Climate Progress

The op-ed in the November 19th LA Times (We Need Voltswagens in the print edition; Bring back the electric car online) deserves attention from the public and state policy makers. Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids, is publicly posing the stark question as it needs to be asked: Will the California Air Resources Board (CARB) push for cars capable of zero-emission driving for today’s consumers using available, affordable, tested battery technology or will they support mere research programs even proponents say won’t be marketable for a generation.

On the ground at the LA Auto Show–and on the air (Honda here and BMW here)–automakers tout hydrogen & fuel cell vehicles disingenuously as “ready for the world when the world is ready.” Behind the scenes they lobby to lower the numbers of these million-dollar babies they must produce to meet their zero emission vehicle obligations. As Martin Zimmerman of the LA Times recently wrote in an otherwise gushing review of the Toyota FCHV recently, “Maybe, as some critics like to say, hydrogen is the fuel of the future and always will be.”

It’s past time the public, environmental organizations and policy makers got hip to the automaker con game and all got on the same page advocating plug-in cars. I look forward to CARB’s response.

More posts by Marc G. can be found at Plugs and Cars.

Related Climate Progress posts:

• Dream of hydrogen car goes down in flames
• Climate Progress Dehypes Hydrogen Again
• The Car of the Future: Plug-in Hybrids
• The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate

I think it’s safe to say that for many, Thanksgiving is such a beloved holiday because of how much time we get to spend thinking about food. But in that lazy down time, there are climate connections to food and environmental justice to let circle thoughtfully through your tryptophan-induced state.

Thanksgiving is most certainly an exception to the following (so no need to feel lazy as you veg.), but it’s worth knowing what health experts are saying these days about food and climate: Diet and driving habits both have implications on your weight and the climate.

So say you start to get pro-active about the food you consume, what other climate connections are there? Are what does it matter to equality?

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Lord knows we men are to blame for most things — but global warming?

Yes — according to a major new report by Gerd Johnsson-Latham for the Environment Advisory Council of the Environment Ministry of … wait for it … Sweden. The report’s focus:

What we know about the extent to which women globally live in a more sustainable way than men, leave a smaller ecological footprint and cause less climate change.

Ouch! Still, don’t look at me — I telecommute whereas my wife takes the car.

If gender equality were in fact a prerequisite for sustainable development, then it would definitely be time to buy property on high ground!

Fortunately, this theory is utterly debunked by the title of a best-selling nonfiction book:

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Global warming takes down its first major political victim:

“Conservative Prime Minister John Howard suffered a humiliating defeat Saturday at the hands of the left-leaning opposition, whose leader has promised to immediately sign the Kyoto Protocol on global warming.”

Why the stunning loss? A key reason was Howard’s “head in the sand dust” response to the country’s brutal once-in-a-thousand year drought. As the UK’s Independent reported in April:

… few scientists dispute the part played by climate change, which is making Australia hotter and drier….. Until a few months ago, Mr Howard and his ministers pooh-poohed the climate-change doomsayers.

You can read about Howard’s lame attempt to change his position rhetoric on global warming here.

Now we are the last industrialized nation with a leader who refuses to take any serious action — hopefully that dubious distinction will be corrected in next year’s presidential election.

For Australians, the drought, called “the first climate change-driven disaster to strike a developed nation” was enough to change their views on global warming dramatically. Of course, Katrina could have been the first — but we have no way of knowing for certain if climate changed caused that hurricane to become so deadly. Let’s hope we don’t need to suffer anything as brutal as what Australia is going through before we commit to serious action.

Related Posts:

• Dry me a River: Climate change and drought
• Australian Report: The dry will get drier
• Australia’s ‘Food Bowl’ Running Dry
• APEC to world: Kiss my “aspirational” target
• Australia climate-related news
• Global Warming = Bush gets Fired
• Ten Reasons Why Climate Change May Be More Severe than Projected

Before you know it, Thanksgiving will be over, November will be over, and we’ll be counting down the days to the post-Kyoto negotiations in Bali, as part of the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change.

Never has there been so much pressure (with reason) on the U.S. as an international actor to lead in this fight. IPCC chair Rajendra Pachauri has articulated the deadline:

If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.

Consequently, the expectations for what happens in Bali are growing at the speed of light.

And yet the Bush Administration is still not likely to budge. I feel like I’m watching a losing quarterback kneel with the football in the final minute of a game, rather than give winning a shot. Really, is this Administration’s choice failure?

At least on our end, we can’t let the holidays allow us to lose sight of Bali, which at the very least is an in-person gathering of political leaders and concerned groups from around the globe. After all, US action so far has been in those non-governmental hands.

Looks like the beginning of a trend toward realism:

One of the most senior forward-thinkers at Europe’s bigger car-maker … Volkswagen’s head of research Dr Jurgen Leohold told Autocar that he thinks fuel cell cars like VW’s own HyMotion Touran research car are not the future of alternative power, and are only really being developed as a sop to ever-tightening emissions laws in places such as California.

