We are out
of time on Planet Earth.
In the
three months since the Paris climate
summit declared a 1.5° C global warming target to hold climate disruption dangers in check, rapidly escalating world temperatures came
within a hair’s breadth. The average
for the January-March timeframe was 1.47°C above the 1890s, the baseline before
mass fossil fuel burning began to significantly heat the planet, the Japan
Meteorological Agency reported. For the first time in the historical record the planet has neared or crossed the agreed danger threshold for three months in a row.
Never has radical
climate disruption caused by fossil fuel pollution been so visible. Besides the temperature spike, the Arctic is raising red flags. An Arctic
Ocean ice pack at record lows could be setting up a record melt
season. The Greenland
ice melt season started around a week ago, nearly a month ahead the previously
recorded start and two months before normal.
Whether this
is a temporary spike or a jump to a new climate state, the message is
clear. We have used up all time or space
for anything but the most urgent actions to eliminate the carbon pollution that is twisting the climate. We need a people power upsurge to demand immediate, deep reductions in
fossil fuel burning and pollution. That
is the goal of Break Free, a worldwide
popular mobilization in May aiming for the greatest wave of direct actions
against the fossil fuel industry in history.
The Pacific Northwest action
targets refineries in Anacortes, Washington, source of nearly half the vehicle
fuels used in the region.
Here are
three key demands people power must make:
Rapidly move to 100% renewable power – Dramatically expand wind and
solar energy production. Modernize the grid so it can transmit variable sun and
wind energies between different regions. Shut down coal and gas power plants as
quickly as possible.
Electrify transportation – Quickly build out a comprehensive
network of electrified mass transit, including buses, urban rail systems and
interurban rail. Ban production of oil-powered cars. Amp up production of
electric vehicles to make them affordable to ordinary people.
Make buildings efficient and clean – Commence a program of universal
building energy efficiency retrofits.
Switch out fossil fuel powered heating/cooling systems with heat pumps
run on renewable electricity, and direct solar hot water collectors. Require top efficiency and renewable power in new
buildings.
We cannot
rely on the market to make the changes quickly enough. It will take public investment and
mandates. The only way our nation and
the world will achieve these goals quickly enough is with a World War II-scale
mobilization of political will and resources.
The U.S. has a particular responsibility to lead. Our nation invented the power grid and mass
automobile mobility. One-quarter of human carbon pollution now in the
atmosphere came from the U.S.
The new
World War II message is quickly coming in from the climate movement’s leading
edges to the mainstream. One group leading
the call for a climate emergency response is Climate
Mobilization. The group aims to zero
out U.S. climate-heating pollution by 2025. Its Pledge to Mobilize asks that we, “Immediately commence a
social and economic mobilization to restore a climate that is safe, stable, and
supportive of human civilization. This
heroic campaign shall be carried out on the scale of the
American World War II home front mobilization, and will require hard work
and shared sacrifice from all Americans.”
Climate Mobilization has called for people to take to the streets July 10 for a Climate Emergency Day of Action. More on that here.
Climate Mobilization has called for people to take to the streets July 10 for a Climate Emergency Day of Action. More on that here.
An Iowa
Climate Emergency Caucus held in conjunction with the January presidential
caucus crystallized the call. It has now
been taken up by Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders. In his recent
Brooklyn debate with Hillary Clinton, Sanders said:
“We have a global crisis. Pope
Francis reminded us that we are on a suicide course . . . We have got to stand
up and say right now, as we would if we were attacked by some military force,
we have got to move urgently and boldly . . . approach this . . . as if we were literally at a war. You know,
in 1941, under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, we moved within three years, within
three years to rebuild our economy to defeat Nazism and Japanese imperialism.
That is exactly the kind of approach we need right now.”
We must do this, and we can. Scientists tell us we must end fossil fuel
use by 2030
at latest. A new University of
Sussex study concludes the world has the capability to end
fossil use for energy by 2025.
Climate disruption is
accelerating, but so are the ideas needed to address the challenge at the scale
it must be addressed. The concept of
100% renewables, on the fringes even a few years ago, has now moved to the
forefront. The message was flashed on the Eiffel Tower at the Paris summit. Sierra
Club officially launched its Ready
for 100 campaign in January.
Environment
America is also forwarding the 100% message.
350.org is making 100% a central part of
the Break Free actions, putting it in the proper Post-Paris urgency framework: “World governments have agreed to global
action – but without a clear commitment on how and when they will transition
off of fossil fuels. The way to make that transition a reality is by organizing
to keep coal, oil and gas in the ground and accelerate the just transition to
100% renewable energy.”
Just
transition is a crucial concept. The
world energy system will not be transformed without disruption. Workers in conventional energy industries
must be given help to transition into new occupations that pay as well. Fortunately, there will be more jobs in new
clean energy sectors. A plan
for 100% renewables in the U.S. done by Mark Jacobson of Stanford projects that
while 3.9 million old energy jobs will be lost, 5.9 million jobs will created
in new energy sectors. Old energy skills
are highly transferrable to the new, and displaced workers should be given
explicit preference in hiring. They
should also be provided with job training, and full pay and benefits until they
are placed in new jobs.
Now is the
time to push the idea of a new World War II for clean energy to the
forefront. A rapidly changing climate is sounding a
red alert. We must respond with a people power movement calling for rapid and
just transition from fossil fuels to 100% clean, renewable energy. We can’t wait a moment longer.
TOPICS: CLIMATE, CLIMATE DISRUPTION, CLIMATE CHANGE, GLOBAL WARMING, RENEWABLE ENERGY, 100% RENEWABLES, CLEAN ENERGY, CLIMATE MOBILIZATION, BERNIE SANDERS, NEW WORLD WAR II, ARCTIC
Yeh!! finally lots of people are saying this!
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