environment Politics: Harry Reid idiots Kerry-Lieberman
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Month 6, Day 9: Rightly Is They Called Idiots.
When Harry Reid became Minority leader back when Democrats were in the minority, I knew he was trouble. It’s unbelievable how regularly he manages to snatch policy defeat from the jaws of legislative victory.
And now he’s getting ready to do it again. I sent a copy of this letter to Chuck Schumer, as he appears to be involved in this scam, too.
(facepalm)
Dear Senator Reid,
It’s true that the Gulf of Mexico disaster strengthens the case for a new and better energy policy. But replacing the already weakened Kerry-Lieberman bill with the completely powerless American Clean Energy Leadership Act (ACELA) is a terrible mistake.
ACELA is filled with giveaways to polluters. Some analysts believe it will actually increase carbon emissions. This may be a tiny stepping stone towards a new energy policy — but the real lesson of the Gulf catastrophe is that climate change is coming, and it’s coming faster than anyone thought (the climate for sea creatures in the waters off Louisiana has changed pretty drastically in just a few days, hasn’t it?). America needs to take this seriously.
The type of legislative sausage-making that was a source of entertainment in less critical times is no longer an option. To think that further weakening legislation that has already had all its teeth pulled will entice Republican votes is the height of naivete.
If any climate legislation (such as “cap-and-trade”) is offered as an amendment to ACELA, it will be defeated, and the narrow window of opportunity opened by the crisis in the Gulf will have been wasted — just like every other window of opportunity that has opened for Democrats in the past few years.
A climate bill must be offered as part of a linked package: climate-and-energy. There can be no compromise on this; I am asking you to look beyond political exigencies and consider the fact that the scientific evidence is overwhelming: the planet is warming, humans cause it, and everyone who is paying attention knows this to be true. What we really need is a carbon tax. If what we can get in a climate bill is cap-and-trade, we’ll start there.
But cap-and-trade is not analogous to a “public option” — something that we good progressives will eventually abandon in order to get a bill passed. We must have robust climate legislation.
If we fail, our descendants will curse us. We owe it to them to get this right. Any bill that has incentives for dirty energy and puts no price on carbon is a failure.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Barack Obama Civilian Conservation Corps Robert Reich
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Month 6, Day 8: Oh, Say Can You C.C.C.?
Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton, has an excellent idea.
Dear President Obama,
This is just a short note to express my enthusiastic approval for Robert Reich’s recent proposal that you create a new version of the Civilian Conservation Corps focused on cleanup of the Gulf of Mexico. Reich points out that there aren’t enough summer jobs for young people, and suggests that you “send them to the Gulf to clean up beaches and wetlands, and send the bill to BP.”
It’s a great idea. The original Civilian Conservation Corps did tremendously important service to the country, revitalizing parts of our nation that had been devastated by drought and erosion. A new CCC could begin work on the affected coastal areas of Louisiana and Florida, doing the physically and emotionally grueling work of cleaning up after what seems likely to be the world’s worst oil spill.
Needless to say, there are plenty of other places where such an organization could accomplish wonders. Our ecological infrastructure is seriously frayed, and there are countless areas where the hard work of conservation needs to be carried out. This would have the added benefit of educating the participants about the importance of the natural systems that sustain all of us, thereby increasing the number of people who take environmental issues seriously.
Secretary Reich’s proposal is a good one and merits your consideration. Recognize, though, that it cannot be the sole solution to our nation’s combined climate and energy crises. We will never escape these devastating catastrophes until we shut down the last oil well and the last coal mine. Ultimately, we must end our use of fossil fuels, or it will certainly end us.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: economics GDP Genuine Progress Index Gross National Happiness measurement Redefining Progress
by Warren
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The Tyranny of False Measurement
First, watch this.
Bobby Kennedy on “Gross Domestic Product”
“Too much and too long, we seem to have surrendered community excellence and community values in the mere accumulation of material things. Our gross national product … if we should judge America by that – counts air pollution and cigarette advertising, and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for those who break them. It counts the destruction of our redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and the cost of a nuclear warhead, and armored cars for police who fight riots in our streets. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
“Yet the gross national product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages; the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage; neither our wisdom nor our learning; neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it tells us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.”
