Book Review - "Red Sky At Morning"

In Red Sky At Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment , James Gustave Speth essentially does 3 things:

1. He describes the crisis that the earth is facing with climate change.
2. He proposes eight transitions that we need to make if we are to successfully meet this challenge.
3. He proposes different pathways and solutions to making the eight transitions.

The eight transitions that Speth proposes represent significant paradigm shifts:

• Transition 1 - A Stable or Smaller World Population
• Transition 2 - Free of Mass Poverty
• Transition 3 - Environmentally Benign Technologies
• Transition 4 - Environmentally Honest Prices
• Transition 5 - Sustainable Consumption
• Transition 6 - Knowledge and Learning
• Transition 7 - Good Governance
• Transition 8 - Culture and Consciousness

Whether we can make these transitions is difficult to predict. Without a doubt, this is a monumental challenge.

A concept that Speth introduces in the book is JAZZ - the collection of individuals and groups working with no overall coordination to fight global warming. From a 2004 interview on NPR's "Living on Earth" radio program (listen to the MP3 of the interview here), Speth describes JAZZ as follows:

"So, what's happening in our country is really quite extraordinary. Because below the radar, there's real movement at the state level, the city level, at the consumer level, at the individual investor. We have at the beginnings in our country of, I think, a real revolution. The infrastructure is being put in place for a bottom-up movement that can really change things, and eventually it will force the political process to change. So things are beginning to stir, but it's in this realm of JAZZ, it's not in the realm of global governance."

This is exactly what SEA and other organisations around the country are doing. So many of the solutions to this problem will occur when we all take action, change behaviors to use energy more sustainably, and hold governments and companies accountable for their actions and decisions. Speth's quote demonstrates that we are not alone in this effort!

Finally, the last section of "Red Sky," Resources for Citizens, outlines ways that we can begin to address the Eight Transitions. It is available as a pdf for download here.

Start implementing solutions! I encourage you to choose one of the Eight Transitions and do whatever you can to move us all forward!

Another Look At The 13 Tipping Points

The Bangor Daily News has run an Op-Ed by Julia Whitty, the author of the "The Thirteenth Tipping Point" (see my 11/21 blog). "The tipping point on global warming" gives an excellent overview of her longer article that is in Mother Jones Magazine.

A few points to highlight:

• Increasing the visibility of the small changes that people are making may help to change the behaviors of more people. - "[W]e would be inclined to behave as better environmental citizens when we are educated and our individual actions are visible to those around us — a phenomenon known as 'social facilitation.'"
• Once we make up our minds that climate change is a real problem that needs real solutions, we have the ability to change behavior quickly. - "[H]umans can change and change fast. Our hallmark is adaptability."
• The time for action is now. - "We know what to do. We know how to do it. We know the timeline. We are our own tipping point. "

We need to continue to focus on the actions that we can all take - both small and large. Tell your friends and family about the steps that you are taking to reduce your energy-related emissions. If they know that you are taking this risk seriously, they might be more likely to change their own habits!

Supreme Court To Hear Global Warming Case

The Portland Press Herald reports that Maine, along with 11 other states and a variety of environmental groups, will soon be arguing in front of the Supreme Court that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must regulate the emissions of carbon dioxide from cars to help fight global warming.

Those against this approach include the federal government, automakers, the American Forest and Paper Association, the American Chemistry Council and the National Association of Manufacturers. Their argument is "no matter how serious a concern global climate change may be, that concern does not justify trying to shoehorn global climate change into a regulatory structure designed and enacted by Congress to address different types of problems."

Rather than try to fix the problem with whatever tools that we have available - in this case the Clean Air Act - they think that we should not do anything at all.

The unfortunate point that this important lawsuit makes all too clear is that there continues to be no leadership on climate change from Washington D.C. Luckily, the leadership is coming from the state and local levels. Rather than leading us to a path of hope and action, the White House and Congress continue to tell us why nothing can be done. It would be interesting to see how much progress the state and local leaders could make with help from Washington D.C.

