Feb 16, 2020 by Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor in the Marietta Times
As someone who spent the first
twenty years of his life as a devout Christian, I’ve long been baffled by the
church’s unwillingness to confront the issue of climate change.
“The gospel call to love one’s
neighbor is, in our time and place, most fully a call to do something about
climate change,” says Bill McKibben, author of “The End of Nature,” which
introduced many readers to the topic of global warming in 1989. “Because at the
moment, we’re drowning our neighbors, sickening our neighbors, making it
impossible for our neighbors to grow food.”
McKibben, who also founded the
well-known climate campaign 350.org, is a long-time Methodist, and regularly
draws on his Christian faith as a source of inspiration for his writing.
Working alongside the likes of Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, author of “Climate Church,
Climate World,” McKibben has fought for years to convince religious followers
of every ilk the climate fight is, in fact, a spiritual one.
In my own experience, however, I’ve
seen very little enthusiasm from most Christians when it comes to tackling the
issue of climate change. At best I hear rationalizations that, if climate
change is in fact really happening, then it’s all right, because it must just
be part of God’s plan. On the more extreme end of the spectrum are those who
welcome the collapse of the biosphere as a sign of end times, and the
fulfillment of some oblique prophecy from the book of Revelation.
As far as I’m aware, there is
nothing in the Bible that explicitly refers to the subject of climate change,
as tempting as it may be to cite biblical incidents of God smiting humankind
for its failure to abide by the rules and limitations He set in place for them.
What the Bible does tell us,
repeatedly, is to reject the temptations of material wealth. It tells us it is
easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to
enter the kingdom of God. And finally it tells us literally hundreds of times
to respect and take care of the poor among us.
When aligning these edicts with the
narrative of manmade global warming, the connotations for our own lives
couldn’t be clearer.
Climate change is a direct effect of
human materialism. The burning of fossil fuels has long been concealed by
perversely wealthy industrialists and politicians as the primary cause of
global warming, in their pursuit of profit above all else. As a result,
hundreds of millions of people will suffer from elevated sea levels, rising
global temperatures, and collapsing ecosystems, a disproportionate number of
whom represent the world’s most impoverished populations, who have had no hand
whatsoever in bringing about the crisis we face.
The preservation of our planet for
future generations is both a moral issue and a spiritual one. I challenge all
leaders of faith to inform themselves on the subject of climate change, and
inspire their congregations to act accordingly.
For more information on how you can
get involved in the fight for climate justice, please contact Mid-Ohio Valley
Climate Action today!
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Exploited, indeed
Apr 12, 2020 By Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor Parkersburg News and Sentinel
A couple of weeks back I submitted a letter to the News and Sentinel, discussing the lessons we should be learning from the COVID-19 pandemic, and what they can teach us about our response to climate change.
I anticipated that this might not sit well with some readers, and sure enough, I faced a small amount of online backlash from commenters, who accused me of exploiting a crisis in pursuit of my own personal goals.
I would not be writing about this publicly, except that I doubt that these online commenters were alone in their opinion. And I actually do agree that the crisis we now face is being exploited, by those with shortsighted self-interest in mind.
On Thursday, March 26 for instance, Trump’s EPA announced that it would indefinitely suspend the enforcement of environmental laws throughout the duration of the coronavirus outbreak, essentially giving the fossil fuel industry free rein to regulate itself (or not) for the foreseeable future.
Meanwhile in Canada, the Wet’suwet’en First Nation has spent months trying to prevent an illegal natural gas pipeline from being built on their land. The fight against said pipeline essentially bled straight into the coronavirus outbreak, and Coastal Gaslink, the company responsible for the pipeline, has reportedly taken advantage of public distraction to try and push through construction, putting Indigenous communities in danger as they fail to properly screen outside workers for health risks.
Also throughout the past few weeks, Kentucky, South Carolina, and West Virginia have all passed controversial legislation designed to stifle peaceful protest against fossil fuel infrastructure, using the mass disarray of the coronavirus outbreak as cover. It’s worth noting that such legislation, drafted by the fossil fuel industry in response to the Keystone XL Pipeline protests at Standing Rock, has been sweeping across U.S. states like its own form of infectious disease. As with the Wet’suwet’en, Standing Rock infamously entailed the Great Sioux Nation fighting back against an unwanted pipeline on their land, and even featured a shared villain with the Wet’suwet’en struggle- TransCanada, otherwise known as TC Energy.
