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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wharf Rat who wrote (1717)	8/15/2005 9:45:06 AM
From: Wharf Rat	Respond to of 24213

OPEN FORUM Facing Our Energy Dependency Feds can follow local lead to reduce global warming James Barrett As the country suffers through a sweltering summer and another spate of heat waves and heat-related deaths, it is becoming increasingly clear that this is not an aberration but rather a glimpse of things to come. According to the National Academy of Sciences, if global warming continues unchecked, nearly 1,200 people could die in Los Angeles from heat-related causes by the end of the century. To put that number in perspective, such deaths averaged 165 annually during the 1990s. So when President Bush signed into law a sweeping energy bill from which any focus on greenhouse-gas emissions and global warming was conspicuously absent, the need for cities and states to take matters into their own hands became even more pressing. Congress may have nixed mention of global warming from the energy bill, but not all parties are standing still. One-hundred and seventy five U.S. cities have pledged to meet or beat the targets in the Kyoto Protocol -- including San Francisco, Oakland and Irvine. In a novel approach to recycling, Santa Rosa has set up an elaborate system of pipelines that pumps wastewater into the ground for clean and reliable geothermal electricity. By adopting a far less ambitious approach than any of these pioneering localities in addressing climate change -- both in his reluctance to acknowledge the reality of global warming and by his recent toothless pact with China, India, South Korea and Australia -- President Bush is not only in the minority among the leaders of the developed world, but he is also alone among leaders at home. In the absence of decisive leadership at the federal level, forward- looking governors and mayors are doing what they can to reduce dependence on fossil fuels and diversify energy supply on their own. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has shown leadership by naming a task force to evaluate the feasibility of a cap-and-trade system in California to meet targets he laid out this past June. The onus is now on the governor to commit to a decisive plan to reduce emissions and stimulate innovative business. The best way to do this is to auction emission permits and recycle the revenue back into the economy, investing in new technologies and ensuring consumers are protected from unfair price disadvantages. As one of top 10 economies in the world, the spin-offs for new energy and other industries in California will create the momentum necessary to build an economy that is both lean and green, more efficient and more competitive in growing international markets. By building international cooperation on climate change, California -- along with Canada, New York, New Jersey and the New England states -- may follow the European Union's carbon-dioxide emissions trading market that is already up and running. In addition to fostering international collaboration, California can adopt the Redefining Progress plan that would cap the emissions that industry is allowed to produce, but give individual companies the flexibility to buy and sell permits for emissions as they see fit. This system would invest in new technologies to produce renewable energy (such as Santa Rosa's geothermal fields) provide funding for critical infrastructure development, and reduce our dependence on foreign energy supplies. Research indicates that this is the best -- and perhaps only -- way to ensure that U.S. companies are major players in the economy of the 21st century. Strong national leadership supported by federal investment in clean energy technology and a cut in corporate welfare would be far more effective than a patchwork of state projects, and the new international pact will achieve little beyond what would have occurred anyway. So the energy bill's failure to address global warming furthers the need for local action. The president has refused to address the issue of climate change and has left it to state and local leaders to pick up the slack -- and while the nation experiences record-breaking temperatures this summer, the real heat needs to come from state and local leaders willing to take smarter, stronger action on climate change. James Barrett is director of the Sustainable Economics Program at Oakland's Redefining Progress (www.rprogress.org). Page C - 5 sfgate.com