How I Spent My Summer Vacation

In 1977 Jimmy Carter was President and America was still recovering from the 1973 oil embargo which caused many us to sit, curse, read and rant while waiting in long lines at the gas station. Three months into his presidency, Carter recognized we needed a national energy strategy that would provide energy independence from hostile countries while hastening a transition to renewables.

"We simply must balance our demand for energy with our rapidly shrinking resources. By acting now, we can control our future instead of letting the future control us”, he explained.  He concluded by stating: “We have always wanted to give our children and grandchildren a world richer in possibilities than we've had. They are the ones we must provide for now. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don't act.”

Inspired by that speech, which aligned with my conservation minded living, my husband and I put solar hot water heating on our rooftop in New Jersey and started a small solar contracting business.  With the incentives in place at the time, business boomed....until 1981.  That was the year President Reagan took office and removed the solar panels from the roof of the White House.  It was also the year that we closed our business and lost our shirts.

Fast forward 35 years. What has changed? Although climate change was not the driving force for this speech, much of the situation that existed then continues today.  The main difference is the recent exploitation of domestic oil, coal and gas reserves, much to the detriment of the environment.

35 years of inaction.  35 lost years of innovation and the adjacent jobs.  35 years of spewing CO2 and other pollutants into the air.  And where are we now?  Staring down one extreme weather event after another with no end in sight.  A non-existent national energy plan that touts “all of the above” without even a thought to the environmental damage nor the tremendous jobs and innovation opportunities that could result from different choices.  

Right here in San Diego we are facing our own energy problem with the current shutdown of the San Onofre nuclear plant.  Nuclear energy is touted as clean but the risks associated with it are clear, as Fukushima readily exposed.  The two reactors currently generate 2150 MW of energy.  But just in San Diego County alone we have 7000 MW of rooftop solar waiting to be installed.  Rooftop - as in homes and parking lot covers, not as in utility scale desert installations.  WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

That’s why I joined Citizens Climate Lobby at their annual national conference, “The Cure for Climate Trauma” in Washington DC a few weeks ago.  In addition to informative speakers and workshops, the main focus was a week of lobbying by 175 citizens from across the U.S. and Canada to ask Congress to take effective steps to stop climate change. Volunteers met with over 300 congressional offices to press for a bi-partisan bill that will place a steadily rising price on carbon-based fuels with the fees collected returned to citizens to offset higher costs, thereby accelerating the shift to clean energy and energy efficiency. What we discovered is both exciting and disturbing.  

The good news is that the conversation is resonating on both sides of the aisle, as Republicans consider tax reform and look for ways to decrease our dependence on foreign oil, while Democrats are attracted to the clear market signal that will create opportunity for green jobs and investment.  Economics is just one aspect that points to this clear and transparent solution, as it will unleash American innovation and development.  The scientific community recognizes the speed at which the Earth is heating up and the risks to human health.   Faith communities around the world are publishing statements acknowledging the problem and urging an immediate response.  Even the American military is on board, recognizing the threat to national security and cost in American lives.

According to the feedback we are getting, Congress needs to hear from constituents.  Our legislators need support to take on the most powerful industry in the country.  They need to hear that people want to stop the flow of subsidies as we establish the real cost of dirty energy and move into the clean energy economy.  So get the word out to your family and friends to call Congress, asking for Carbon Fee and Dividend legislation and an end to fossil fuel subsidies.  It is no exaggeration to say that the next election will decide the fate of the world.  Energy is the conversation we need to be having as we choose our next Congress.