Here Here

Guest Opinion

By Cathye Williams | July 31, 2021

 

It’s fitting that Jeff Bezos and his fellow billionaires are contemplating life on other planets because they’re clearly not living on this one. You’d have to be living under a rock (or in an ivory tower) to ignore that devastating impacts of climate change are happening now — in many places, to many people.

You can’t open a newspaper that isn’t talking about unprecedented heat, drought, fires, rains, floods, and more. China, India, Central Europe, Siberia, California, the Pacific Northwest, and as close to home as Detroit have all suffered disasters in just the last month alone.

Here in our little corner, fruit harvests are again diminished from the effects of too little, then too much water. As the editorial board of USA TODAY sees it, inaction on climate change is “no longer an option.”  The outcry is growing across the political spectrum, beyond environmentalists and scientists. It’s taking hold in businesses, local governments, the military, and a broad range of other disciplines.

Other countries have or are contemplating placing border tax adjustments on carbon-intensive products. Countries that aren’t addressing their emissions will be left out in the … well, heat. Countries that implement effective action will have a head start on getting their innovations and products to market and growing their green economies.

It seems, however, that the climate-related crises happening around our world have escaped the notice of those billionaires. Rather than use their money, influence, and much bragged-about visionary “genius” to help devise plans to combat global warming or simply support efforts already underway, this elite group of astronaut wannabes have turned their collective gaze to the stars — where, of course, there may be more for them to exploit and profit from, without a thought to the large carbon footprints they’re leaving behind.

Bezos has a particularly warped rationalization for how his “vision” will benefit mankind and protect the Earth. His space company’s mission is to “expand, explore, find new energy and material resources, and move industries that stress Earth into space.” He envisions “millions of people living and working in space to benefit Earth.” I wonder what that will cost … and how long it will take? Long enough, one imagines, for the billionaires and their progeny to have extracted and emitted all that they like.

     Hey Jeff, excuse me? I like it here. I want to fix here. I don’t want to “exploit new energy and material resources.” I want us to learn how to properly, respectfully, and regeneratively use what we already have. I want us to harness the power of bountiful sun, wind, waves and more. Scientists tell us there is enough, and that we have the technology and knowledge to make use of these renewable energies. Yes, it will take a massive mobilization and the reimagining of structures and systems. What it won’t take is a spaceship.

The truth spoken by Marshall Saunders, founder of Citizens Climate Lobby, at the group’s 2016 international conference, becomes more evident each day. We really are “engaged in a battle for all life on Earth” and no one else is coming to help. No space cowboys and no heroes with capes. As Marshall put it so well: “You are the cavalry … we are the cavalry. And there really is no choice.”

Fortunately, some of the cavalry resides in Congress and have introduced several bills that include best first steps to keep fossil fuels in the ground and build resiliency against further climate impacts.  We need to be their cavalry, empowering them with our voices and votes, and demanding that others step up as well.  

Here are just a few examples of the many bills brought forth:    

The Save Our Future Act (S2085), introduced by Senators Sheldon Whitehouse and Brian Schatz, would place an ambitious price on carbon to reduce emissions, as well as pricing co-pollutants that have long choked front line environmental justice communities. Revenues collected would go to individuals and also provide state grants to help low-income and rural households and workers transitioning to new industries. The bill also provides for investment in energy affordability, pollution reduction, and workforce development. This policy demonstrates that carbon pricing can be a win for the planet and for the people who need it most.

The Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (HR2307), which currently has 77 co-sponsors, also prices carbon emissions, but the revenues collected would be returned entirely to American households in the form of a monthly dividend. This makes the bill palatable to those who favor small government and robust economic growth, and thus more likely to pass.

The Growing Climate Solutions Act (S1251), was introduced by both Republican and Democratic senators, including our own Senator Stabenow. The bill removes barriers and provides assistance for farmers and foresters to participate in markets that reward them for sequestering carbon and other climate-smart practices.

Years of work by lawmakers and environmental groups have gone into these and other climate bills. Now it’s our turn to bring the political will to get them enacted.

Whatever your personal belief is about the source of climate change, we have been given all that we need on this beautiful blue dot. Now we need to set aside our hubris and ego to listen, learn, and get to work — right here. 

Cathye Williams serves as a volunteer and media liaison for the Grand Traverse area chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, www.citizensclimatelobby.com. She writes from Benzie County.