ISSUE 11-20-21 WELL SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT CLIMATE CHANGE?

On Earth Day 2021, President Joe Biden convened an international conference of leaders from many of the world’s governments to map out a unified strategy ahead of November’s COP-26. As at every COP since 2015, the goal will be to steer governments toward meeting their original pledges to drive down emissions that cause global warming and prod them to take even more ambitious steps.

That preceded a three-week United Nations virtual conference  “to advance the extensive work that needs to be addressed in preparation for COP-26….”

Biden’s primary climate advisor is the former U.S. EPA chief Gina McCarthy appointed by President Barack Obama.  In a speech April 15 this year at an event called by the U.S. information technology industry, McCarthy explained the current situation this way. “Climate change for too long has been seen as some big and amorphous issue scientists talk about.”

But when it is stated as a bread-and-butter issue, trade-offs are usually couched as jobs or environment. “One of the cornerstones of Biden’s infrastructure plan is a recognition that our ability to address climate change should be borne on sound economic policy, because it can he,” she stressed. “Coming out of the pandemic, you don’t just jump to an ‘Oh, woe is me… climate change is happening.’”

The days of fossil fuel corporations blatantly thwarting efforts to control greenhouse gas emissions may be over, or at least waning. Financial institutions around the world have begun pulling support for new mining and drilling while large investors, such as New York State’s enormous pension fund, have declared they will stop putting money into fossil fuel development.

Earlier this year, more than 300 businesses, including Google, McDonald’s and Walmart, signed a letter to President Biden urging the United States to increase its targets for  curtailing planet-warning emissions.

On April 15, draft legislation was introduced in both chambers of Congress to end government subsidies for fossil fuel projects. The End Polluter Welfare Act’s objective is to close tax loopholes and eliminate federal subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, estimated at more than $150 billion over the next ten years.

While federal and state programs and policies will have a major impact, even more is expected from business and individuals.

The Corrales chapter of Citizens Climate Lobby, led by Corrales Elementary School Librarian Josephine Darling, has been working at the state and federal levels to persuade elected officials to implement legislation that encourages businesses and institutions to shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXVI No.7 June 10, 2017 “Corraleños Respond to Climate Accord Pull-Out.”)

“We need to continue to quietly persuade our members of Congress that there is a bipartisan solution to climate change that all members of Congress can get behind, regardless of political party,” Darling emphasized. “Citizens Climate Lobby has that solution, and we have been working behind the scenes to build consensus.”

She invites others to join the Corrales chapter. She can be contacted at josephine.darling@citizensclimatelobby.org.

 The movement started by Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg’s “School Strike for Climate” continues to gain strength globally. Her Fridays for Future campaign mounted an international demonstration March 19 “to demand immediate, concrete and ambitious action from world leaders in response to the ongoing climate crisis.” Their demands can be found at #NoMoreEmptyPromises.

If the challenges are great, Corraleños and other citizens sufficiently concerned about climate change can begin immediately  implementing the following steps as outlined by Jim McKenzie and 350 New Mexico.

• Switch off and unplug appliances when not in use.
• Use energy efficient lighting.
• Buy energy efficient appliances.
• Insulate, install efficient windows and doors and plug leaks.
• Install programmable thermostats.
• Use photovoltaic and solar thermal systems to power your home and heat water.
• Switch to green electricity.
• Walk or ride your bike for short trips and commutes.
• Car share or use public transport.
• Buy an electric vehicle.
• Avoid the airport if possible. Try train, bus or carpool.
• Reduce your meat consumption, since one pound of beef equals 19 pounds of carbon dioxide.
• Install a clothes line and unplug your dryer.
• Install low-flow faucets and shower heads.
• Make your investments fossil fuel free.
• Tell your local government representatives that you want municipal and county facilities powered by solar or wind energy.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Interagency Climate Change Task Force, established in January 2019, reported that New Mexico produced more than 66 million metric tons of greenhouse gases (GHG) in 2018. Of our state’s GHG emissions,  an estimated 31 percent is methane, the report said, while nationally it is just 10 percent.

Methane is about 25 times more potent as a GHG than carbon dioxide.

More than 60 percent of that methane released in New Mexico comes from oil and gas operations —which yield so much revenue for an otherwise impoverished state that almost no politicians dare to push hard for reduction of those fossil fuels.

Oil and gas operations here are projected to inject at least $7.9 billion into State coffers last fiscal year.

Even so, the task force reported, New Mexico’s total GHG emissions declined by 5 percent from 2005 to 2018, an improvement almost entirely due to Public Service  Company of New Mexico’s closure of two coal-fired units of the San Juan Generating Station. The remaining units are to be closed in 2023.

“It is not hyperbole to suggest the stakes are higher than perhaps ever before in human history,” the governor wrote for the task force report’s introduction.

Still, New Mexico joined a multi-state organization to  expand exports of natural gas. The increase in liquified natural gas, specifically for export to Asia, would benefit State coffers and local communities, the governor’s office said upon joining the Western States and Tribal Nations organization.

Her administration asserted that New Mexico “is in the forefront of states taking ambitious climate action,” which includes a commitment for statewide reduction of GHG emissions by at least 45 percent by 2030 compared to 2005 levels.

Much of that is supposed to come from implementing the governor’s Executive Order 2013-003 and the N.M. Energy Transition Act.

In its conclusions section, the task force report promised “These policies, which include a methane emission reduction regulatory framework, an update to the state’s building codes, and electricity transmission corridors to transport our renewable electricity resources to market… are already beginning to come to fruition.

“This is only the beginning of our action,” the conclusion continued. “Over the next year, we will refine our policies, accelerate their implementation and acquire modeling data to demonstrate the success of our work.”

The State’s controversial Energy Transition Act  is touted as “one of the most ambitious renewable energy and zero-carbon electricity standards in the United States.”

Among state government’s initiatives is a commitment to substantially increase its fleet of electric vehicles (EV), and to fund installation of EV charging stations.  A goal was set that 75 percent of vehicles purchased by the State each year must be powered by alternative energy sources.

Transportation is the second largest source of GHG emissions in New Mexico.

“The State can spur clean vehicle adoption by incentivizing EV purchases, investing in charging infrastructure, requiring that a percentage of vehicles for sale be zero emission vehicles and regulating vehicle emissions,” the task force report noted.

New Mexico has already joined the Regional Electric Vehicle Plan for the West to create electric highway corridors throughout the intermountain West.

Another incentive with high potential is also underway: shifting to electric-powered school buses in school districts statewide.

Meanwhile, the steady increase in solar electric installations at New Mexico homes, institutions and businesses continues. In Corrales, more than four megawatts were already being generated by photovoltaic arrays two years ago. (See Corrales Comment Vol.XXXVIII No.4 April 6, 2019 “Solar Farm Expanse Will Soon Generate 2 Megawatts.”)

And the state’s largest wind farm has begun generating enough electricity to supply about 294,000 average size homes from 240 turbines near Dora, New Mexico, in Roosevelt County. Other wind farms are expected to connect to the grid in the near future.