With a new Democratic majority in Congress, let's hope that this leadership vacuum at the federal level is filled and that real solutions to the challenges of climate change are in our future. In the meantime, we will have to continue to do all that we can at the state and local levels.

For more information about this lawsuit, see the Massachusetts' Attorney General's website.

Book Recommendation: Red Sky At Morning

In Red Sky At Morning: America and the Crisis of the Global Environment , James Gustave Speth essentially does 3 things:

1. He describes the crisis that the earth is facing with climate change.
2. He proposes eight transitions that we need to make if we are to successfully meet this challenge.
3. He proposes different pathways and solutions to making the eight transitions.

The eight transitions that Speth proposes represent significant paradigm shifts:

• Transition 1 - A Stable or Smaller World Population
• Transition 2 - Free of Mass Poverty
• Transition 3 - Environmentally Benign Technologies
• Transition 4 - Environmentally Honest Prices
• Transition 5 - Sustainable Consumption
• Transition 6 - Knowledge and Learning
• Transition 7 - Good Governance
• Transition 8 - Culture and Consciousness

Whether we can make these transitions is difficult to predict. Without a doubt, this is a monumental challenge.

A concept that Speth introduces in the book is JAZZ - the collection of individuals and groups working with no overall coordination to fight global warming. From a 2004 interview on NPR's "Living on Earth" radio program (listen to the MP3 of the interview here), Speth describes JAZZ as follows:

"So, what's happening in our country is really quite extraordinary. Because below the radar, there's real movement at the state level, the city level, at the consumer level, at the individual investor. We have at the beginnings in our country of, I think, a real revolution. The infrastructure is being put in place for a bottom-up movement that can really change things, and eventually it will force the political process to change. So things are beginning to stir, but it's in this realm of JAZZ, it's not in the realm of global governance."

This is exactly what SEA and other organisations around the country are doing. So many of the solutions to this problem will occur when we all take action, change behaviors to use energy more sustainably, and hold governments and companies accountable for their actions and decisions. Speth's quote demonstrates that we are not alone in this effort!

Finally, the last section of "Red Sky," Resources for Citizens, outlines ways that we can begin to address the Eight Transitions. It is available as a pdf for download here.

Start implementing solutions! I encourage you to choose one of the Eight Transitions and do whatever you can to move us all forward!

There's Hope From Washington...

The Washington Post writes that Big Oil is seeing the writing on the wall: "top executives at many of the nation's largest energy companies have accepted the scientific consensus about climate change and see federal regulation to cut greenhouse gas emissions as inevitable."

The article mentions shifts at many of the a few of the top energy companies - Shell, Duke Energy, and even the biggest of them all: "Exxon Mobil Corp., the highest-profile corporate skeptic about global warming, said in September that it was considering ending its funding of a think tank that has sought to cast doubts on climate change." With money starting to dry up, maybe those scientists who argue against global warming will as well.

Maybe the tide is starting to turn and we will see real leadership on this issue coming out of Washington!

Read the article here: Energy Firms Come to Terms With Climate Change

Simple Ideas To Take Action at StopGlobalWarming.org

If you are wondering what actions you can take to reduce your emissions of greenhouse gases, the website at StopGlobalWarming.org has a great list of actions that you can take each day.

My favorites include:

• Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs - Replace 3 frequently used light bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs. Save 300 lbs. of carbon dioxide and $60 per year.
• Use Recycled Paper - Make sure your printer paper is 100% post consumer recycled paper. Save 5 lbs. of carbon dioxide per ream of paper.
• Buy Products Locally - Buy locally and reduce the amount of energy required to drive your products to your store.
• Reduce Garbage - Buy products with less packaging and recycle paper, plastic and glass. Save 1,000 lbs. of carbon dioxide per year.

For more ideas, visit the Take Action! website. If we all choose just a couple of these actions, we can start to make measureable progress against global warming.

Bad Economics from the Cato Institute

The recently released Stern Report from the British government recommends that the world invest in addressing global warming now to prevent significant effect on the world economy in the future.

