Lincoln East Rotary Club heard from Dr. Lucas Sabalka, Energy Specialist, Citizens’ Climate Lobby about what can be done to make changes to our climate.
Lucas pointed out that if you look at Rotary’s Four Way Test apply it to the common values for climate change it looks a lot like this: Truth: we’ll get to that, Fair: climate change most harms those less fortunate, Goodwill: this will take all of us working together, and Beneficial: for health, economy, water, plants, animals, Nebraska, ag, peace, democracy, transportation, and you can continue to add to this list.
Lucas did a quick poll and the majority of those present were familiar with the facts about climate change. None of us that were present are atmospheric scientists, which included Lucas, but there is scientific consensus on basic ideas about climate change. It really comes down to us. All of human civilization has been built on the assumption of a stable climate. The pace of the changing climate stresses our ability to adapt. For many people, what they savor most is their children or future grandchildren. All of the things that we know will come with climate change -- sea level rise, drought, more extreme weather -- are things that are impacting people now and will impact future generations. Climate change is not a special interest; it’s a human interest.
We have 7B+ people on this planet. And we have built a society based on the assumption of a stable climate. That climate is now changing more rapidly than ever in human history. It’s the pace of change that stresses our ability to adapt.
The scientific consensus is that 97% are convinced that we have global warming and 3% is unconvinced. The sciences agree that we do have global warming and it is real; that it is caused by increased greenhouse gases; and human activity is causing almost all the increase. We know that most of the greenhouse gases are emitted by using fossil fuels….and we have been burning a lot of coal, oil and gas.
Fossil fuels have powered our economy until now and it's important to acknowledge all of the progress and opportunity they have provided us, but it’s clear we need to find alternative sources of energy for a viable future.
We know that most of the greenhouse gases are emitted by using fossil fuels….and we have been burning a lot of coal, oil and gas. Fossil fuels have powered our economy until now and it's important to acknowledge all of the progress and opportunity they have provided us, but it’s clear we need to find alternative sources of energy for a viable future.
Greenhouse Gases Are Changing The Climate - As carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased, the planet has gotten warmer. Why? Because more of the sun’s heat is trapped by the atmosphere blanket that is made thicker by these greenhouse gases. The warmest years have been the last eight years. The more carbon the warmer the planet becomes. We are already seeing the impact of higher greenhouse gases everywhere. More high temperature records will be broken. In fact, the 20 hottest years on record have all been in the past 22 years, and the last 5 years are the hottest ever!
Let’s take a look at Nebraska – We have seen higher temperatures – more heat and cold stress days and more warm nights. If you look at our ground you will realize that we have less water or less soil moisture and river flow. Just recently we have seem fewer storms, but when it does rain (like in the west) it has been heavier with flooding and yes more droughts.
Looking at Nebraska’s future with global warming you will see the following*:
Temperature – With temperature the changes and impacts are as follows: warmer nights (heat stress), warmer winters (pest survival), warmer summers (crop stress), longer growing season (more irrigation demand).
Precipiation - Wetter winter & spring (delayed planting), drier summers (water competition), decreased mountain snowpack (decreased water availability). Overall, you will see – More extremes which includes: Heat (human and animal health), drought (plant stress), and rainfall (runoff greater).
*Those not in () is the changes and those in () are the impacts.
What makes a good solution? Drive large scale change vs. marginal improvements – The solution has to be big enough to match the scale of the problem. We need to transform our trend line from adding carbon to reducing carbon in the atmosphere.
Incentives vs. control – let people choose for themselves with incentives to choose wisely, especially because some people really don’t want government to tell them what they can and can’t do
Fair vs. regressive – it shouldn’t pose a burden on those who are poor or disadvantaged
Sticky / durable - it needs popular support so that a change in political leadership can’t easily overturn an effective policy.
Healthy for the planet and the economy – it should not only reduce carbon emissions for a healthy climate, but also help create jobs and a robust economy for all.
So, what approach meets those criteria? Climate Change Lobby (CCL) works on policies that are effective in reducing net emissions and building bridges, both in Congress and our communities.
CCL policy agenda looks like this: Carbon Pricing, Healthy Forests, Building Electrification & Efficiency, and Clean Energy Permitting Reform.
What can you do? – You can have an energy audit done at your home, purchase better appliances and cars. You can learn to travel less and even carpool to work, etc. During the hours of 5:00 – 7:00 pm on very hot days you can learn to conserve energy by not using the dishwasher, washing machine, dryer, etc. You can look at these two ideas in improving your energy usage (SunShares and Community Solar). Talk with your friends, congressman, legislature representative, neighbors, etc. about climate and vote for conservation candidates.
What will be happening by 2030? -- The Inflation Reduction Act will also dramatically change America’s economy over the next decade. Today we get about 40% of our electricity from clean sources like wind, solar, nuclear, and hydroelectricity. That’s expected to roughly double, to as high as 85% in 2030. Most of that increase will come from wind and solar farms, which are expected to approximately triple from today’s levels. A big chunk of new car and truck sales are also expected to be electric in 2030. Some estimates say it could be more than half, up from about 5% in the US today.
And by promoting domestic manufacturing and supply chains and innovation, the investments from the bill are projected to create about a million new jobs in clean energy, manufacturing, and building electrification and efficiency upgrades. This will also protect us from supply chain disruptions and reduce dependence on countries with environmental issues, human rights abuses, and dictators.
You can contact Lucas Sabalka at: sabalka@gmail.com, or if you want more information about Citizens’ Climate Lobby you can go to: citizensclimatelobby.org