"At Grist, Dave Roberts explains that sharp emissions reductions "would require substantial institutional reform and possibly even a period of economic contraction." And Joe Romm explains of climate change, "It is indeed humanity’s self-destruction. We must pay any price or bear any burden to stop it."
In one of Andy Revkin's email chains yesterday, I tried to draw out Dave Roberts and Joe Romm to specify more clearly what they meant by "economic contraction" and "bear any price." Although the discussion was certainly cordial, neither was forthcoming with a direct reply."
Romm went so far as to argue that of course no one argues for economic contraction (apparently not reading Roberts' post or The Climate Fix;-). Of course he'd say that and Roberts would avoid answering -- single-issue advocates who argue that nothing else matters (including human suffering) except mounting a major response to their issue sound absolutely nuts....
But like anything else, in the extreme focus goes from a virtue to a vice.
Here is an example in an op-ed in The Balitmore Sun today, focused on what else, but climate change:
If 1.4 degrees gets us a soon-to-be-ice-free Arctic and nearly nonstop extreme weather worldwide, what will 11 degrees bring us?You hear that? Seeking to end disease, reduce war and increase wealth "don't make sense" unless the government adopts some crash effort on reducing emissions. Nothing else matters....
Well, it's safe to say AIDS would be the least of our worries in such a world. We could even find a cure for AIDS — eliminate the disease completely — and it wouldn't matter in a world 11 degrees warmer. We could cure cancer itself and it wouldn't matter. Instead of good health, we'll have the nightmare of chronic food shortages, persistent new diseases like malaria and dengue fever spread across North America, and untold misery and death from heat waves in cities like St. Louis, where high temperatures could be well over 100 degrees 25 days every summer.
Withdrawal from Iraq? What does it matter? We could disband the Pentagon completely and end all wars everywhere, and it wouldn't matter with 11 degrees. We wouldn't have peace. Violence, instead, would be our daily fare: violent weather, violent ecological upheaval, violence to our civilization.
The economy? An envoy from God himself could bestow jobs on every worker and forgive all debt — from credit cards to the federal budget deficit. But it would be no good with 11 degrees. Wall Street will be under several feet of water, and our commercial infrastructure — harbors, bridges, airports, rails — will literally bake, erode, buckle and break.
Of course I'm not opposed to our nation's current efforts to end disease, reduce war and increase wealth. It's just that the policies don't make sense without a simultaneous national effort to avoid 11 degrees.
Baltimore Sun Op-Ed writer "Mike Tidwell is executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network."
12/15/11, "The hottest issue: Climate change dwarfs other problems," Baltimore Sun, Mike Tidwell Op-Ed, "AIDS, poverty, war – none of them will matter if the atmosphere warms by 11 degrees in a century" via Tom Nelson
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6/4/12, “Climate change stunner: USA leads world in CO2 cuts since 2006,” Vancouver Observer, Saxifrage
“Not only that, but as my top chart shows, US CO2 emissions are falling even faster than what President Obama pledged in the global Copenhagen Accord.…
Here is the biggest shocker of all: the average American’s CO2 emissions are down to levels not seen since 1964 --over half a century ago. …Coal is the number two source of CO2 for Americans. Today the average American burns an amount similar to what they did in 1955, and even less than they did in the 1940s. …It is exactly America’s historical role of biggest and dirtiest that makes their sharp decline in CO2 pollution so noteworthy and potentially game changing at the global level.”...
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8/16/12, “AP IMPACT: CO2 emissions in US drop to 20-year low,” AP, Kevin Begos
“In a surprising turnaround, the amount of carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere in the U.S. has fallen dramatically to its lowest level in 20 years."...
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1/15/11, “Recession Special: Cleaner Air,“ NY Times, Matthew Wald
“What the government has not mandated, the economy is doing on its own: emissions of global warming gases in the United States are down.
According to the Energy Department, carbon dioxide emissions peaked in this country in 2005 and will not reach that level again until the early 2020s.”…
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4/21/12, “Why [CO2] Emissions Are Declining in the U.S. But Not in Europe,” by Michael Shellenberger and Ted Nordhaus, newgeography.com
..
.“As we note below in a new article for Yale360, a funny thing happened: U.S. emissions started going down in 2005 and are expected to decline further over the next decade.”
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The US taxpayer like an addict can't stop trying to please Mr. Romm, so in Nov. 2012 gave $6 billion to 2 rich guys one of whom is a fossil fuel sultan who owns 5000+ cars:
US 'climate action' in Nov. 2012 included giving $6 billion US taxpayer dollars for 'clean energy' to the Sultan of Brunei who owns 5000+ cars and to the Pres. of Indonesia, whose country is so corrupt even the World Bank says crime adds 20% to costs.
