It’s the first day of summer and already the DC metro area is nearing a record high, but what else is new? Sadly these increasing record highs could prove fatal for many in the area in the years to come.
According to a report released by the NRDC and based on a study in the American Meteorological Society journal, 2,900 Baltimoreans and 3,000 Washingtonians will die prematurely from heat exhaustion due to global warming in the next century.
When the company that puts out 55% of Virginia’s industrial greenhouse gas emissions tries to leave pollution out of the picture, Wonder Wind and some intrepid CCANers show up on the scene to set the record straight!
This Saturday 5/5/12, people across Maryland and the world will take action to “connect the dots” between climate change, extreme weather and other climate impacts that are already affecting our lives. Organized by 350.org, Climate Impacts Day is shaping up to be another powerful demonstration of the grassroots determination to spur global action on this most urgent of global crises.
Here in Maryland we got off to an early start with our efforts to connect the dots when I traveled to Annapolis this week to chat with hardcore, Annapolis-based sailor Matt Rutherford.
Ben Chou posted this great piece earlier today on the NRDC’s Switchboard blog – follow the link below to head on over and check out the full article.
Preparing for Climate Change: A Tale of Two States, Maryland and Virginia
Although separated by only the Potomac River, the District of Columbia, and parts of West Virginia, the states of Maryland and Virginia could not be farther apart when it comes to preparing for climate change. According to a new NRDC report released today, Ready or Not, Maryland is among the states doing the most to prepare for climate change while Virginia is among 29 states that are far behind in their planning efforts. [Click here to read the rest.]
Water makes its way, through fields, hills and mountains
Water makes its way, it has its ups and downs
Water makes its way, it ends up in the oceans
Water makes its way, it really gets around.
I must make my way, no matter what life throws me
I must make my way, must do the best I can
I must make my way, my faith and hope they guide me
I must make my way, together we all must stand
Hopefully the resolution will pass in a strong form, but sea level rise is not the only negative effect of Virginia relying on fossil fuels. Coal-burning power plants not only put out greenhouse gases, they emit heavy metals that contaminate water and make fish from local rivers unsafe to eat. They cause asthma and disproportionately affect lower income and minority Virginians with the health effects of living in polluted communities downwind of these toxic facilities.
Returning to the conclusions that the Governor’s Commission on Climate Change made, we need to think hard about what our energy system is doing to our coastal areas and what we need to do differently. Then we’ll address a big cause of sea level rise, and a host of other problems, and not just treat a symptom.
The push for the Keystone XL pipeline puzzles me. Society is foolishly increasing its dependence on oil by investing more and more in this diminishing dirty resource. Meanwhile, many of the clean and renewable alternatives that our future requires already exist and continue to improve in both efficiency and cost.
The fact of the matter is that we must begin to reorient our entire energy system away from fossil fuels. To that end, there is very exciting news about five new advances coming out of MIT that look to utilize solar energy just about everywhere. In other news there was a great breakthrough in transportation; for the first time a German engineered electric vehicle traveled 1000 miles on a single charge!
While there may be some doubt about current energy conversion rates with solar energy, wind is quite the proven technology for replacing fossil fuels in a very big way. For example, Denmark currently gets about 20% of its total electrical need from wind alone, generating jobs and reducing green house gas emissions all along the way. In the bigger picture, Europe is producing 5.5% of its electricity from wind as of 2010, but has plans for massive investment. According to the European Wind Energy Association, strong EU regulatory framework is guiding 194 billion Euros of investment with the goal of tripling wind energy production to over 15% by 2020.
And here we sit investing in expanding an oil pipeline that already exists. To put it in a wider perspective, the general estimate for the Keystone XL pipeline rings in at around 7 billion. Instead, we should invest that money installing clean, renewable sources of power right near major coastal populations where it is needed most. Or, we can continue to delay the inevitable and invest in a dwindling dirty fuel while ignoring its litany of
In case you had not heard, Republicans recently attempted to push through legislation to repeal a law regarding light-bulb efficiency from 2007. Thankfully, they failed (H.R. 2417). The bill, authored by Texas Republican Joe Barton, was aimed at a modest bit of law mandating a 30% increase in efficiency of incandescent bulbs by 2012. Who could argue with that? After all, many of the more expensive CFL and LEDs are cheaper in the long run anyway. They consume less energy and last much longer. That’s a win-win, right?
Not surprisingly, Republicans cried foul under their time-honored tradition of predictable rhetoric, insisting it’s really about consumer choice and opposing Big Government. Big Government is going to choose your light bulbs for you! No freedom! No freedom to do what? Choose inferior, more wasteful products that are more expensive in the long run?
That such a preference is assumed of us isn’t just insulting to our intelligence, but to our character as well. It expects and encourages consumers to not have any broader sense of responsibility or concern for our resources and environment. We can’t even be bothered to use efficient light bulbs. It’s basically the opposite of a “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,” type mentality. Not only are energy-efficient light bulbs better for the environment, but they’re better for the wallet as well. CFLs pay for themselves in about 9 months time, after which they begin saving you money on your energy bills as they use about one-fourth of the energy of a regular incandescent. They typically last about 10 times longer. LEDs use about a quarter of the energy of incandescent bulbs, and can last as much as 25 times longer! How was this even an issue?
Attempts at legislation like this are hardly indicative of leadership in the face of widespread environmental degradation and the mounting challenges of climate change. Much more extensive initiatives are needed to really put a dent in man-made climate change and to improve our long-term energy security. Meanwhile, we have a number of representatives opposed to something as simple as higher standards in light bulbs! As if this uphill battle wasn’t steep enough.
Lately, the news is ablaze with reports about the wildfires burning out west. Climate scientists, to the chagrin of many climate change deniers, have published studies that indicate how climate change is exacerbating wildfires, as noted recently in the Huffington Post and New York Times, just for starters.
Surely, environmental activists have been repeatedly frustrated by the denial crowd’s steadfast rejection of anything implying a more complicated dynamic in nature than they would allow, as a means of abasing concern and therefore action on environmental issues.
No academics are saying explicitly that global warming caused this fire, that drought, or those tornadoes. In the world of anthrogenic climate change, change happens over time, one subtle increment after another resulting in different long-term trends. And, as we all know by now, in the world of politically tainted discourse, subtlety knows no quarter. Perhaps debating with deniers is a lost cause, but what about the many who are “on the fence” so to speak, and the many more who are simply apathetic to the necessity of renewable energy?
The thing is, for the sake of conveying urgency in climate and renewable energy action, there exists an abundance of not so subtle, perhaps even ridiculous examples of environmental degradation that tie directly into fossil fuel consumption and thus global warming. From entire mountains disappearing in Appalachia and the ensuing toxic runoff, to people apparently being able to ignite their tap water on fire as seen in the 2010 documentary, “Gasland”, to the now infamous Gulf Spill, what exactly does it take to get people to engage?
Unfortunately, a major hurdle appears to be that only when a community is unambiguously and dramatically affected by some form of environmental issue do they take action. But, massive grassroots action is needed immediately to curtail the eventual dramatic consequences of say, a subtle increase in global temperature. Icecaps and glaciers worldwide are already melting at alarming rates, threatening our coastal cities. By the time these cities are inundated and there is no room for apathy, it will be too late. Ideas anyone?
Yes, the world’s major economies are powered first and foremost by dirty fossil fuels.