Filed under: Business + Politics
Michael Dorsey says we are screwed. He says It is too late to worry about fixing climate change and time to start focusing on adapting to its impacts. At least that is what I gathered from his virtual visit to Media & the Environment this month.
So is Congress just spinning it’s wheels discussing carbon taxes and cap-and-trade programs? When questioned about dealing with climate change, Congressman Dennis Moore (D-KS) thinks it is high time we get something done.
“The longer we wait to curb greenhouse gas emissions, the more expensive it will become. With big policy changes, there are bound to be growing pains, however, we simply cannot afford to continue business as usual.”
Congressman Moore feels the legislature has turned the corner on responding to this issue.
“The House leadership has not only made it one of our top legislative priorities, but support for many of these energy efficiency efforts seems to be bipartisan. Of course, a few of my colleagues and others involved in our national dialogue on this issue still refuse to acknowledge the problem is real, as well as a few of my colleagues who are trying to protect the interests of their districts (like big coal districts, etc.), but generally, the support is widespread. As we move forward, therefore, we will have to work together to draft legislation that we can all support – legislation that will make real progress on this issue while understanding that we can’t fix the problem overnight.”
If Dorsey is right, overnight may be all the time we have.
- Jeff
Filed under: Business + Politics | Tags: big business, Congress, Dennis Moore, Gallup, public confidence, social change, voters, youth vote
Americans don’t trust Congress. This is not news. But a Gallup poll in July 2007 put Congress at the bottom of a list ranking public confidence in 16 American institutions. According to the poll, American’s put more trust in big business than they do in our legislature. And we definitely don’t have much love for big business.
That distrust may be part of what is driving younger voters to turn out in record numbers this year. Congressman Dennis Moore (D-KS) is certain the youth vote will be heard in the 2008 elections. “Young people have traditionally been very successful in achieving social change – from the women’s suffrage movement, to Vietnam, to the civil rights movement,” he says. “This year, young people have a unique opportunity to participate in social change in the November elections.”
With the environment ranking among the top 5 issues important to young voters, let’s hope we can add sustainability to that list of social movements. Only time will tell if the current groundswell will continue through to November. But if it does, we could start seeing our elected officials taking the environment more seriously.
- Jeff
Filed under: Business + Politics, Energy + Climate | Tags: carbon emissions, coal, energy, Holcomb, kansas legislature, Tom Sloan, wind energy
I have never attended a city council meeting. I have never participated in a protest (although I’ve signed a few online petitions in my time). And until recently, I have never written my state senator or representative. You could say I am apolitical. I guess I’ve always chosen education over activism to address the issues that are most important to me.
But as the battle to build coal fired plants in Holcomb, KS, raged on this spring, I felt it my civic duty to write my legislators. I knew their minds were already made up to vote for a veto override (even though they both sat through our local “Focus the Nation” event just three months ago listening to arguments against the legislation), but I fired away my messages anyway.
I was pleased to get a detailed response from my state representative, Tom Sloan. But it left more questions than answers. Here’s just a snippet of his reasoning for supporting new coal, and the queries left in its trail:
“Simply saying no to coal-fired electric generation does not result in the construction of renewable generation units.”
Maybe not, but doesn’t saying yes squelch the need for any other source of energy in our state for the time being, and put an end to opportunities for renewable development?
“The coal-fired plants would serve as anchors and financial supporters of the high voltage electric transmission lines necessary to move wind energy west to the California market and south and east to urban centers.”
When did Kansas get in the business of exporting power to the rest of the nation anyway? I thought we were an agricultural state.
“Emission standards for carbon releases from power plants, other commercial enterprises (e.g., ethanol plants), motor vehicles, etc. should be established. Currently no standards exist at the federal or state levels because scientists and policy-makers have not yet reached consensus on what levels are relevant and attainable. “
Now you’re talking. So shouldn’t we give current debates at the national level time to work themselves out before we jump headfirst into increasing carbon emissions that will soon be regulated?
“Wind energy will and should be part of the energy mix serving Kansas and the nation/world. The proposed Holcomb plants will be the lowest emitting plants in the nation and will be the first plants to have carbon capture and mitigation investments as part of their business plan”.
This one totally lost me. If wind should and will be part of the mix, why do we need to add more coal? In a state where 75% of the energy produced is from coal, and most of the remainder comes from nuclear power, I’d say we have a long way to go to make wind even part of the mix. Cleaner or not, coal definitely needs to make room for it’s renewable cousins.
I could go on, but I think you get the point. I don’t doubt Representative Sloan’s sincere interest and appreciate his effort to education himself on the issue, but for me the logic just doesn’t add up. It looks more like new coal would limit our opportunities, not broaden our horizons, and make shooting for the stars even more difficult than it already is.
“Ad Astra” statue atop of the Kansas capitol. Source: flickr.com
-Jeff
Filed under: Nature + Travel
View the Power Point presentation, which explains the theme and purpose of the six-part media series. Click here.
J.J. De Simone, Lindsay Crupper, Bobby Grace, Denzly Janneker, Adam Bowman
