When a global problem starts in Washington, D.C., shouting from a soapbox in the Valley might seem futile. This week, three stories made us want to get up on that soapbox anyway.
The first, on Monday, reported that global carbon pollution is rising this year, after three years of remaining level. Man-made carbon dioxide is the cause of more than 90 percent of global warming since 1950, according to U.S. scientists.
Story two: Also Monday, protesters delayed the start of the only event held by the U.S. delegation at U.N. climate talks in Germany. Instead of cheers, our contribution to the worldwide effort to slow climate change drew jeers.
Story three: The International Energy Agency forecasts that the worldwide demand for oil will keep rising until 2040, the demand for natural gas will grow by 40 percent, and our country will become the world’s biggest net exporter of oil and gas by the end of the 2020s.
In other words, the fossil fuel interests that helped fuel candidate Donald Trump’s move into the White House will be amply rewarded as the planet’s health declines.
The Global Carbon Project says carbon dioxide emissions are up about 2 percent this year, with most of the rise caused by increased burning of coal in India and China. The International Energy Agency predicts that total energy demand will grow by 30 percent by 2040, and that Asian countries will become the biggest net importers of oil and gas.
Meanwhile, our nation’s only official contribution to the two-week climate conference in Germany was – wait for it – an event promoting the use of fossil fuels and nuclear energy.
The New York Times quotes Trump’s special adviser George D. Banks as saying, “We would argue that it’s in the global interest to make sure when fossil fuels are used that they be as clean and efficient as possible.”
That might seem an admirably pragmatic message, given that poor nations will need cheap energy to develop their economies. However, the protesters at the event, as well as the 200 or so nations gathered for the conference, also had to consider the messenger. To wit: our president and his record on “clean” energy.
In February, Trump killed the Office of Surface Mining’s Stream Protection Rule, which was designed to protect waterways from debris caused by surface mining.
In March, Trump lifted a moratorium the Interior Department had placed on new coal leases on federal lands to provide time to ensure taxpayers were getting a fair return for such leases and to measure the effect burning the coal would have on climate.
Also in March, the man Trump put in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, said that he didn’t think carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to global warming.
In May, Trump proposed a budget that would slash EPA funding by nearly one-third and kill more than 3,800 jobs.
Last month, EPA chief Pruitt signed a new rule to quash the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, which would have limited carbon emissions from coal-fired power plants.
Given our president’s beliefs and his administration’s actions, why should the world view Banks’ pious offer to provide “clean” fossil fuel technology as anything other than a self-serving pitch?
In December 2015, when nearly 200 countries adopted the Paris agreement, then-U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “It’s a victory for all the planet and for future generations.”
Once, through science and skillful diplomacy, we led the global mission to save our world. Now, with Syria’s signing of the Paris accord this week, we are the only nation to reject the effort.
Is there any point in fighting D.C.? Well, yes, there is.
Just ask the activists who marched from Northampton High School to City Hall on Nov. 5 to urge national, state and local leaders to do more.
Just ask the protesters in Bonn, Germany, who made world news by delaying the start of the U.S. event by singing, to the tune of “God Bless the U.S.A.,” anti-coal lyrics — “And we’ll proudly stand up until you keep it in the ground.”
We must counter Trump’s negative changes with positive changes made through personal action. Wherever your soapbox is — in Bonn, in the Valley, on social media channels — stand up and speak out.