Kathleen Rogers and Jigar Shah: Moving capital and winning the debate on climate
Disasters from climate change are becoming more frequent and more severe – consider this year alone, with the devastating flooding in Pakistan, the Russian heat wave, an incredible ice chunk calving off of Greenland – and New York’s hottest summer on record.
Governments are becoming exhausted dealing with these impacts and realizing that adapting to a changing climate will be difficult and expensive. There is no scientific debate that every major ecosystem in the world is declining. But we are not winning the policy debate, as we somehow have to convince people that these impacts affect them personally. It’s now or never to win the climate war and we need a new approach.
We need to shift the debate away from a singular focus on carbon dioxide and back to something that affects us all personally. Issues like the rapid depletion of our natural assets, access to energy for the poor, increased jobs and economic development. We all want more comfortable homes, lower fuel bills, local jobs, fewer polluting coal plants, less reliance on foreign oil, cleaner air and a world to pass on to the next generation. These values will help us win the debate.
As the failure of the Copenhagen climate conference proved, policy is necessary but not sufficient. A new, complementary and different skill set is needed in addition to traditional methods – an investment in the tools to move capital not just lobby for votes.
We already have the technology. – nearly 50- percent of today’s emissions can be profitably offset utilizing current methods. We also need to increase our green investment to create a level playing field. – there is $550-billion currently in annual fossil fuel subsidies and an extra $550- billion needed in green capital investment.
As we have seen in Copenhagen, governments that are defined by their national borders – that the environment does not recognize – cannot do this alone. We need new models of leadership whose only agenda is that of the planet and can look at global economic responses to this opportunity. As businesses have played a significant role in creating this situation – business must take responsibility for driving positive change at the speed and scale that needs to happen in the world.
Earlier this year the Creating Climate Wealth conference in Washington brought together several hundred of the world’s top entrepreneurs to discuss impediments to investment in solving climate change. And at BusinessClimate 2010, we re-convened this discussion as part of New York Climate Week. It is these types of groundbreaking events gathering new visionary voices that will bring about the new models of climate investment we need.
This process must start by transforming our organizations to not just look at how we have less negative impact on the environment – but instead how we can add value to our natural world. Fortunately the technology for transformation is already there – we just need to help break down the barriers to start letting capital flow to get thriving marketplaces to scale change.
We can actually meet a goal of saving 17 gigatons of carbon dioxide by 2020, with today’s technology and today’s entrepreneurs if there were only a level playing field. Then we can reassess how to continue meeting our emissions reductions by 2050.
There are immediate things we can do to make a difference. We needn’t fear the economy either. Investments in green are still strong and investments in solving climate change will pay off in terms of emissions reductions and wealth creation. We need to remove fossil fuel subsidies. We need to transition away from monopolies in electricity and energy distribution. Across the economy there are climate change solutions that will enable consumers, and businesses to save money, create jobs and reduce our impact on the environment.
This is the opportunity of our lifetime to create a new approach to sustainable wealth that also puts a value on our natural assets and creating the conditions that will mean all businesses can profit from driving down emissions.
Kathleen Rogers is president of Earth Day Network. Jigar Shah is CEO of Carbon War Room.
Kathleen Rogers: Women’s equality and the climate change challenge
On Aug. 26, we commemorate Women’s Equality Day and reflect on the true meaning of equality. The day is important, not just to evaluate where women are in terms of representation and equal pay for equal work, but also to consider the ramifications of what would happen should half of the world’s population be left out of decision-making – particularly in the dialogue that will shape our collective future, the dialogue on climate change, the green economy and sustainability.
Our leaders and the world’s heads of state have failed to solve the climate crisis or to shift into a green economy – all while everyone knows that the path we tread will exhaust the world’s food, water and energy. Public opinion strongly favors action; nonetheless, progress is stalled.
It’s no coincidence that female participation is dismal in the U.N.’s climate negotiations, in the halls of our government and in corporate board meetings. Meanwhile, climate change is disproportionately affecting women. Heat and extreme weather already impede the work that falls on women worldwide, e.g. collecting water and growing crops. Not only are women responsible for as much as 80 percent of farming in the developing world, they’re much more vulnerable to natural disasters than men.
But women need not be victims of the climate crisis. A new generation of women entrepreneurs, leaders and artists, have demonstrated the potential for being the solution to the climate crisis – yes, imagine that. But they must be mobilized and given an opportunity to influence government and business.
