by Henry Robertson, Chapter Energy Chair
The reality of global warming is becoming more obvious by the day. Ice caps and glaciers are melting faster; and now comes the horrifying news of rapid coral die-off in the Caribbean, caused in part by the same high ocean surface temperatures that fed Hurricane Katrina. Another bad hurricane season is forecast, while inland we experience fierce thunderstorms and tornadoes.
Some of this is climate change and some of it is weather. Some changes seem benign, like the earlier blooming of flowers and trees, but may herald the disruption of ecosystems. The dinosaurs who insist that we cannot live without fossil fuels are reduced to putting positive spin on the undeniable truth. The Competitive Enterprise Institute runs TV ads with the slogan, “Carbon dioxide. They call it pollution. We call it life.” Yes, CO2 is life—if you’re a plant.
Last September at the Summit in San Francisco the Sierra Club made a Clean Energy Future its top conservation priority. Now the national Club is putting the final touches on an energy policy framed by global warming.
The Club first circulated a survey to gauge members’ preferences for energy technologies; there were 485 responses from leaders. Then came a flurry of drafts that only the most dedicated could keep up with.
I’ve compared Draft 7 (May 3) with the Final Draft and accompanying Statement by the Global Warming and Energy Committee (May 16) to get a sense of the change as well as continuity in the development of the clean energy policy. It won’t satisfy everyone—it doesn’t fully satisfy me.
Between May 3 and 16, the Club softened its position on nuclear fusion, allowing that it has some promise, and on “cleaner coal” technologies; these “may be necessary to promote a ‘harm reduction’ strategy for coal.” This depends on successful development of carbon sequestration—storing CO2 underground or under the ocean—an uncertain proposition at best.
The Interim Policy takes a pragmatic approach that may offend members with a more traditional or sensitive conservation ethic. On forest biomass, the Club “supports efforts to reduce small diameter hazardous fuels around forested communities where the natural fire cycle has been suppressed.” The Club does not oppose the continued exploitation of existing oil and natural gas wells, and sees liquefied natural gas as a possible transitional fuel despite its hazards. It encourages biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel produced without fossil fuel inputs; corn ethanol is to be avoided.
“Decisions to oppose specific facilities must be based on a documented finding of undue environmental harm.” We must get energy while drastically cutting fossil fuel use. Would you rather see a wind farm or a coal-burning power plant?
The Club’s first priority energy resource is efficiency: “Efficiency can reduce energy use by 30 percent to 75 percent or more in all energy sectors, at a cost half or less than equivalent supply; minimizing environmental effects and greenhouse gas emissions; and offering very large numbers of jobs in every community that will make use of existing skills.”
The Policy also discusses the importance of conservation and the difference between efficiency and conservation. Conservation means using less of a resource; efficiency means doing more with a given amount of the resource. Unfortunately, exponential economic growth could overwhelm the initial savings from efficiency.
If Americans tried to drive as much as they do now using only ethanol and biodiesel, we’d soon have to choose between driving and eating. By committing to renewable energy, we commit to living within our current solar budget. According to a calculation cited in Tim Flannery’s “The Weather Makers,” in 1997 the world burned the equivalent of 422 years worth of prehistoric sunshine fossilized as coal, oil and natural gas. We no longer have that option.
The Club has made “efficiency” its top energy priority when that should really only be the first step. We should ask Americans to conserve as well.
Sierra Club Board expects to adopt a final policy no later than September 16, 2006.