Are you beginning to notice a pattern here?
This is only a handful of examples I’ve picked up on over the past week or so. I’m sure there will be even more out there by the time this letter makes it to print.
At the end of the day, I couldn’t agree more that the crisis we now face is being exploited. But I don’t believe for a second that this is being done by climate activists, who are seizing this moment to try and wake people up to the existential dangers of climate change.
Instead, this crisis is being exploited by the same bad faith actors who’ve preyed on society since the inception of their industry. Who’ve lied for decades about the climate crisis, who’ve taken advantage of their employees, put them at risk, and stolen their healthcare and pensions, and who’ve leveled poor communities for the sake of greed.
All of us need to look out for one another in these difficult times. And those moneyed interests who would seize this crisis to inflict further suffering upon humanity should be absolutely ashamed of themselves.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Whether it’s coronavirus or climate crisis, think globally and act locally now
Mar 23, 2020 By Adeline Bailey Letter to the Editor in the Marietta Times
Currently, reports of the spread of the coronavirus fill the news.
COVID-19 started far from the U.S., but now Ohio health officials and public health departments here in our valley “out of an abundance of caution” are taking steps to prevent an outbreak. As individuals we’re urged to practice good hand-washing, contact our local health care providers, stay home if we’re feeling ill, limit unnecessary travel, make plans in case day-to-day activities are disrupted, and take special precautions if we’re part of a vulnerable population group. Our local, state, and federal government departments are preparing tests to identify, isolate, and treat those already affected, and they are working on ways to help with the economic challenges that the pandemic could cause.
I’m grateful for this organized response to COVID-19. It gives me hope that realizing we are part of a global community impacted by something that has no respect for national borders might help us understand that we need to work together in taking action against climate change.
The ways we are dealing with the virus can instruct the ways we can deal with the climate crisis. As individuals, we can change the ways we heat our homes and produce our foods; get our electricity from renewable energy sources like wind and solar; drive electric cars; recycle, and reduce waste and pollution. Mariettans can ask local government to encourage buying from local farmers and merchants and reward businesses that help reduce the city’s carbon footprint and energy emissions. We can encourage local government to add solar panels to more municipal buildings, to develop more projects that make the city a desirable place to live and work, and build resilience against the extreme weather events and other impacts that climate change may bring to future generations of Mariettans.
We have an opportunity to come together to discuss what we’d like Marietta to look like in 10, or 20, or 50 years. City officials and citizens alike can share their views at a Sustainable Marietta Forum hosted by the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society. The three-day event is free, and anyone interested can register in advance at tinyurl.com/sustainable-marietta-forum. Following the Governor’s restrictions on large group gatherings, the planning group has postponed this event. In the meantime, they are working on creating a virtual forum for continuing the discussion on sustainabity.
While local action is important, it’s imperative that we also ask our national government to help us succeed in protecting our future. One effective and practical way to deal with this problem in the U.S. is for the government to collect a fee on carbon that increases over time, to impose it on coal before it ships from the mine and on oil and natural gas before they are piped from the well. Legislation before the House of Representatives (H.R. 763) stipulates returning the fee in equal monthly payments to all households. This carbon fee and dividend model is supported by U.S. economists and former chairs of the Federal Reserve, and by Citizens’ Climate Lobby. For more information about the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act: energyinnovationact.org.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Respond to climate change, too
Mar 22, 2020 By Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor in Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Transport your mind back to the beginning of this year. Or for that matter, to even a few short weeks ago.
Imagine someone telling you that somewhere, at a distant seafood market in a sprawling Chinese city, an infectious respiratory disease will make the leap from a bat or a pangolin into the body of a human being. In a short time, hundreds of thousands of people will be infected, and thousands will die. Entire cities will shut down around the world. Economies will collapse. Americans will be raiding supermarket shelves for food, toilet paper, and other essentials. Schools, restaurants, movie theaters, and sporting venues will all close. There’s a very real chance that you’ll be spending the next several months of your life quarantined inside your home.
Imagine someone telling you all of this as you celebrated the holidays, at Christmas or New Year’s. Imagine the look you would give them, and the likelihood that you would dismiss them as little more than some crackpot conspiracy theorist.