An influx of female leadership might solve the climate crisis. Studies have shown that successful female entrepreneurs take different risks than their male counterparts. Female entrepreneurs risk their own personal capital – their time, their finances. Male risk-taking, on the other hand, seems to involve the wealth of others. Just look at the recent financial crisis and the mostly male Wall Street bankers who invented bizarre investment products in testosterone-fueled high-rises.
Politically powerful women in the U.S. and abroad want to find solutions to the climate-change dilemma. They want to champion women’s roles in establishing a green economy. From Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, who created a new office for women at the State Department, to Amina Benkhadra, Morocco’s Minister of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, to Christiana Figueres, executive secretary of the U.N. framework on Climate Change, women are beginning to play key roles in the climate and renewable-energy discussion. They’re making their voices heard.
Investing in the strength of women seems to be a no-brainer, especially in these difficult times. We must invest in this level-headed and hard-working half of the population while raising our collective female voices, because women exemplify fresh perspectives, long-term considerations and sane risk-taking.
Our leadership must include more female entrepreneurs who consider long-term costs while honoring debts to lenders and to future generations. Did you know that women are less likely to file for bankruptcy, or that the most successful micro lending projects in the developing world are those that loan exclusively to women?
In 1992, as the global community gathered at the first U.N. Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, it agreed to a set of principles on sustainable development. One of these principles was that: “Women have a vital role in environmental management. … Their full participation is therefore essential.” Almost 20 years later, we have yet to see that full participation. Why the slow-going? Before the Rio Earth Summit of 2012, we’d like to change that.
What we need to do is to convene female leaders to re-examine the climate crisis through a different lens. These leaders would then mobilize women all over the world to promote innovative solutions, all while promoting participation of women in green technology. This effort would include women political and business leaders, as well as top minds from the creative world.
Our leaders’ approach to climate change has brought no progress. We need fresh ideas, and we need new leadership; we need a different perspective. As we shift into a new green economic model, we need women to be front and center as entrepreneurs and technical workers. And, with targeted training, education and mentorship, we can make the girls of today leaders of the new green economy of tomorrow. When it comes to the world’s future, we can’t afford to take risks with the wealth of others nor the wealth and wellbeing of future generations.
Kathleen Rogers is the president of Earth Day Network.
A hidden truth about climate change
Column by Riane Eisler
Submit guest columns, letters: freepress2@ntelos.net
The Copenhagen Climate Change Conference makes evident potential catastrophic effects of climate change, including its enormous economic and human tolls. It also clearly shows how poor nations in Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and island states will suffer most from the inevitable floods, droughts and other weather disasters.
But there’s more that needs to be made clear in Copenhagen. If we look closely, there’s a hidden truth with huge implications that we must bring to the attention of conference delegates to ensure that allocated funds actually protect those most vulnerable to these natural disasters. Continue reading “A hidden truth about climate change” »
Ed Smeloff and Scott Denman | Back to the future for energy policy
Too much heat and too little light are being generated right now inside the Washington, D.C., Beltway on the issue of global warming. Some electric utilities and allies in the coal and nuclear industries claim that only coal or nuclear reactors can meet future energy needs and combat global climate change. They say there is no other way.
However, beyond the Beltway there is clear evidence that there is another way. There is a prosperous new direction – without using more polluting coal or building more expensive, dangerous nuclear reactors. Continue reading “Ed Smeloff and Scott Denman | Back to the future for energy policy” »
Remarks by President Obama at UN Climate Change Summit
United Nations Headquarters
New York, N.Y.
PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much. Good morning. I want to thank the Secretary General for organizing this summit, and all the leaders who are participating. That so many of us are here today is a recognition that the threat from climate change is serious, it is urgent, and it is growing. Our generation’s response to this challenge will be judged by history, for if we fail to meet it — boldly, swiftly, and together — we risk consigning future generations to an irreversible catastrophe. Continue reading “Remarks by President Obama at UN Climate Change Summit” »
Group thanks members of Congress for vote on climate bill
American Values Network has launched a local pastor thank-you campaign thanking Members of Congress who voted in favor of the House climate bill. The campaign is a continuation of American Value Network’s half a million-dollar media campaign built upon faith and military leaders coming together to highlight the moral and national security implications of climate change. Continue reading “Group thanks members of Congress for vote on climate bill” »
Page Shields | Can coal be clean?
With all of the controversy surrounding the construction of a coal plant in Wise County, VA it bears repeating that coal is not clean energy. The phrase “clean coal technology” fosters hope that scientists will find a way to take harmful elements, especially carbon, out of coal. Unfortunately this is a lost hope as the harmful elements of coal cannot be simply scrubbed away. Continue reading “Page Shields | Can coal be clean?” »
In the News
- Capitol Hill: Warner introduces bipartisan legislation aimed at increasing TARP transparency, posted Tuesday, 4 p.m.