Yeah. What Bobby said.
The irrefutable fact of our environmental crisis is linked with the irrefutable fact of our economic crisis.
Our economy sucks for the same reason our environment is being destroyed: we’re measuring success with the wrong set of tools.
environment Politics: Barack Obama Bill McKibben Bonn Conference Deepwater Horizon
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Month 6, Day 3: Disaster Spells O-P-P-O-R-T-U-N-I-T-Y ?
This DK diary contains two fantastic essays by Bill McKibben and Adam Siegel. Go read it. And while you’re at it, read this. These two posts are what brought this letter bubbling up.
More personal than usual, but I’m starting to really take this stuff personally, y’know?
Dear President Obama —
I just read that in its opening addresses at the UN climate negotiations in Bonn, the United States never once mentioned a readiness to accept a binding agreement on carbon emission reductions.
Mr. President, I love my country.
Like you, I have lived abroad. When I first went to India to live, in the mid-1980’s, people asked me over and over again, “the Americans we meet are such wonderful people. Why is it that your government does such terrible things?”
That was during the Reagan years, and those of us with conscience were outraged by the behavior of our government. And all I could do was shake my head sadly, and say, “I know. It’s a terrible thing.”
When the U.S.negotiator states that the negotiation text which had been approved by every country in the world at Copenhagen ‘had no standing,’ I can only shake my head sadly and say, “I know. It’s a terrible thing.”
When my government’s negotiator promotes the Copenhagen Accord, a political agreement which takes seven degrees Farenheit of global warming as a given, I can only shake my head sadly and say, “I know. It’s a terrible thing.”
When I look at the consequences of that level of warming and realize that it will mean millions and millions of deaths due to food and water shortages, I can only shake my head sadly and say, “I know. It’s a terrible thing.”.
I know that it takes a long time to turn things around. I am not so naive as to think that wishing will make it so — but I still wish.
Bill McKibben said recently that the Deepwater Horizon disaster has offered you the perfect platform for a genuinely transformative approach. While the oil chokes the water and poisons all the life in the Gulf of Mexico, you must remind us all that fossil fuel is dirty. It’s dirty when you take it out of the ground, it’s dirty when you process it, it’s dirty when you burn it…and, of course, as it burns it releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Dirty. With the ruined ecosystems of the Louisiana coast as a backdrop, you need to ask the American people, “Is this what you really want?” And you need to offer some alternatives. McKibben notes that his organization, 350.org, is planning a “Global Work Party” for energy conservation and efficiency on the 10th of October of this year. He concludes with this wish: “Let’s hope the president is up on the roof of the White House, hammering in the solar panels that Ronald Reagan took down.”
Mr. President, that’s my wish for you, too.
I wish for an America that embraces the idea of energy independence, that acknowledges its global responsibilities, that recognizes that the global engine of predatory capitalism is causing irreversible damage to the planet we share. I wish for an America where I don’t have to keep shaking my head sadly and saying, “I know. It’s a terrible thing.”
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: British Petroleum criminal irresponsibility Eric Holder
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Month 6, Day 2: I Hope They Grind Exceeding Small
The Attorney General is going to the Gulf. String ’em high, Mr. Holder, string ’em high!
Dear Attorney General Holder,
I’m glad to learn that you’re looking into a possible criminal investigation of British Petroleum and the other companies which are partnered in the ill-fated Deepwater Horizon rig. As you and your staff begin your investigation, please keep in mind that BP may reasonably be suspected of not acting in the public interest — something President Obama said last week. To be sure, we need the company to continue mitigating the environmental damage it has caused, but it is terribly naive to think that this will be their primary concern. BP’s principal focus will be on maximizing return to its shareholders and protecting its management — and these goals (while inherent in the capitalist system) emphatically do not serve the public in a time of crisis.
BP has been limiting media access to the devastation it has caused, making it more difficult for press and broadcast media to get a clear picture of the destruction of the Gulf Coast. Furthermore, there are ample reasons to suspect the company of the possible manipulation and destruction of physical evidence. Their response to the disaster has been conditioned by the requirements of public relations from the very beginning, and you should expect that they will continue to try to “game the system” as your investigation continues.