In a report entitled, "Global Warming Insurance is a Bad Buy" by Jerry Taylor and Peter Van Doren, the Cato Institute counters the Stern Report by asking "why should the relatively poor (us) sacrifice for the relatively rich (our children and grandchildren)?" That's right. Who cares what the world looks like in 100 years, our children and grandchildren are going to be richer than we are?

This ridiculous abdication of responsibility is based on the fact that thanks to the "magic" of compounding economic growth, the Gross Domestic Product Per Capita will grow from $44,403 to $321,684 between now and 2106. "If global warming cuts GDP by 10% a year beginning about 50 years from now, then GDP per capita will be $289,515 in 2106 rather than $321,684. "
This argument is like someone in the 1970's claiming that because the population of 2006 will be richer and can better afford to clean up the environment, there was no need to pass the Clean Air Act or the Clean Water Act or any of the other laws that have cleaned the environment and forced more responsibility upon those who pollute.

Setting aside the morality of leaving our children and grandchildren to deal with the effects of our high-carbon society, the paper also forgets to mention that if you assume a 3.5% inflation rate (about the same as from 1950 to 2005), in 2106, the Per Capita GDP would need to be $1,384,992 for our great grandchildren to enjoy the same standard of living as we enjoy now. So, keeping this in mind, the argument really should be that we need to do something now because future generations will be less able to afford the solutions than we are.

The report ends with the standard stance of those against addressing the problem: "But climate predictions are not certain." Apparently, Taylor and Van Doran are willing to wait until Washington D.C. is under water to take action.

This type of report is the reason why the work of the Sustainable Energy Alliance is so important. Grass-roots groups like SEA leading the charge at the local level is the only way to counter "research" backed by Big Oil and other companies who believe the best solution is the status quo so that they can continue to make lots of money.

If You Can't Install Solar Panels...

Who says that to be green you have to spend thousands of dollars installing solar panels on your roof? Many electricity companies offer green power alternatives. For a few extra dollars per month, all of your energy can be from green power sources like wind, hydro, and photovoltaic. This means that for less than the cost of a daily cup of coffee, with a simple telephone call you can buy green energy without having to mortgage the house to install solar panels on your home.

In Kennebunk, ME, the Village Green program allows customers to purchase 100 kW-hr blocks for only $1 per month. That adds only 1 cent per kW to my energy bill. Our family buys 6 blocks at $6 per month to cover most of our base electrical load.

If you are a customer of Kennebunk Light and Power (which is a non-profit), visit their website (currently under construction) or send an e-mail to sastaz@klpd.org to sign up for this program.
If you are a customer of Central Maine Power or Bangor Hydro, the Maine Energy Investment Corp. has an overview of similar options at their website.

In my opinion, this is the easiest and cheapest way to begin to reduce your "carbon footprint" and help to make a clean, renewable energy future a reality.

Thirteenth Tipping Point

A difficult concept for many to remember about Climate Change is that the changes will not be linear. The systems are too complex. Like the straw that broke the camel's back, we will one day burn that ton of coal that boosts the carbon dioxide concentration over a tipping point.

This article from Mother Jones Magazine points out some of the dangerous tipping that could occur.

Thirteenth Tipping Point by Julia Whitty

In an article in the LA Times, Whitty says:

"Many secretly perceive global warming to be an insoluble problem and respond by circling the family wagons and turning inward. Yet human beings are born with powerful tools for solving this quandary. We have the genetic smarts and the cultural smarts. We have the technological know-how. We even have the inclination."

Whitty in the LA Times

Now is the time to start to act!

Welcome To The Sustainable Energy Alliance

The Sustainable Energy Alliance (SEA) is focused on meeting the challenge posed by Climate Change and Global Warming by making real changes at the local level - in Kennebunk, Maine and other nearby communities. Our focus is based on the wisdom that "the thousand mile journey begins with a single step." Each compact fluorescent bulb... each hybrid car... each solar panel... each windmill... These are all single steps that help combat the huge problem posed by climate chage - and every step helps.

This blog will contain information about climate change and other effects of global warming and what we can all do to reduce the carbon emissions produced by our lifestyles. Please come back often!!

Please join us at www.SEAChangeHappen.org!