And yet this is the precise situation in which we now find ourselves.
The ongoing nightmare of the COVID-19 epidemic makes abundantly clear the connectedness and interdependence of our modern world, and the degree to which seemingly minor occurrences can produce ripple effects that extend across the globe.
Why, then, is it still so difficult for human beings to fathom the existential horror of the climate crisis, or mobilize on a level remotely resembling our response to the current outbreak?
Just as the irresponsible actions of a few wildlife traffickers in Wuhan have brought the world to a standstill, so will our own reckless decision to continue emitting greenhouse gases doom us to a fate we might now perceive as unimaginable, but which, in the long run, will prove much, much worse than anything we’ve seen.
The climate crisis carries with it its own numerous health risks, of course. As permafrost melts, unknown diseases that have lain dormant in ice for thousands of years are being released, and will likely cause future pandemics. Climate variability will also shift disease vectors, amplifying the effects of Lyme disease, dengue fever, West Nile, and a host of other pathogens. Estimates on deaths related to air pollution already range in the millions per year, and incidents of heat-related illnesses as well as famine will only become more severe as the climate continues to race toward its tipping point.
And this is just one aspect of the climate crisis.
Between the hundreds of millions of people displaced by climate chaos, economies tanked, resource scarcity caused by irresponsible consumption, whole societies whose homes will no longer exist due to rising sea levels, and any number of other butterfly effects we have yet to even imagine, we can either act meaningfully to confront the climate crisis today, or risk our current state of pandemic becoming the new norm for untold generations to come.
Please stay safe in these difficult times, and contact Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action or the Citizens’ Climate Lobby Marietta chapter to get involved in the fight for a better tomorrow.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Transitioning from fossil fuels
Mar 8, 2020 By Aaron Dunbar in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel
The fossil fuel industry cares infinitely less about you or your family than it would have you believe. Workers and their communities are little more than a means to an end for the wealthy industrialists who profit from the economic desperation of poor and rural communities.
Recent studies have found that areas with oil and gas based economies tend to suffer in the long term as far as per capita income, education, and crime rates are concerned, despite what appear to be the initial economic benefits of fossil fuel extraction. Often the longer the period of resource extraction in an area, the more severe the economic consequences will be when industries inevitably decide to pack up and leave — all a part of the vicious boom and bust cycles for which the fossil fuel industry is infamous.
This is to say nothing of the long term health and environmental impacts of fossil fuel extraction on those communities subjected to the presence of these industries. Right now, for instance, there is cause for concern that the recent boom in plastics in the area, a direct result of increased natural gas production, could potentially turn Appalachia into the next Cancer Alley.
On an even larger scale there is the issue of climate change to consider. Despite widespread skepticism among many Americans, there is virtually unanimous consensus among published climate scientists that climate change is happening, that it is overwhelmingly being caused by greenhouse gas emissions, and that the long term consequences to our planet will be devastating.
The truth is, the fossil fuel industry has known about climate change since before it was even a blip on the radar for many scientists, much less the general public. They’ve known that their product is poisoning us, that it is wrecking the planetary ecosystem, and that it will in fact make vast areas of the earth uninhabitable due to rising global temperatures. And instead of making the changes necessary to prevent such catastrophes, fossil fuel executives have spent decades lying to the American public, spending vast amounts of money on misinformation campaigns, and buying off politicians to prevent any meaningful action on curbing our emissions.
Fossil fuel corporations and their CEOs do not care about us or our communities. And yet there is a widespread impulse, despite a longstanding legacy of abuse and mistreatment, for many Americans to stand up for the industries who have proven only too happy to rob them of their well-being.
As a climate activist, I like many others believe in the necessity of a just transition for workers and communities dependent upon the destructive practices of the fossil fuel industry. We believe in moving toward a green-based economy, it is vitally important to retrain low-income and fossil fuel workers for long term, sustainable careers in the renewable energy sector, as well as for other clean jobs that will overwhelmingly comprise the economy of tomorrow.
