Greenpeace

I normally try to stay up-beat on this blog.  However, Halloween seems like an appropriate time to focus on what may be the single most frightening aspect of the challenge we face, when confronting global warming: that the US national government is NOT going to get us where we need to be single-handedly.  Don't get me wrong; I'm not saying you should stop calling and writing to your members of Congress - it's extremely important to keep that up, because that's the only way we will get anything at all out of the national government.  In fact, the Senate and House of Representatives are poised to vote very soon on this year's Energy Bill, and this is a great time to contact the officials who are supposed to be representing you - you can get more information on that from the Sierra Club.  The problem is, though, that even if the best-case-scenario bill is passed, the provisions it contains will not even come close to doing what really needs to be done to stop climate change.  For instance, the best-case-scenario bill would raise fuel economy standards for vehicles to 35 mpg; that would be the first raise in fuel-efficiency to take place in years, and I sincerely hope it happens - however, the truth is that we need so much more.  If the federal government began an aggressive campaign to raise average fuel economy for vehicles to, say, 100 mpg (a standard that is not impossible to reach, by the way), then they would be beginning to take global warming seriously.  But 35 mpg?  It's a step, but a very, very, small step.

It is highly unlikely that the national government will get us out of this mess.  The problem is that Congress moves at a glacial pace when it comes to environmental issues (though they somehow manage to launch new wars quite quickly), and we simply don't have that much time.  Big things need to happen in the next ten years, or sooner, if catastrophic climate change is to be avoided.

What this is leading to, of course, is the importance of action at lower levels of government.  States like California (and to a slightly lesser degree, Oregon), are already miles ahead of the national government on global warming.  And of course, cities and counties are moving forward too - we need to keep pushing for more change, and holding mayors, city councilors, and county commissioners accountable to the promises they make.  There is even a role for the national government in a future where states and local governments turn out to be the real leaders on climate change.  Not all 50 states are as on-top of things as California, and what Congress may be able to do is keep more backward places, like Texas, from getting too much worse.  Even if Congress isn't going to cut back on emissions very drastically, it's not unrealistic to think they might put a ban on new coal plants.  This would make it harder for governments like Texas to wipe away progress made in other areas.  With the national government at least limiting damage done by the likes of Texas, the majority of our states taking real strides toward cutting emissions, and local governments complementing the work done by states, we could make real progress.  It would still be a major challenge, but not an insurmountable one.  So be scared, this Halloween - but don't give up hope.