DARK MESSAGE: Writer-activist Bill McKibben before Boulder audience April 27 (Reporter photo)

Most mildly sentient Americans are reeling from the collection of calamities that confront us. But none, arguably, is basic and apocalyptic save one: climate change. Honorable mention should probably go to human greed. But climate change is about losing the whole game: human habitability of our planet.

Thus, he comes to our town, Bill McKibben, telling a Boulder audience what we’d darkly feared but hoped wasn’t so: that climate change is already upon us. It’s heralded by an arctic that is “melting like crazy”; it’s “happening in one system after another”; it comes at us with “deluges and downpours like we’ve never seen before.” And, his terrible summary: “It’s a different planet. … It’s as if we’d gotten into a spaceship and traveled to a different place.” And an equally terrible literary allusion, to the Bhagavad Gita’s passage, famously murmured by Robert Oppenheimer as he watched the first atomic bomb: “We are become as gods, destroyers of worlds.”

The writer as activist

Then, summarizing from his new book, Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet, McKibben spoke of the need for action, and of the action he’s taken, spending only 70 days out of the past year in his rural Vermont home, the rest of the time, traveling, speaking, joining environmental actions — ironically, he noted, “on the road nonstop, spewing carbon behind me.”

Most famously, McKibben’s recent activism has focused on the group 350.org that, in turn, has seized on the scientific finding that life as we know it is vaguely sustainable only if we can get the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere back down to 350 parts per million (it’s now at about 390 and rising at about 2.5 ppm per year, McKibben said). The scientific data and their implications are, for McKibben, “horrifying,” but “that number is what we decided to organize around,” in part because “Arabic numerals transcend linguistic boundaries.” On Oct. 24, 2009, demonstrations focusing on that 350 number were held in 5,200 cities in 181 countries (including Boulder, as was reported here). It was the largest organized political event in human history.

From Copenhagen to 10/10/10

Then there was Copenhagen, where the failure to aggressively act on climate change left McKibben feeling “some toxic combination of sad and angry.” But the more than 350 young people who’d accompanied him there said no, don’t give up, let’s go on. And they will, in Oct. 10, 2010 (that’s 10/10/10), when they’re organizing a “global work party” at which people worldwide will work on solar panels, bike paths, community gardens and more. These actions won’t surmount the challenge; but they may, he said, set an example to pressure politicians for legislation at all levels. The message to politicians: “If we can get to work, perhaps you can get to work also.” 10/10/10, in short, “is gonna be a beautiful day.”

But…

Bill McKibben, reminding the audience that he is a reporter, confessed that he’s possessed with “a compulsion to tell the truth” (as he has done for years, it should be noted, in his books and in his articles for The New Yorker). McKibben — not the activist but the truth-teller — acknowledged that “there’s no guarantee that this is gonna work. … We’ve raised the temperature one degree and there’s another in the pipeline.”

This brings us to the conclusion of our little tale of a speech, in an echo-y church in Boulder, Colorado, on April 27, 2010. There’s no guarantee that taking action will reverse things in time, he says, but we should try. And maybe 5 percent of the population know who Bill McKibben is. The media can jabber on about a lot of things — in the case of television and big-circulation magazines, usually the dumber the topic the better. Yet Bill McKibben’s name is not a household word. Given the grave finality of the message he’s bearing, shouldn’t it be?  
 

CLIMATE ACTION IS HOT! After environmental activist Bill McKibben’s April 27 talk, Amy Guinan (pictured) told crowd about an anti-coal protest held that afternoon at the Valmont Power Plant. McKibben had attended. (Reporter photo)

[OR: view on Vimeo]

From my perspective, this is an important video. It reveals several major themes about where we stand with climate change after Copenhagen.

• One major theme is the shift of the world’s focus to what Hunter Lovins calls “an outcome-based metric” for maximum permissible climate change: 350 to 450 parts per million of CO2 and a temperature rise of 1.5 to 2.5 degrees Celsius (experts disagree on how much change will prove catastrophic for humans).
• Another is the agreement among participants that the initiative for curbing climate change will have to come from the grassroots level, not from national leaders and international accords.
• Another is the high visibility that efforts going on right here in Boulder have gained among climate-change activists worldwide. We have a chance to provide a leading example to the world!
• A fourth unavoidable conclusion is the amazing wisdom and involvement of Boulder experts. These four forum participants are just some of them. There were many more – scientists, political activists, and motivated citizens – in the crowded room in South Boulder that night.