- Capitol Hill: Webb backs Senate measure aimed at strengthening government oversight in mortgage, corporate fraud cases, posted Tuesday, 4 p.m.
- State News: Kaine signs agreement with Germany on climate change, posted Tuesday, 4 p.m.
- State News: ACLU asks state legislators to review Virginia Fusion Center, posted Tuesday, 4 p.m.
- Programming Note: AFP editor talks about the Big Mac Attack on WSVA
- News: Groups urge support of Paycheck Fairness Act, posted Tuesday, 10:05 a.m.
- Event: Daughters of the Appalachians at the Hamner, posted Tuesday, 10:05 a.m.
- Event: Poetry and Story Doubleheader Friday, May 1, posted Tuesday, 10:05 a.m.
- Event: Valley Women’s Connection luncheon on the schedule, posted Tuesday, 10:05 a.m. Continue reading “In the News” »
Pat Byington: Follow the scientists
Posted by afp on July 6, 2011 · Leave a Comment
“You work in a scientific lab in the quietest place on Earth — Antarctica.
“There’s a Crack! Boom!
“You rush to the window of your remote lab with a number of your fellow scientists, and you witness a glacier ‘calving’ a chunk of ice the size of a house into the water. Adrenaline permeates the room.
“Ten years ago, that exciting and incredible sight would happen about once a week. It was an event. Something rare.
“Today, at that same lab in Antarctica, the calving glacial ice, the explosive sounds, are a daily occurrence.
“The scientists are almost ‘ho-hum’ about it, barely lifting their heads to recognize the melting ice.”
Such is life in a warming world.
McClintock has spent most of his life searching the ends of the earth for a cure for cancer and other human diseases. In fact, his research team has discovered marine species in the Antarctic that produce compounds active against skin cancer and influenza.
McClintock is not an alarmist. He does not have a political agenda. But he knows firsthand the earth is warming and he understands some of the consequences. Mid-winter temperatures on the Antarctic Peninsula where he works are 10 degrees Fahrenheit warmer than they were 60 years ago. That may not seem like a big difference to us non-scientists, but it’s devastating to a delicate polar ecosystem (and other ecosystems).
In fact, this spring, McClintock and his research associates documented an invasion of king crabs that are likely to endanger fragile Antarctic clams, snails, and brittlestars, or perhaps even the sea squirts that he and his colleagues study that could unlock a cure for skin cancer. This new predator, with its crushing claws, is moving in because of the rapidly warming seas. Once they make their way up onto the Antarctic shelf, an archaic marine ecosystem that has been without crushing predators for millennia will find itself largely defenseless. King crabs could very well destroy McClintock’s living lab. For McClintock, it’s like discovering someone is about to burn down your home and your life’s work and possessions.
I have always believed the National Academies of Science and the National Research Council motto “Where the nation turns for independent and expert advice” accurately portrays that most venerable institution. As a nation, we have been seeking their advice since President Lincoln established this scientific body in 1863. Last month, without much fanfare, and little to no attention from the national media, the National Academies released their latest congressionally requested report on climate change.
The report, “America’s Choices,” does not pull any punches. It reaffirms that climate change is occurring now and that the most effective strategy to combat it would be to begin cutting greenhouse gas emissions immediately.
What makes this report more shocking is the fact that it is not new. As far back as 2005, the National Academies of the U.S., France, Canada, the United Kingdom, India, Italy, Japan, Germany, Brazil and China have jointly called upon policy makers throughout the world to address climate change. The message from the National Academies six years ago was virtually identical to the one in 2011. Climate change is real. We need to drastically reduce greenhouse emissions. We need to aggressively seek technological and scientific solutions. Delaying will only make matters worse.
And now, more than ever, the signs of climate change are becoming starker. The extreme weather and floods in the Midwest and South this spring, historical droughts and fires in Texas and Arizona, permafrost disappearing in Russia/Siberia, floods in Pakistan, massive drought followed by flooding in Australia and whole villages in Alaska disappearing because of sea level rise are just a few recent examples.
The climate is changing so rapidly the Arbor Day Foundation has changed its recommendations for when and where you should plant your trees.
Are we going to follow the National Academy of Sciences and countless scientists’ advice on climate change? Are we going to listen to Dr. James McClintock and try to save a place that can lead to cures for cancer? Or are we going to barely lift our heads and refuse to recognize the climate changing around us?
Filed under Blogs · Tagged with climate change, global warming, james mcclintock, pat byington