September 30, 2019
Last Monday was the first day of a week of climate-related events at and around the United Nations in New York. Even here in Sacramento, 3,000 miles away, I found myself leaving other work periodically to listen to what world leaders had to say.
And what I heard made me feel a combination of pride, sadness and regret.
First I listened to Governor Gavin Newsom’s speech at Climate Week NYC.
The governor touted California’s—and his own—continued commitment to cutting climate pollution and leading the way, even as the president continues to condemn climate science.
That made me proud.
The governor compared and contrasted our state to what’s happening in the U.S. as a whole and we looked pretty good.
“It’s an interesting fact, while this country is running $1 trillion a year deficits, California is running historic budget surpluses,” Governor Newsom said.
“It’s an interesting fact that California has enjoyed its lowest unemployment rate in its history, more consecutive months of net job creation than at any time in its history, and significantly outperforming the United States of America in GDP growth over a five-year period—not despite our environmental strategies, but because of our environmental strategies.”
The governor continued by talking about clean energy jobs in the state and how they far outnumber jobs in fossil fuels. Good information.
Then he said “The economy is growing, a fully functioning cap-and-trade program, the most audacious low-carbon green growth goals in the United States of America. There’s nothing left for me to sign—it’s 100 percent across the board, in every category.”
What? We’re 100% across the board? There’s nothing left to sign?
This is when the sadness slinked in.
Despite everything we’ve done and said as environmental advocates to the Newsom administration over the last 9 months, collectively and individually, the governor still appears to believe that we’re on track, without further intervention, to get 100% off of fossil fuels.
How could he be so far off base?
Just days before he left for New York, the Desert Sun reported that while fracking permits are down in California, regular oil drilling permits are up 20% this year and dozens of illegal oil spills are flowing.
Moreover, the Newsom administration has yet to say what it will do to get our state unhooked from its role as a major oil-producing state at a time when climate change demands bolder action than ever.
Later on Monday, I watched a tape of someone young enough to be my granddaughter speaking truth to power on a United Nations panel.
Greta Thunberg, just 16 years old, has elevated climate urgency in a way that only a few others in the last 100 years have elevated and changed responses to other key social justice issues. On September 20, more than 4 million people worldwide took to the streets to emulate her weekly school strike to force attention to the climate emergency.
On the panel before an audience of adult dignitaries and leaders, she was clearly angry and exasperated.
“You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I am one of the lucky ones,” she said.
“We are in the beginning of a mass extinction and all you can talk about is the money and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you.
“For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you’re doing enough when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.”
When I heard that, I wondered if Governor Newsom was listening, too.
Like a lot of environmental advocates, over the years I have tried to find economic arguments to justify and persuade policymakers and regulators to take action to cut pollution. I have used evidence of job growth in clean sectors to show that cutting pollution has worked out well.
Here’s the regret: Using job growth and prosperity as measures hasn’t stopped the pollution or even cut it as much as needed to save the generation Thunberg represents from encountering grim environmental changes on this planet.
She is right. How dare we. How dare I. How dare Governor Newsom.
We have to change how we live and work and travel. But even more, we have to change the system that supports fossil fuel production here in California. Bold change is no longer an option. It’s essential.
Sincerely,
Kathryn Phillips
Director
Sierra Club California is the Sacramento-based legislative and regulatory advocacy arm of the 13 California chapters of the Sierra Club.
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