economics, Rural Sociology, Social Science Quarterly, Society and Natural Resources, Southern Economic Journal, Vermont Law Review, and World Bank Economic Review. He was the coeditor of Social Capital, Development, and the Environment (Edward Elgar, 2002) and has coauthored chapters in books published by Oxford University Press, Cambridge University Press, and New England University Press. He holds an AB in social anthropology from Harvard University, an MA in international studies from Johns Hopkins University, and a PhD in economics from the University of Maryland.