A just transition is not only possible, but essential to ensuring a brighter future for our planet, and for our communities.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Uncertain future
Marietta Times Letter to the Editor Mar 18, 2020 by Dawn Hewitt
Society seems to be freaking out irrationally about COVID-19. Rational preparation to the growing threat makes much more sense. We don’t know whether the virus will peak in the United States in a matter of days or weeks or months. We don’t know whether it is seasonal, whether it will arrive, do its damage, and be over, or if it will return to wreak havoc again in the fall or next year. Will it mutate, rendering a yet-to-be-developed vaccine impotent? We don’t know. But stockpiling toilet paper is unlikely to help the situation. Ultimately, though, COVID-19 will be contained and controlled.
Climate change, however, will continue unabated unless we combat it with all the attention and resources we can muster. The effects of a changing climate could kill even more people than COVID-19, and over a much longer time span. We humans are not the only ones affected by climate change. Research by the Field Museum has found that in only 38 years, the body size of songbirds has dropped and their wing size has increased due to rising temperatures. A report published recently in The Auk: Ornithological Advances found that songbirds are migrating 5.5 days earlier than they did in the 1960s. “If migratory birds are not arriving at the breeding grounds at the right time, when there’s a peak abundance of insects, then they’re not going to have enough food for their young,” said Brooke Bateman, senior climate scientist at the National Audubon Society, in a recent email from the organization.
Maybe humans can adapt to climate change by shoring up coastlines, shifting agricultural production, and managing weather disasters, but will wildlife be able to adapt? The truth is that we really do not know what will happen if we do not take serious steps to reduce carbon emissions.
Fortunately, there is something we can do. The bipartisan Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (H.R. 763), which is currently in the House of Representatives, would tax fossil fuels at the source of production and return the proceeds back equally to American households. It also protects American markets, and provides incentives to reduce fossil fuel consumption and increase use of renewable energy. I encourage you to contact Representative Bill Johnson or whoever is your Congressperson and ask that they support H.R. 763.
Covid-19 is worrisome, and its impacts could prove to be devastating. But it is temporary. Unless we act immediately, climate change could have even more devastating impacts than COVID-19, impacts that could affect all life on Earth.
Dawn Hewitt
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Climate change a spiritual issue
Feb 16, 2020 by Aaron Dunbar Letter to the Editor in the Marietta Times
As someone who spent the first twenty years of his life as a devout Christian, I’ve long been baffled by the church’s unwillingness to confront the issue of climate change.
“The gospel call to love one’s neighbor is, in our time and place, most fully a call to do something about climate change,” says Bill McKibben, author of “The End of Nature,” which introduced many readers to the topic of global warming in 1989. “Because at the moment, we’re drowning our neighbors, sickening our neighbors, making it impossible for our neighbors to grow food.”
McKibben, who also founded the well-known climate campaign 350.org, is a long-time Methodist, and regularly draws on his Christian faith as a source of inspiration for his writing. Working alongside the likes of Rev. Dr. Jim Antal, author of “Climate Church, Climate World,” McKibben has fought for years to convince religious followers of every ilk the climate fight is, in fact, a spiritual one.
In my own experience, however, I’ve seen very little enthusiasm from most Christians when it comes to tackling the issue of climate change. At best I hear rationalizations that, if climate change is in fact really happening, then it’s all right, because it must just be part of God’s plan. On the more extreme end of the spectrum are those who welcome the collapse of the biosphere as a sign of end times, and the fulfillment of some oblique prophecy from the book of Revelation.
As far as I’m aware, there is nothing in the Bible that explicitly refers to the subject of climate change, as tempting as it may be to cite biblical incidents of God smiting humankind for its failure to abide by the rules and limitations He set in place for them.
What the Bible does tell us, repeatedly, is to reject the temptations of material wealth. It tells us it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God. And finally it tells us literally hundreds of times to respect and take care of the poor among us.
When aligning these edicts with the narrative of manmade global warming, the connotations for our own lives couldn’t be clearer.
Climate change is a direct effect of human materialism. The burning of fossil fuels has long been concealed by perversely wealthy industrialists and politicians as the primary cause of global warming, in their pursuit of profit above all else. As a result, hundreds of millions of people will suffer from elevated sea levels, rising global temperatures, and collapsing ecosystems, a disproportionate number of whom represent the world’s most impoverished populations, who have had no hand whatsoever in bringing about the crisis we face.