Participants:
Hunter Lovins, President and founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions
David Driskell, Executive Director of Community Planning and Sustainability for the City of Boulder
Jonathan Koehn, Boulder’s Regional Sustainability Coordinator
James Balog, Director of Extreme Ice Survey
Moderator: Micah Parkin, Shanahan Neighbors for Climate Action Events Committee Member and 1Sky Colorado Organizer

This video complements a written account of the event by Micah Parkins for Boulder Express.

Video for Boulder Express by Bob Wells

CLIMATE CONCERN: A packed house of invited guests heard local climate experts. (Reporter photo)

On Sunday, Jan. 17, approximately 120 people crowded into the home of Dan Friedlander and Diane Rosenthal for a panel discussion, “Copenhagen and Congress – Next Steps,” organized by Shanahan Neighbors for Climate Action. The panel was convened for community members to join in a discussion with local leaders and delegates to the U.N. International Climate Talks in Copenhagen about outcomes and next steps.

The panelists were: Hunter Lovins, President and Founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions; James Balog, Director of the Extreme Ice Survey; and two City of Boulder staff members, David Driskell, Executive Director of Community Planning and Sustainability; and Jonathan Koehn, Regional Sustainability Coordinator. The panelists were asked to discuss their experiences in Copenhagen, as well as expectations and hopes for the coming months at the local, national, and international levels.

“We know that efforts at all of these levels will greatly impact one another, and the science tells us that we have very little time to reduce emissions to safe levels in order to prevent catastrophic impacts,” said moderator Micah Parkin, who serves on the Shanahan group’s events committee and is the Colorado Organizer for 1Sky, a national climate and clean energy campaign. “Therefore, bold and swift progress at all levels of community and Government are essential.”

Synopsis of questions and answers

Q: First, could you all please share with us why you went to Copenhagen, your experiences there, and if you were satisfied or disappointed with the outcome?

Hunter Lovins

Q: What is the current state of the science and how concerned is the scientific community with our leader’s progress?

A: The scientific community continues to see the impacts around the world of human-induced climate change and is very concerned about the lack of firm commitments to emission reductions needed to prevent catastrophic impacts.

Q: At the end of the conference, during the round-the-clock negotiations that ended Saturday Dec. 19th, Pres. Obama and his team worked with the leaders of China, India, Brazil, South Africa and about 20 other countries to commit to emission cuts that will be open to international review. Can you tell us more about what exactly was agreed to in the “Copenhagen Accord” and what the next steps will need to be to achieve a binding international agreement?

A: The Copenhagen Accord should result in pledges that countries big and small are making to curtail their emissions. For the major developing economies, it means they have made first-ever commitments for greenhouse gas reductions that are subject to “international consultations and analysis.” This is a first step, but much more will need to be done to arrive at a binding international agreement. Particularly important to arriving at a binding International Agreement is U.S. Congress passing legislation (currently stagnant in Senate) to curb greenhouse gas emissions and retaining EPA authority to regulate carbon emissions under the Clean Air Act should Congress fail to act or should a bill emerge that is too weak to have the necessary impacts on emissions.

Q: In Copenhagen, the Obama administration never strayed from the reality that Congress has not passed final climate legislation. It was a hard-line stance that meant the United States could not go as far as many world leaders wanted in the hope of reaching a legally binding treaty at the conclusion of the two-week, U.N.-led summit. With health care passed in the Senate, and Senators back at home, the 2010 legislative calendar is still fairly fluid. However we know that many senators are looking toward their Fall election campaigns now and that there are competing priorities on the table. There is a growing concern for our leaders to make sure climate is addressed this year well before the mid-term elections take over. Some pundits have become less confident that a comprehensive climate bill will be considered this year. Others point out that a substantial amount of momentum for a climate and energy bill remains:

“Not a chance in hell that after the president put American prestige on the line in Copenhagen that the Senate is going to give this issue anything less than a major push. This is big — big — bigger than any individual agenda. Big. The 111th Congress is not a one-trick pony incapable of tackling more than one big issue, and the cost of tackling climate change would only grow if the Senate got weak-kneed and kicked the can down the road. Not going to happen.”
How important do you all think passing climate legislation in Congress is at this point in history is, and do you think it is essential for arriving at an aggressive, binding international agreement?

Ice expert James Balog

Q: What factors do you see that would transform today’s climate concerns into a mass movement with enough power to dominate the political debate?

A: Perhaps a large global warming-induced disaster? (Although it was noted that Hurricane Katrina didn’t work – the intensity of hurricanes has increased over the last 30 years has increased likely due to warmer oceans.) A serious movement of the people. People working at the local level to make the necessary changes.

