By Jim Warren
Chances are, you’re concerned about climate change. Unfortunately, it’s probably much worse than you realize. Severe climate changes are occurring at an accelerating rate. Our planet is in crisis, according to the world’s top scientists, and corrective measures that are proven and economically beneficial need to be implemented now. In North Carolina, that means ramping up energy efficiency via NC SAVE$ ENERGY and stopping construction of Duke Energy’s Cliffside coal-fired power plant. Statewide coalitions are working diligently on both fronts and need your help.
The news media has belatedly conveyed that climate change is a serious problem, but now “urgency denial†is setting in, largely due to a lack of coverage of several studies supporting the argument by NASA expert James Hansen that “we are running out of time†for making corrections.
The information deficit is fueling a dangerous misperception – promoted by CEOs such as Duke Energy’s Jim Rogers – that we have decades to slow global warming and that fictional “clean coal†and corporate-friendly “cap-and-trade†schemes can help.
If successful, such delaying tactics will virtually ensure that we cross tipping points that Hansen says “will cause rapid changes out of humanity’s control†and lead to “a different planet.†At current pollution levels, that point of no return could come within six years, says the United Nations’ climate panel. If we cross that threshold, the choice between solar, coal, wind or nuclear power will barely matter.
Even some environmental groups still describe climate change as “in the future.†While record-breaking weather extremes and results such as wildfires are increasingly prominent in the national news, the link to climate change is rarely mentioned. Recent developments under-reported by the U.S. media include:
1) Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels are already 10 percent higher than “safe†levels, according to Hansen’s NASA team.
2) European researchers report that millions of tons of methane are bubbling into the atmosphere as the Arctic floor has begun to thaw, supporting concerns by the University of Pennsylvania’s Richard Alley that climatic turbulence can come “in big jumps rather than gradually.â€
3) Just a few years ago, scientists warned that summer Arctic sea ice could be gone by 2100; now they fear it could disappear by 2012.
4) British researchers estimate that sea level could rise nearly five feet this century, based on new understanding about polar ice sheets.
5) Global weather disasters have quadrupled since 1987. A federal study reports that human-induced climate change is making downpours more intense, that heat waves will likely become more frequent and that wildfires in the American West are “strongly associated†with global warming.
R.K. Pachauri, head of the U.N. climate panel, concludes: “The cities, power plants and factories we build in the next seven years will shape our climate in mid-century. We have to act now … to change the way we use energy … and thereby avert nothing less than an existential threat to civilization.â€
According to NASA’s Hansen, the top U.S. climate expert, the best thing North Carolina can do is stop construction of Duke Energy’s Cliffside plant, near Charlotte. That’s the firm intention of a statewide grassroots effort that already blocked one Cliffside unit. Legal challenges continue and civil disobedience will commence on April 20th (see stopcliffside.org), as called for by Hansen and Al Gore. Nationally, scores of new coal plants have been defeated.
We’ve soundly proven the $2.4-billion Cliffside plant isn’t needed, most recently with a study by Duke University economics professor emeritus John Blackburn. He demonstrates that very modest increases in energy efficiency and renewables (for example, neighboring states are now developing off-shore wind power) would not only prevent the need for Cliffside and risky nuclear plants, they would allow early retirement of many existing coal plants in the Carolinas (www.ncwarn.org). Sadly, the N.C. Utilities Commission hasn’t yet connected the dots.
Concurrently, we must ramp up proven energy efficiency measures – the quickest way to reduce greenhouse gases. The statewide NC SAVE$ ENERGY campaign now has over 30 consumer, faith, social justice, senior citizen and environmental nonprofits working together to promote N.C. House Bill 1050. This legislation will lower energy bills, eliminate the need for $40 billion in new power plants, create thousands of green jobs and reduce pollution – without impacting the strained state budget. (ncsavesenergy.org)
The power companies would rather risk your money on giant, lucrative new power plants, so legislators need to hear from you. The public interest groups need your direct help too.
Changing course on climate and energy is doable – but it will take a new level of civic engagement.
Jim Warren is executive director of NC WARN: Waste Awareness & Reduction Network, a nonprofit based in Durham.
The world’s emissions of the main planet-warming gas carbon dioxide will rise over 50 percent to more than 42 billion tonnes per year from 2005 to 2030 as China leads a rise in burning coal, the U.S. government forecast on Wednesday. China’s coal demand will rise 3.2 percent annually from 2005 to 2030, the Energy Information Administration said in its International Energy Outlook 2008. –Reuters, 26 June 2008
Any carbon diet strategy would be dependent upon clean coal:
“The vast majority of new power stations in China and India will be coal-fired; not “may be coal-fired”; will be. So developing carbon capture and storage technology is not optional, it is literally of the essence.” –“Breaking the Climate Deadlock,” Tony Blair, June 26, 2008
But, Vaclav Smil, an energy expert at the University of Manitoba, has estimated that capturing and burying just 10 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted over a year from coal-fire plants at current rates would require moving volumes of compressed carbon d ioxide greater than the total annual flow of oil worldwide — a massive undertaking requiring decades and trillions of dollars. “Beware of the scale,” he stressed.”
“I’m going to tell you something I probably shouldn’t: we may not be able to stop global warming. We need to begin curbing global greenhouse emissions right now, but more than a decade after the signing of the Kyoto Protocol, the world has utterly failed to do so. Unless the geopolitics of global warming change soon, the Hail Mary pass of geoengineering might become our best shot.” –Bryan Walsh, Time Magazine, 17 March 2008
What, pray tell, is Mr. Warren’s scientific background such that he is qualified to make such radical claims?
This should a discussion of a scientific nature. Based on scientific priciples and not fear mongering.
Real Scientists never use inflammatory language such as “disaster” and such to try to sway their audience.
So, what exactly is Mr. Warren’s education and training in the field of Climatology??
Anyone who quotes James Hansen, known for his zealous emotional and political advocacy for environmental issues, is at risk of making a fool out of him/herself. Hansen, like Al Gore, is believed to generously “embellish” facts whenever doing so serves his purpose.
Any talk of “tipping points” is just such an embellishment. I know of no unified scientific support for such a concept. It is a term most frequently used to enlist ignorant people to the side of AGW believers.