The preservation of our planet for future generations is both a moral issue and a spiritual one. I challenge all leaders of faith to inform themselves on the subject of climate change, and inspire their congregations to act accordingly.
For more information on how you can get involved in the fight for climate justice, please contact Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action today!
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Energy: Investment in renewables is vital to state’s future
Feb 12, 2020 Editorial in Parkersburg News and Sentinel
West Virginians understand how much we owe the generations of coal miners who have kept our — and the rest of the country’s — lights on. Our emotional response to the idea anyone would want to “put a lot of miners and coal companies out of business,” sparked a political wave most did not expect.
But we have also known for generations that there must be more; that our state MUST diversify our economy and make other changes as it moved forward, rather than simply looking back.
Lawmakers know, deep in their hearts, coal is not going to rebound to levels once seen in our state. Those who say differently are cruelly manipulating a struggling population in hopes of gaining votes.
Others are willing to face the challenge honestly, and bills in the state Senate and House of Delegates are aimed at making a small start on that task. If enacted, they would allow the state Public Service Commission to expedite the agency’s process for approving new solar power generation facilities.
The bills would not grant subsidies in any way to the solar power industry. They would provide no tax breaks or other incentives. They would only snip a bit of red tape from the PSC process. They would allow such expedited treatment for only 400 megawatts of generating capacity — less than 3% of the state’s electricity.
It seems as though some employers may already be looking toward those possibilities, as Energy Harbor, which recently acquired the Pleasants Power Station, has a goal to expand its energy portfolio on the site.
“The good news is Energy Harbor wants to own it. They want to see that plant thrive and keep it open for generations to come,” said Pleasants County Commission President Jay Powell. “I think they’re in a position where they can continue to work on expanding and provide other sources and we’ve got the ground to do that potentially up here.”
While discussion so far appears to involve hydro electric power and natural gas, one must wonder whether an encouragement by lawmakers to explore solar power might give them ideas for an even more diversified use of that land — and even more stability in safeguarding hundreds of jobs.
Critics say the bills are a betrayal of the coal industry. They are not.
Even coal operator Gov. Jim Justice understands diversification is necessary.
Those who rely on Pleasants Power and the many other similar facilities throughout the state should encourage their lawmakers to support renewables legislation.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Solar energy — West Virginia’s path to a brighter economic future
Mar 1, 2020 by Beth Wheatley Editorial at Parkersburg News & Sentinel
The time is now for West Virginia to seize the opportunity to capture some of the 240,000 jobs and the billions of dollars of annual investment in the United States’ growing solar energy sector. Surrounding states-from Virginia to North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Kentucky-have already taken action toward the creation of strong solar marketplaces at the state level to satisfy the growing renewable energy appetite of large industrial employers, local businesses, schools, churches and residents. The pace and scale of solar development in these states far exceeds West Virginia’s by many hundred-folds. Make no mistake; this is a race that is heating up for the jobs and economic benefits that come from early leadership, and it is not too late for West Virginia to catch up and possibly even surpass surrounding states. How? By enacting solar-friendly policies that create a fair, predictable and competitive marketplace without further delay-and by leveraging unexpected assets. But we must act quickly.
Right now, in the West Virginia Legislature, several solar-friendly bills are under consideration. We at The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia applaud legislators championing those bills that can serve as incremental steps toward establishing a solar marketplace for homeowners and businesses alike. And, we are committed to working with lawmakers and stakeholders over the coming years to develop a more comprehensive policy framework, which will be required for West Virginia to catch up to surrounding states that have more solar opportunities due to these states having the right policy frameworks in place. This will pave the way for the most significant economic benefits to West Virginians over the long-term.
We are pleased that at least two of the bills under consideration by the West Virginia Legislature focus on an incredibly important pathway to such a marketplace for West Virginia: siting large-scale solar arrays on former mine lands and brownfields to help return these formally productive lands to potentially lucrative assets, which has benefits for West Virginia and its economy. Think about this: formerly mined lands that once provided the energy our nation needs and economic benefits from the local to national level can once again be part of the energy breadbasket, with benefit to both workers and the economy while providing the renewable energy demands of the market. And, importantly for our Wild and Wonderful lifestyle and attributes, by steering solar development to former mine lands and brownfields, we steer development away from forests and, thereby, sustain the values that forests bring to West Virginia: clean water, wildlife, carbon sequestration, forestry, outdoor recreation and tourism, Siting solar on these sites is a win for nature, a win for our economy and a win for the climate.