Below, one of the Sultan of Brunei's cars:
7/24/12, "The Sultan's Cars," wheel to wheel blog.
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1/29/13, "China now burning as much coal as the rest of the world combined," Washington Post, Brad Plumer
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11/19/12, "More than 1,000 New Coal Plants Planned Worldwide," Damian Carrington, UK Guardian
"India is planning 455 new plants compared to 363 in China."...
Most new coal-fired plants will be built by Chinese or Indian companies. But new plants have largely been financed by both commercial banks and development banks."...
======================
Unregulated coal mining emissions flow to the US from Northern Mexico coal mines run by the Zetas:
1/4/13, Coal mining is "more lucrative for Zetas than selling drugs."
1/4/13, "Mexican Cartels Go Underground—to Mine Coal," TheFix.com
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11/17/12, "Mexican druglords strike gold in coal," AFP via Gloucester City News"Since the Zetas discovered coal, violence has been on the rise, especially in a town of 150,000 called Piedras Negras, or black stones....Legitimate businesses help cartels launder money and bring in extra revenue....Such business activities allow them not just to bring in more money "but above all gain social and political legitimacy."...Traffickers sometimes kidnap, mug or even kill miners and their bosses, or force them into business-sharing agreements."...
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Coal mined by the Zetas is "sold to state-owned electric company CFE."
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1/4/13, "Mexican Cartels Go Underground—to Mine Coal," TheFix.com
"Mexico's federal human rights agency
has said that criminal involvement in the mines poses a threat to
miners' lives, by stripping them of basic safety protocols."...
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Mexico has two huge power plants near the Texas border:9/11/06, "Mexico's Mine Crisis: Tiny coal mines escape inspections," Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, J.L. Sherman
"According
to the Mexican Geological Service, the "carboniferous region" of
northern Coahuila state, Mexico's only coal mining region, now has about
60 pocitos, with 25 under construction."...photo, Esequiel Briones Ramirez, 19, works in a pocito in the northern Mexican desert, by Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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Northern Mexico open pit coal mine sells coal to Mexican gov.:
5/4/11, "Mexican Mine Explosion Leaves Five Dead; “No Chance” For Other Miners, Labor Secretary Says," latindispatch.com
"The gas explosion that trapped 14 miners underground Tuesday in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila has now claimed the lives of five of those workers.
Rescue crews at the mine near the town of Sabinas worked overnight to rescue the trapped miners, but have so far only recovered five bodies.... Mining near-surface coal in the region is a way of life for thousands of miners who sell the coal to the Mexican state for power generation and often work with little more than basic tools."...
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Northern Mexico open pit coal mine sells coal to Mexican gov.:
"The gas explosion that trapped 14 miners underground Tuesday in the northern Mexican state of Coahuila has now claimed the lives of five of those workers.
Rescue crews at the mine near the town of Sabinas worked overnight to rescue the trapped miners, but have so far only recovered five bodies.... Mining near-surface coal in the region is a way of life for thousands of miners who sell the coal to the Mexican state for power generation and often work with little more than basic tools."...
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"No matter what the US and Europe do, it will have very little effect on CO2 levels." commenter Kip Hansen to NY Times article
2/26/13, "Tough Truths from China on CO2 and Climate," Andrew Revkin, NY Times, Dot Earth
"I’m way overdue to post excerpts here from an extraordinary recent China Dialogue with Zou Ji, the deputy director of China’s National Center for Climate Change Strategy. (China Dialogue is a fascinating independent dual-language blog...).
The interview is blunt and crystal clear in laying out the demographic and economic realities that will, for many years to come, slow any shift from Chinese dependence on coal. Zou Ji has a remarkable resume for someone now working inside the Chinese establishment, having worked previously as the China director for the World Resources Institute....
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1/31/13, "The Growing Irrelevance of U.S. Climate Policy," Marlo Lewis, GlobalWarming.org
"Today’s Climatewire (subscription required) summarizes data and projections from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) and the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) from which we may conclude that EPA regulation of greenhouse gases (GHGs) is increasingly irrelevant to global climate change even if one accepts agency’s view of climate science.
Basically, it all comes down to the fact that China’s huge and increasing coal consumption overwhelms any reduction in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions the EPA might achieve."...
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News of US CO2 plunge has been described as:
- “Surprising,“
- “little noticed,“
- “dramatic,“
- “stunner,“
- “most people are surprised to learn,“
- “quiet but tremendous progress,”
- “major long term implications,”
- “game changing,”
- “shocker,”
- “huge contrast to the forecast.”
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