Addressing Global Climate Change is arguably the overriding environmental imperative of our time. There is some debate over just how great the impact will be, how quickly it will come, or to what extent this is a human produced phenomenon.
There is, however, no serious disagreement that climate change is real and that human activity, primarily the release of CO2—largely from burning fossil fuels—is a prime driver. It is not just real, but is a real threat. Likely outcomes include more melting ice, rising sea levels, erratic, severe weather, more intense hurricanes, floods and droughts, crop failures and famines, spread of disease, habitat dislocation, environmental refugees and more.
Rapidly cutting, and ultimately eliminating, the release of CO2 and other greenhouse gases is our challenge. It is complicated by humanity’s profound dependence on fossil fuels, by growing population and by rising expectations. Billions of people in the developing world aspire to attain the energy-intensive lifestyles of the industrialized nations.
Solutions
Missourians for Safe Energy believes that the keys to tackling the climate crisis lie in getting energy efficient, switching to clean renewable energy sources, and in making simplicity a virtue. We need shifts in technology as well as a shift in philosophy that emphasizes the value of nature and the imperative of living sustainably.
In terms of policy, MSE supports major public commitments to efficiency and clean energy technologies. We support prescriptive and proscriptive mandates (e.g. strong building codes, renewable energy standards, bans on manufacturing or marketing gas guzzlers, etc.). We also see a role for market mechanisms, including internalizing the costs of our uses of polluting energy sources. This must be done with mechanisms to cushion the most vulnerable.
False Promises
These days we hear a lot about climate change from the nuclear power industry. They claim nukes are needed to cut greenhouse gas emissions. In fact, however, nuclear power is too expensive to qualify as part of the climate change prescription. As Amory Lovins, Chief Scientist of the Rocky Mountain Institute has stated:
“If we’re serious about addressing climate change, we must invest resources wisely to expand and accelerate climate protection. Because nuclear power is costly and slow to build, buying more of it rather than of its cheaper, swifter rivals will instead reduce and retard climate protection.”
We also hear from those who claim that so-called “clean coal” is part of the solution. They push for spending tens of billions on new coal technology, including carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). CCS, however, is unproven, likely never to work, very expensive and very energy intensive. It also only addresses one of coal’s downsides, ignoring its other negative impacts. MSE rejects this flawed approach another self-serving diversion from effectively addressing the climate crisis.
More Reasons to End Our Fossil Fuel Addiction
While it is urgent that we reduce our use of fossil fuels to counter the buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere, there are three other compelling reasons to do so:
- Fossil fuels are finite. Even if climate change was not a concern, we are at or near peak output for oil and natural gas. In the long-run, output can only decline, so alternative energy sources are needed.
- Fossil fuels are dirty. Extracting and burning them is polluting the air and the water. Coal and unconventional sources, like tar sands and shale, are dirtier than oil or gas, but the latter have their problems too.
- Fossil fuels are unevenly distributed, with nearly two-thirds of remaining proven oil reserves in the Persian Gulf region. Attempts to control these resources fuels wars.
Addressing Global Climate Change is one of MSE’s top priorities. We are working to build popular support for truly effective measures to address this growing threat. MSE invites you to actively join us in this work.
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