In recognition of this win-win-win, The Nature Conservancy in West Virginia has created a road map to siting solar energy on former mine lands that serves as a playbook of actions that stakeholder groups-from landowners and state leaders to solar developers and organizations like The Nature Conservancy-may take to facilitate redevelopment of former mine lands for large-scale solar sites. Independently, these players could make some headway toward creating a solar marketplace in West Virginia; collectively, we can maximize our impact and have the greatest likelihood of success to see West Virginia create a competitive marketplace that provides a full suite of economic benefits.
What are the potential economic benefits? A competitive solar marketplace could help those seeking employment to transfer their skills, ranging from heavy equipment operation to electrical wiring to tax accounting, to this growing industry. Solar development would also generate valuable lease revenues for landowners and replenish the tax base for local communities-all while helping to attract new employers, manufacturers and industries to the state. The Nature Conservancy is committed to working with the key stakeholders needed to create the opportunities for West Virginia to capture the benefits of solar energy. We stand ready to do what’s required to make this a reality for the Mountain State and its people. If we don’t act now, West Virginians will miss out on the economic, conservation and climate benefits of solar energy that surrounding states are experiencing.
Beth Wheatley is director of external affairs and strategic initiatives for the Nature Conservancy in West Virginia.
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Energy – Embrace change or not
Feb 28, 2020 Letter to the Editor at Marietta Times by Vic Elam
There is a lot of information swirling around these days about climate change – is it real or a natural phenomenon – if it is real, how bad could it be – what should we do? In efforts to protect themselves, corporations that stand to suffer from changes in public opinion, work to find ways to spin the conversation to benefit themselves. But, what I propose here is that regardless of your opinion about climate change, there are many other factors, “hidden costs,” that we should consider as we look at opportunities to move from a fossil fueled economy to one based upon emerging renewable technologies.
Those corporations that are defending the continued use of fossil fuels, will tell you that renewable energy efforts such as solar and wind require the use of rare earth elements, are cost-prohibitive, use construction processes that are environmentally damaging, and so forth. There is some validity to those arguments, however, when compared to the damages resulting from the continued use of fossil fuels that argument falls woefully short.
Like many things we purchase, we tend to accept the monetary value as the true cost involved in the production of that product. Upon further examination, the hidden costs of fossil fuel production are not really evident in the price we pay at the pump or on our electricity bill. Certainly the most widely publicized “hidden cost” is the effects of climate change. But even if you are a climate denier it’s hard to deny many of the other hidden costs like, air and water pollution. And as the more available fossil fuel reserves are used up we must work harder, employ damaging processes, and go into areas previously set aside as natural areas.
The end result is that we find ourselves paying environmental costs. Fracking has been shown to blame for earth quakes and contaminating water supplies. Fracking has been documented in following a fissure and surfacing resulting in contamination of surface water. Brine water, a byproduct of fracking, poses its own set of problems. Erosion from surface mining, installation of pipelines and construction of access roads damages wildlife habitat and contaminates our water supply, not to mention the constant spill events from transporting fuel. Air pollution has increased the incidence of asthma and other lung disease and we all suffer from the cost of treatment of these ailments.
If you are not a climate denier, look at the increasing damage from extreme weather events. We are likely to continue to see weather events take a toll on our food supply, on human lives and our structures.
If having good paying jobs is your concern, we have everything necessary to produce the products required for renewable energy, but again large corporations are calling the shots to benefit them the most.
I could go on and on, but I’m guessing that most of you are aware of many of these issues already, which begs me to ask; why don’t we take action. I invite you to get involved, Citizens Climate Lobby has a local chapter and is seeking your support, you can find out more on Facebook, citizensclimate.org or send an email to: Marietta.oh@citizensclimatelobby.org.
