Dear CEOs, offshore platform workers, gas station owners, refinery managers, coal miners, supertanker captains, tank truck drivers, wildcatters, riggers, drillers, geologists, accountants, power plant operators, brokers, venture capitalists, bankers, lobbyists and politicians:
This is the first of a series of commentaries about Greed and Global Warming. Since many of you connected to, employed by or dependent upon campaign contributions from fossil fuel industries may not agree with some of the ideas that I will present, I am beginning with an apology of sorts.
I think you are good people; you have good hearts; you are hard-working; you take care of your families; you love the outdoors and nature; and you love your country. The problem is that your activities are killing the planet
The petroleum and coal products that you provide and the industries that donate to your election campaign are largely responsible. Global warming is simply the result of too many people burning too much fossil fuel. This is not hypothetical; we can measure the results.
According to Reuters (October 20, 2006), "Greenland's low coastal regions lost 155 gigatons (41 cubic miles) of ice each year between 2003 and 2005 from excess melting and icebergs…"
And we are already seeing the effects on plant and animal life.
At least 70 species of frogs, mostly mountain-dwellers that had nowhere to go to escape the creeping heat, have gone extinct because of climate change, the analysis says. It also reports that between 100 and 200 other cold-dependent animal species, such as penguins and polar bears are in deep trouble.
"We are finally seeing species going extinct," said University of Texas biologist Camille Parmesan, author of the study. "Now we've got the evidence. It's here. It's real. This is not just biologists' intuition. It's what's happening."
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In previous posts (see list on right), I have written about tipping points and positive feedback loops. In summary, the more the polar regions warm now, the FASTER they will warm in the future because water absorbs more heat than ice and because the permafrost in the Arctic tundra, which locks in a vast carbon reservoir, is melting. This is releasing more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere which leads to more warming—a positive feedback loop.
The debate is not whether global warming is occurring, or if it is caused by humans, but what we can do about it. One thing we can do is to open our eyes to the reality that we are being routinely misled by multinational oil, gas and coal companies, power companies and automobile companies. Although the CEOs and managers are good people, a corporation is a near-immortal entity that is designed for one purpose only: making money for its shareholders. A corporation has no conscience, but it can act like it does for PR purposes.
We are also being misled by our government. The United States is the largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, but our government has consistently edited out, censored, cut, and redacted the speeches and reports of government scientists, like Jim Hansen of NASA, who have tried to sound warnings that we have an immense, and possibly insurmountable, problem that needs urgent attention.
"Further global warming of 1 °C defines a critical threshold. Beyond that we will likely see changes that make Earth a different planet than the one we know."
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Why is our government dragging its feet? In a recent speech Howard Zinn offered his considerable insight.
And if you know some history, you would understand something which is even more basic, perhaps, than the question of lying about this war or lying about this invasion, lying about this intervention, something more basic, if you knew some history: you would understand a sort of fundamental fact about society, and including our society, that the interests of the government and the interests of the people are not the same.
Link Although Mr. Zinn was speaking about the warfare, he could just as well been addressing the war on the environment. We are routinely and consistently being misled by our government whose interest is primarily economic, not protecting the environment.
Mr. Inhofe [R. OK, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works] has a track record for using his power in committee to block legislation designed to cut the greenhouse gas emissions contributing to climate change. He famously said on one occasion that global warming was "the greatest hoax perpetrated on the American people".
During the Inhofe period in power, Congress has done little to curb the gas-guzzling SUVs (six miles a gallon), has flirted with the idea of drilling for oil in the Arctic and has allowed the Bush administration to put a wet blanket on to international efforts to fight global warming.
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It comes as no surprise that Oil and Gas and Electric Utilities are the top industries supporting Mr. Inhofe.
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To me, the solution is apparent. Our representatives must free themselves from the conflict of interest posed by corporate campaign contributions and become public rather than corporate servants.
In his new book, "War on the Middle Class," Lou Dobbs spells it out.
"The only way we'll ever see [corporate America's] power substantially diminished is through the complete public financing of all elections."
Changing Lose-Lose to Win-Win
Right now we face double jeopardy. Our reliance and dependence upon fossil fuels and the competition for dwindling reserves creates world tensions that will likely get worse as supplies diminish. In addition, our combustion of fossil fuels is putting the biosphere at risk.
We can turn this around by switching to green, renewable energy. Solar, wind and bio-fuels offer the promise of a peaceful, healthy home planet. But time is running out and our government and corporate leadership need to take the lead in curbing emissions and plan how to mitigate the coming impacts of climate change. Until then we are in an environmental and energy death spiral. Comments are welcome.
Sincerely,
Ron S. Nolan, Ph.D.
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