While no formal statement of guilt is possible from your office until the wheels of justice have turned, you and your staff need to keep in mind that British Petroleum has displayed criminal irresponsibility toward the needs of environmental protection for years. Do not trust these people; they are not America’s friends.
The fact that BP continues to control clean-up efforts and mitigation processes is tainted by the likelihood that they have been attempting to limit the visible damage, thereby reducing the likelihood of significant penalties.
Because BP has practical authority over the people of the Coast who are involved in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, they can now intimidate witnesses and workers, conceal damage, and stall investigations. As long as the company is considered essential by the government, there is a strong likelihood that your investigation will be forced to compromise. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Barack Obama John F. Kennedy Moon Landing Renewable Energy
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Month 5, Day 30: Remembering The Fallen
This one is going to my local paper, the Medford Transcript. But I’m also sending a copy to the President.
In 1962, President Kennedy gave America a meaningful goal: by the end of that decade, we would put a man on the moon and bring him back safely. Although JFK couldn’t live to see it, we succeeded with time to spare, and the world was never the same. It is time for a new American president to give America another meaningful goal: shifting our energy economy entirely to renewable sources by 2030. Voices of political pragmatism will deride this as “unrealistic,” and point to all the reasons we can’t. But the ongoing geocide in the Gulf of Mexico is one of many reasons that we must. The laws of physics don’t adjust to political exigency, and the choice is ever clearer: if we don’t kick the fossil fuel habit, we will kill the planetary ecosystems upon which we all depend. The transition will call upon all of our ingenuity and resourcefulness, and it may well be the biggest challenge our nation has ever faced. But as John F. Kennedy said, “We do not do this because it is easy, but because it is hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win.” We need to hear those words again. President Obama, are you listening?
Warren Senders
environment Politics: idiots legislation Scott Brown
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Month 5, Day 29: In The Warmer Climate, ALL Our Senators Will Be Nude
I was having dinner with friends tonight and one of them mentioned a campaign called something like “Make Brown Green” — aiming to persuade Massachusetts’ junior senator to jump Republican ship on climate and energy issues. I don’t have much hope of that happening (if he were capable of careful thought on climate issues, he wouldn’t be a Republican), but it made the hook for a fun letter. I brought back the Kwashiorkor analogy for a little cameo.
Dear Senator Brown – I write to urge you to make a firm commitment to supporting meaningful, strong climate/energy legislation.
On energy: the disaster in the Gulf is a clear indicator that our current energy policy is fatally flawed; we cannot sustain our present level of oil consumption without risking more and more Deepwater Horizons. How much of the ocean are we going to kill in order to continue powering our SUVs, manufacturing disposable plastic commodities and blowing leaves into our neighbors’ yards?
On climate: despite what Republican leaders wish to believe, global climate change is a reality, and a terrifyingly dangerous one. An anomalous blizzard in Washington, DC no more disproves global warming than a starving child’s swollen belly disproves world hunger. Your party leaders’ readiness to ignore factual scientific evidence when it conflicts with their ideological agenda would be humorous if it were not hindering our national effectiveness in contending with the gravest threat humanity has ever faced.
If ever there was a time to break ranks with Republican orthodoxy, now is it. There is no time to waste and none to lose.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: Harry Reid John Kerry Peak Oil Sperm Whales
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Month 5, Day 26: You Get What You Pay For.
I synthesized two separate articles in this one, which goes out to John Kerry and Harry Reid. Subtext: Fix The Damned Filibuster, You Twits!
Dear Senators Kerry and Reid,
While it may not be obvious to your Republican colleagues, it is crystal clear to anyone who’s paying attention that oil and coal are hugely more expensive than renewable energy sources.
Once we learn to count disasters, health effects, long-term environmental degradation, expensive wars and catastrophic global warming as inherent costs of fossil fuels, it’s obvious: we can no longer afford to keep burning.
Right now the B.P. disaster is threatening the native sperm whales, already an endangered species. Scientists say that it would only take a few deaths to condemn the entire Gulf population to extinction. How can we put a price on a sperm whale (ironically, an animal once almost hunted to extinction for its utility as an energy source)?
How can we put prices on the countless human communities along the Gulf coast — communities with unique customs, traditions and ways of life that are now facing similar fates? How expensive is the canary in the coal mine? And how many more canaries are going to die before we notice?