Q: Regardless of a new international climate agreement, how can Boulder achieve the Kyoto goal of a 7% decrease in carbon emissions below the 1990 levels by 2012, will the city need to decarbonize it’s electric supply to reach this goal, and are city officials already beginning to think of future goals – Copenhagen and beyond?

A: In Copenhagen, our Boulder delegates were surprised by how many people from around the world were aware of Boulder’s commitment and actions to achieve the Kyoto goal. They were able to share valuable information and lessons learned with others and believe that this kind of information sharing is critical to reducing emissions at the community level – especially in the absence of national and international regulations. Boulder has revised its Climate Action Programs, which now includes a 2 Techs in a Truck program, and programs and mandates for increasing the energy efficiency of building, including rental buildings and residences, are under way.

The city is looking at ways to increase the renewable energy provided to the city, which would greatly assist the city in meeting its climate goals. The city is looking at solar gardens, negotiating with Xcel Energy regarding its franchise agreement, and will convene its Decarbonization Technical Team next week to discuss opportunities more. One such opportunity that was presented by attorney Susan Perkins at a Clean Energy Action meeting Jan. 14th is Community Choice Aggregation (CCA). Under CCA, communities can choose their rate structure and energy sources, thereby selecting more renewable energy and lowering their carbon emissions. The utility company (in our case Xcel Energy) retains the grid and its maintenance. Many refer to CCA as “muni-lite”, since the city does not buy out the utility grid and infrastructure, which saves money. Ms. Perkins stated that there appear to be no benefits, and potentially many drawbacks, for the City of Boulder to re-enter into a franchise agreement with Xcel Energy at this point. Xcel is required to continue providing power and returning a franchise fee, which is collected from Boulder’s ratepayers on their monthly bills, to the City, until such time as the City of Boulder purchases power from other sources. One caveat is that this structure – CCA – is not currently approved under Colorado Law. Therefore, for the City to go this direction, the state Legislature would need to pass authorizing legislation.

Yes, some are thinking of reducing emissions beyond Kyoto goals.

Audience questions and discussion with panelists

Several audience members pressed the panelists on opportunities for decarbonizing the electric supply to the city and on the importance of making franchise negotiations more transparent and involving input from community members.

The lack of business participation in Copenhagen was discussed, with the exception of Danish companies. The success story of the Danes, who have made renewable energy a hallmark of their country’s successful energy and economic strategies, was discussed.

Participants asked how to become more involved in meaningful action. It was suggested to sign up with the following groups, in addition to Shanahan Neighbors for Climate Action:
1) 1Sky: contact Micah Parkin, Micah [at] 1Sky.org
2) Clean Energy Action: contact Andy Lenec, alenec {at] cleanenergyaction.org
3) Mothers Acting Up: contact Joellen Raderstorf, joellen [at] mothersactingup.org
These groups provide information, opportunities to take action, and trainings for concerned citizens.

Action Item

Each month, Shanahan Neighbors for Climate Action provides meeting participants with an opportunity to take action. This month the group’s members are calling our U.S. Senators Mark Udall and Michael Bennet express their opposition to Sen. Murkowski’s proposed amendment to take away EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions through the Clean Air Act and to urge the Senators to prioritize passing climate legislation this spring.

Background On April 2, 2007, in Massachusetts v. EPA, 549 U.S. 497 (2007), the Supreme Court found that greenhouse gases are air pollutants covered by the Clean Air Act. This important finding would allow the Obama Administration to take the lead on curbing greenhouse gases if Congress fails to act this year. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) has proposed offering an amendment this week to an unrelated bill which would bar the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. Washington Post and other news sources have confirmed that two Washington lobbyists helped craft the original amendment Murkowski planned to offer on the floor last fall.

To Take Action: Making a call to U.S. Senators Udall and Bennet. Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s (R-AK) proposed amendment would bar the EPA from regulating carbon dioxide as a pollutant under the Clean Air Act. To urge our Senators to protect the EPA’s authority and prioritize strong climate legislation this spring, call these numbers:

1) Senator Michael Bennet – (202) 224-5852 and
2) Senator Mark Udall – (202) 224-5941.
Leave a comment with your name and zip code.

Shanahan Neighbors for Climate Action expressed thanks to everyone who attended this month’s panel discussion for making it such a successful event! To learn more about Shanahan Neighbors for Climate Action and to join future events visit the group’s website.