Monday, June 2nd, 2014, the United States government announced a proposed regulation taking a tremendous step in the right direction towards combating human-driven climate change. President Obama proposes a new Environmental Protection Agency rule requiring power plants to reduce carbon emissions 30% by the year 2030. While this rule is a little too long-term for my liking, it is finally a meaningful step for the United States signalling our acknowledgment of climate change around the globe and our commitment to change the destructive path we are heading down. While Europe is well ahead of the United States in terms of clean energy programs, I can only hope this regulation (and ideally many more to follow) will make a statement to other major polluting nations such as China and India that the time to act is now in curbing our reliance on fossil fuels for energy requirements. I also hope that this sends a message to developing nations that clean energy programs are the way of the future, and that energy infrastructure development should be built for sun and wind, not coal and oil. The United States has been "talking the talk" for years, it is well overdue we begin "walking the walk" on climate change.
However, it is disappointing this regulation is to be enacted through executive authority and not by the powers of Congress. But I can hardly blame the President for utilizing his authority knowing full well the actions to be taken would be sequestered and shot down on Capitol Hill. It is still mind boggling to think there are still some responsible for leading this nation that deny the science of climate change, widely accepted throughout the academic community as valid. One must only ask residents of the southwest United States if they are already feeling the pinch of climate change (anybody thirsty?). A key aspect of the regulation that these lawmakers are not giving attention to is the White House is not simply imposing a mandated approach to reducing carbon emissions. That power is being left to the states, as each power plant will have its own nuances for carbon emission reduction. It is not the intent of the regulation to unduly impact individual states, but allow them to develop the best approach towards meeting a common, and increasingly necessary, goal.
Some also argue the move will be detrimental to the economy. According to the conservative National Center for Public Policy Research, "All the major legislative and regulatory proposals to combat global warming kill jobs and disproportionately hurt lower income people and minorities." I would love to see the research that lead to this conclusion, but what world are you living in? The proposed regulation is not job destruction, it is job replacement. The same energy sector opportunities will exist, just in a new form. Photovoltaic cells and wind turbines require maintenance, and the energy grid will still exist in a similar form it does now. I would be hard pressed to find someone who much prefers spending their 9 to 5 deep underground mining black rocks to the job opportunities a clean energy sector will create. Just as every other living being has had to deal with the destructive virus known as human development, we will have to adapt. Learn new skills, new ways of earning an income to compete in an ever changing world. We did so during the Industrial Revolution, we must do so now during a much needed "energy revolution."
But why are energy sector jobs in fossil fuel procurement and usage so protected and fought over, while most Americans easily acknowledge they're directly related to climate change? Easy, big dollars are at stake. You do not hear national news made when a school district downsizes due to budget cuts and teachers are laid off (who directly contribute to the education necessary for the aforementioned energy revolution to take place, as well as the education necessary for America to remain competitive on a global scale), but when a coal plant shuts down or must change its way of conducting business so that we may leave a healthier planet for those to come after us, people are up in arms. Am I the only one that finds that entirely backwards?
I personally admire the beauty of the Appalachian Mountains, which have been ravaged for coal deposits. I thoroughly enjoy the biodiversity of the world's oceans, which are being decimated by off-shore drilling, pollution, and warmer waters. I also love the feeling of escaping from the big city to the aura of the Adirondacks, and taking a deep breath of the fresh mountain air. However, these will long be things of the past if we do not act now to curb fossil fuel reliance. The science is out there, it is well past time we all started jumping on the climate change bandwagon. Thank you President Obama for taking it into your own hands to take that first step forward. I also believes he acknowledges it is not nearly enough, and hope for further regulation in the near future.
No comments:
Post a Comment