Other locally active organizations:
¯ Ready-for-100: sierraclub.org/ready-for-100
¯ Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action: main.movclimateaction.org
¯ Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition (OVEC): ohvec.org
Last Updated: April 29, 2023 by main_y0ke11
Finding common ground on climate change
Marietta Times and Parkersburg News & Sentinel Feb 9, 2020
by George Banziger
As the election year of 2020 unfolds, there is plenty of rancor and polarization in the political world. One issue that can potentially achieve bipartisan support is addressing a serious and time-urgent problem facing our world and our country — climate change. The facts about climate change are irrefutable: oceans are warming, rising, and becoming more acidic; glaciers are disappearing at accelerating and alarming rates; world-wide temperatures are setting records every year; and extreme weather is striking in several places in the form of droughts (leading to fires like those in Australia), more severe hurricanes, and massive rainfall events. Fully 97 percent of peer-reviewed scientists agree that human-caused climate change is at the heart of these events.
The American public, as evidenced by national surveys done by Yale University and others, seem to be behind legislative, bipartisan efforts to address climate change. When asked about a carbon tax on producers of fossil fuels, 66 percent of all voters support such an initiative, 80 percent of Democrats, 53 percent of Republicans, 64 percent of swing voters, and 75 percent of Republicans under 40. In the current political era Democrats have more strongly supported legislation to address climate change. But in the past Republicans have been leaders in environmental stewardship, such as Teddy Roosevelt in establishing our national park system and Republican congressmen in the Nixon era in developing the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act. Frank Luntz, a Republican strategist and pollster, had a stern warning for Republicans in reporting the results of his 2019 survey; Republicans under 40 support a carbon tax at the level of 7:1; 85 percent of Republican millennials agree that the current Republican position on climate change is hurting the party with younger voters.
The Citizens Climate Lobby, a bipartisan national and international movement, is supporting legislation called the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act in the House of Representatives, HR 763. This bill, if enacted, will reduce carbon emissions by 40 percent in 12 years and promote economic and job growth at the same time. It will do so by putting dollars, which are generated by a fee (not a tax to go to the government) on fossil-fuel producers, directly into the hands of the American public.
Climate change need not necessarily be a wedge issue politically but a bridge issue to unite the two major parties. One issue that has led to bipartisan support is reducing carbon emissions through energy efficiency. The International Energy Agency (2019) has reported that the most cost-effective way of enhancing any energy system is energy efficiency – it is the “single most important element that can bring the world to sustainable levels.” The cheapest source of energy is that which you do not use. Ohio Senator Rob Portman, a Republican, teamed up with Senator Shaheen, Democrat of New Hampshire, to introduce legislation called the Energy Savings and Industrial Competitiveness bill; this bill addresses three areas to achieve greater efficiency: buildings (through strengthening of codes), manufacturing (through research and development on energy-efficient technologies), and the federal government (through improved computers and standards for new federal buildings). There are two companion bills to Portman-Shaheen in the House, each sponsored by a Republican and a Democrat, one by Representative David McKinley (R-WV).
The issue of jobs and the economy can also involve bipartisan support. Jobs in the renewable energy sector are outpacing job growth in the economy as a whole. There are 360,000 jobs in the solar industry (more than in coal and nuclear combined), and another 120,000 in wind; job growth in the latter tripled from 2008 to 2016. We in Appalachia have seen little of this job growth in renewable energy, but it is possible that we can. In this region of eastern Ohio, northwestern West Virginia, and western Pennsylvania, the natural gas business (extraction from the Utica Shale deposits) is extremely important to the economy and shows promise for future growth — at least in the near future until renewable energy resources are strengthened. An effort in this region has been launched to promote industrial growth based on the cheap and abundant shale gas; the entity behind this effort is called the Shale Crescent USA. Natural gas producers are doing many things to reduce carbon emissions in drilling, transport, and storage of gas and in replacing high carbon-emitting coal-fired power plants. Why can’t we direct some of this promotion of natural-gas industrial development to the manufacture of wind turbines (made of fiberglass) and solar panels? In the past this region has been a major manufacturing hub for glass products. This collaboration of natural gas development and manufacture of products for renewable energy can be a pro-growth and pro-environmental partnership between natural gas and renewables — a source of common ground at least for a while — until infrastructure around renewable energy is more fully developed.
***
George Banziger, Ph.D., was a faculty member at Marietta College and an academic dean at three other colleges. Now retired, he is a member of the Citizens Climate Lobby, the Green Sanctuary Committee of the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Marietta, and Better Angels (a group addressing political polarization).
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