The oil advocates’ crazed eagerness to drill more and deeper sounds desperate at best and well-nigh pornographic at worst. Their insistence on expansion of oil sources regardless of the consequences is revealing: they know that Peak Oil has arrived, and they’re desperate. From now on, oil is never going to get cheaper. A rig like the Deepwater Horizon is incredibly expensive to operate, probably costing millions of dollars a year; Peak Oil means peak operating cost, which is why rig operators routinely ignore safety procedures.
We can either make a switchover to renewable energy sources swiftly, with the full support of the government and the world’s industrial base — or we can make the same switchover after the world’s energy economy has collapsed and the planetary ecosystem has been gravely damaged. Either way, the bill for our fossil foolishness has come due, and it’s time to tell the American people that the days of cheap hydrocarbon energy are officially over.
The crafting of the Kerry-Lieberman bill demonstrated the extent to which political expediency is a determining factor in the content of legislation. Alas, the country can no longer afford political expediency either. We need to get off fossil fuels, and soon.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
629 Fellsway West
Medford, MA 02155
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environment Politics: Barack Obama Deepwater Horizon
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Month 5, Day 23: Multitasking is Necessary!
Yesterday’s letter was primarily to Ed Markey and secondarily to the President, so I’ve sent him another one for Sunday. More on the Deepwater Horizon — truly the gift that keeps on giving.
Dear President Obama,
The ongoing tragedy of the Gulf of Mexico calls for aggressive governmental action in multiple areas.
We must move rapidly to contain the spill, which is fouling the Gulf with catastrophic implications for human and animal populations. The public statements made by British Petroleum spokespersons suggest that the corporation at fault for the disaster has failed to take its responsibilities seriously. This cannot be allowed to continue.
We must move rapidly to determine the magnitude of the catastrophe. B.P. is again acting in bad faith, as demonstrated by their refusal to allow scientists to conduct accurate measurements of the leak. Since assessment of liability is contingent on the amount of the spill, they stand to save many millions of dollars by relying on an estimated flow rate that is several orders of magnitude too low. This, too, cannot be allowed. Your administration needs to be very forthright in asserting that B.P.’s estimates are no longer considered valid.
We must uncover the cause of the tragedy. At least three different corporations behaved irresponsibly in the leadup to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, and their subsequent behavior is further demonstration that in this case, We The People have absolutely no reason to trust these companies and their representatives to tell the truth. BP, Transocean, and Halliburton have killed eleven people and are now putting the lives of millions more at risk. Prosecutions with stiff penalties are called for.
And finally, we must move rapidly to get America and the world off fossil fuels completely. The threats of global warming, arctic methane release and oceanic acidification are all brought about by our destructive habits of taking carbon out of the ground and putting it in the atmosphere. America needs a crash program to develop renewable energy sources, and we need it yesterday.
There is no time to waste. The Gulf of Mexico is yet another “canary in the coalmine” — but the way we are going, it’s not going to be long before all the canaries are dead. Mr. President, we elected you to be a leader. Please lead.
Yours Sincerely,
Warren Senders
environment Politics: LA Times National Academy of Science
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Month 5, Day 21: Can We Get It Together In Time?
The report from the National Academy of Science is now out, and it’s very forthright: we’ve gotta get our shit together, and quickly, or we’re in for a world of hurt. We’ll be in for a world of hurt anyway, but if we begin thinking hard about what to do, it’ll hurt less.
The linked article is from the L.A. Times, so I wrote them a letter.
The National Academy of Science report on climate change should convince any remaining denialists that the costs of inaction far outweigh those of action. America and the world simply cannot afford to put this problem off any longer. Higher gas prices may be politically unpopular, but it may the only way we break free of our addiction to oil. Make no mistake about it: fossil fuels are far from cheap. Factor in the costs of cleaning up spills, of countless cases of black lung, of smog, asthma, toxic wastes, and oil wars, and the price per energy unit suddenly goes way up. When we include global climate change in our assessment, oil and coal are revealed as the most expensive energy sources we have. The NAS Report confirms, with unimpeachable science, that we need to act rapidly, forthrightly, and energetically. The time is past for allowing political exigencies to dictate to us in a matter of global survival.
Warren Senders