Describing them as a “marketing exercise,” he said their inherent problem lies with producing
the hydrogen fuel to power them, and in establishing an infrastructure of hydrogen filling stations. “Because hydrogen has to be produced using existing power, CO2 emissions are still an issue,” he said.

Ouch!

But if not hydrogen, what could possibly be the answer?

Instead, Dr Leohold reckons the immediate future of alternative power for cars lies with biofuels
and beyond that with battery power, and we’ll see huge improvements in battery technology in the next five years. “You can see it already in mobile phone and computer batteries,” he said.

It would be nice if GM or Honda would make such a statement.

Related nails in the coffin posts:

• Dream of hydrogen car goes down in flames
• Climate Progress Dehypes Hydrogen Again
• The Car of the Future: Plug-in Hybrids
• The Hype About Hydrogen: Fact and Fiction in the Race to Save the Climate

Climate change is an issue with many dimensions — political, scientific, social, economic. As Al Gore and others have noted, it also is a moral issue. Its moral dimension is gradually being articulated within the climate action movement. It’s worthwhile to take a break from science and politics to focus on the softer side of this profoundly important issue.

For example, take the call to action issued by 1Sky, an emerging coalition of environmental, social justice, religious and other leaders who plan to mobilize 1 million Americans around a positive vision of climate action:

Calling America: It’s our time

This year, 2007, right now, marks a turning point in human history. We have arrived at a clearly marked crossroads. Our defining challenge, our greatest opportunity, is now. We have only 1 sky.

We can turn toward a brighter future — a new, durable prosperity in healthy communities, an economy that sustains abundance and shares it well. Or we can barrel ahead toward climate disruption, economic decline, growing inequality, and growing insecurity. This crossroads is brightly lit. We cannot fail to see it. And we cannot miss the turn.

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Prime Minister Wen Jiabao told journalists Wednesday:

“China in the next five years will be determined to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent (per unit of GDP) to reduce carbon emissions and will strive to keep carbon emissions at 2005 levels.“

Wow!

That said, I think we have a right to be skeptical — given the Bush-like doubletalk from the Chinese foreign minister and especially given that Wen seems utterly unaware the first half of the commitment is utterly meaningless.

After all, China’s GDP growth in the last few years has been about 10% per year. If that growth is maintained, then GDP will rise over 60% in five years — which means energy use could rise 40% 29% (!) over thost 5 years, and China would still hit its target to reduce energy consumption by 20 percent (per unit of GDP). That would do nothing to “reduce carbon emissions.”

Let’s hope Wen doesn’t mean China will strive to keep carbon emissions (per unit of GDP) at 2005 levels.

If he does mean an absolute cap on China’s emissions, then this is stunning news and means a global deal is almost certainly possible — once we have a new President.

Related Posts

• China prepared to make a climate deal
• IEA: “The Next 10 Years are Critical”
• The immorality of China’s coal policy is breathtaking (literally)
• Are China’s Carbon Emissions China’s?

Ballard — the Canadian fuel cell company that once hoped to be the Intel inside of the hydrogen car revolution — has sold off its automotive fuel cell business to Daimler and Ford.

You can listen to a good CBC radio story on it, which includes an interview of me (click on “Listen to the Current,” Part 2). You can read Toronto Star columnist Tyler Hamilton on the story here. A Financial Post post piece headlines the story bluntly:

Hydrogen highway hits dead end
Ballard’s talks with potential buyers is admission that dream of hydrogen fuel car is dead: analyst

The story has a keen interpretation of the sale’s meaning from Research Capital analyst Jon Hykawy:

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Lynn Englum, one of the interns at the Center for American Progress, has been doing some brainstorming in preparation for this year’s Thanksgiving feast. She’s come up with this list:

Let this Thanksgiving be a time for reflection, as there are several events within the past year worth reminiscing. These five occurrences have increased awareness on climate change and moved the U.S. closer to achieving targeted greenhouse gas reductions. Hopefully, these events will prove to be catalysts in creating sustainable energy use and a stable climate for future generations.

1. IPCC & Al Gore won the Nobel Peace Prize for their contributions to bringing awareness to the climate change problem.

2. The 1st CAFÉ standard in 22 years was passed in the Senate–still waiting on the House to approve.

3. All the democratic presidential frontrunners (Obama, Edwards, and Clinton) have proposed a comprehensive energy plan, asking for large carbon dioxide emission reductions (80% by 2050).

4. The 4th IPCC Synthesis report was released providing a blunt and urgent call for action.

5. Public opinion is shifting: Polls are showing an increased international and domestic desire to mitigate the effects of climate change.

While there is still a long way to go, the progress and recognition of climate change as a serious problem has improved enormously from just a few years ago. So as we sit down this Thanksgiving, remember where the climate change movement stood then and be grateful that the nation and the world are finally starting to wake up.