Patricia DeMarco Ph.D.

"Live in harmony with nature."

Tag Archives: Climate Change


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February Union Edge – Labor and Climate Change

IMG_09412-11-2015

Ever since the EPA hearings on emission limitations for existing power plants that I attended in Pittsburgh, I have been thinking about the contrast in the reaction to climate change between labor activists and environmentalists.

I found a position statement by Richard Trumke addressing a United Nations Summit on Investment and I found his sentiment very compelling.  He said: “Why should investors or working people focus on climate risk when we have so many economic problems across the world? The labor movement has a clear answer: Addressing climate risk is not a distraction from solving our economic problems. Addressing climate risk means retooling our world – it means that every factory and power plant, every home and office, every rail line and highway, every vehicle, locomotive and plane, every school and hospital, must be modernized, upgraded, renovated or replaced with something cleaner, more efficient, less wasteful. That means putting investment capital to work creating jobs.”

If we are going to actually address the climate change crisis, we need to work together.  We need to have the discussions and the creative solutions that come from a broad collaboration.  Unions are good at solving problems, that’s what we do.  Market driven policies in place now will not move our economy in the direction it needs to go.  We need a total mobilization of policy, capital, labor and the education and engagement of the whole general public to make this kind of total societal shift, and make it quickly.

Have we ever done such a thing?  Well, we have done it 70 years ago when the nation was challenged to mobilize for World War II.  Within only a few years, we focused industrial production, food system output, and individual sacrifice to meet the war effort. Everybody got behind it, and everybody made it happen.

The challenge of moving away from fossil fuel combustion to preserve our atmosphere in a temperate range suitable for human life is no less critical.  But we have yet to address the compelling issues that need to be met so we can move forward with equitable, economically viable, lasting solutions.

We have to address the people problems, not just apply technical fixes.  What can we do to protect the displaced workers in the fossil extraction industries of coal, oil, and fossil gas?  The pensions and health benefits are an obligation that has to be honored.  How can we re-direct the workforce to make the infrastructure of a non-fossil economy replace the aging infrastructure of the fossil age?  Skills and know-how are abundant, but shifting the systems for applying the expertise of workers in new ways needs to be organized and focused for deployment. If we are serious about re-structuring our economy to save the world, why are we still subsidizing fossil fuels and fragmenting business conditions for renewable systems?  No business will grow and thrive in an environment of different rules in 50 states, changing tax treatment each year, and punitive insurance and utility tariff systems, again varying in all the states.

We need to have an organized policy and a strategic plan.  We need the unity of purpose from people at all levels.  Education, empowerment, and care for people above machines, and good wages for hard work above profits to the few multi-national corporate interests that benefit from plundering the earth forever.

Think about what kind of a world we leave to our grandchildren.  We can plan to leave them a living Earth, or bicker away our efforts and leave them a despoiled planet.

PD

 

 


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Moving from Awareness to Action

January 2015

This month two new tools have come forward from the expanding team of people working with and around me to engage solutions to the climate change challenge and the subversive threat embodied in endocrine disrupting chemical contaminants in our biosphere.  We feel an increasing sense of urgency to make meaningful changes to address these serious global problems.  Taken together, the problem appears overwhelming.  A sense of powerlessness and being overwhelmed with the complexity of it all yields denial and paralysis.

But, we take courage from our heroes!   In the new documentary “The Power of One Voice- A 50 Year Perspective on the Life of Rachel Carson” we see how her one voice raised fearlessly and courageously in spite of vicious, personal attacks, did change the world. We can see in “Sustainability Pioneers” regular people making changes in their own lives, in their communities and in their businesses to move to a more resilient future.

We have the tools to take action moving toward a more sustainable future.  We must address the barriers entrenched in our current way of doing things.  How can we connect the unionized labor movement to environmentally sound solutions?  The labor movement was instrumental in organizing the first Earth Day and pressing for environmental protections in the 1970’s.  Now, the divide artificially pitting a clean environment against jobs makes collaboration more difficult.  Yet, the need has never been greater.  Solutions that reshape a robust economy based on renewable energy systems, organic agriculture practices and green chemistry principles for producing goods, will require changing some laws!  We need to have a broader coalition of people involved, and we need to reach beyond environmental advocates talking to each other with increasing passion and frustration.

Everybody wants healthy children.  Everybody needs clean water and air.  Everybody needs a wholesome, secure food supply. Every worker needs a living wage in a secure career path. To make a transition from a fossil based economy to a renewable and sustainable economy, we need a strategy and a plan for an orderly transition.  Allowing the fate of our children to fall from “market forces” as a policy will not work.  Our policy process is currently based on markets with government regulation seen as a negative interference. To make a successful transition, we must have a longer view than a three month business cycle; we must recognize the costs and risks the current practices are imposing on our current life and on the lives of our children and their grandchildren. We must make a strategic plan to reach a fossil-free future within the next 30 to 50 years, or our children will face life threatening conditions.

Business as usual scenarios based on continued fossil fuel use projected 650 parts per million levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. This is not a viable condition!  Reaching this level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere would be catastrophic for humans, and other creatures that breathe air.  We need to get serious about choosing more viable options.

Jobs in the renewable energy industries are growing at 22% per year for the last five years, compared to a falling profile for coal, oil and gas jobs at 8.7% over the last five years. If we make a policy commitment to support and accelerate the penetration of renewable energy systems into the economy, instead of throwing up roadblocks and objections on all fronts, we could jump start a period of prosperity and sustainable enterprise that will lead the world.

Change the laws to stabilize the tax incentives and investment incentives for the renewable energy industry.  No emerging industry will thrive in an uncertain regulatory environment, where the rules change each year and vary vastly from state to state! Shift the subsidies and tax advantages from fossil fuels to renewable systems to fund the emerging and growing technologies.  We know climate change is caused by burning fossil fuels, so it makes no sense as a public policy in the public interest to continue providing $72 billion in subsidies for fossil fuel industries. Especially since much of that benefit accrues to multinational corporations who do not necessarily invest their earnings here.

The choices we have to make are not limited by technology.  We have lots of technology to do many things from the simple to the extreme.  The question is, just because we can, whether we should pursue extreme fossil development.  We can make choices that have more favorable consequences for our life support system.

Look at your own energy supply this month.  How can you reduce your own footprint, and shift your electric supplier to renewable fuels? Make a commitment to start now!

 


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A Reflection on the “Energy for the Power of 32” Conference

Energy for the Power of 32 Conference was organized to establish a baseline and catalyze a regional energy plan and strategy for the 32 contiguous counties encompassing western Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.  The preparations included a regional compilation of the Energy Flows in a Sankey diagram of Production, Consumption, Net Imports/Exports, and Losses.  the full report and analysis can be found at www.energy4p32.org

Regional Energy Flow showing Production, Consumption, Net Imports/Exports, and losses is a critical starting point for analysis. The three issues that emerge from this set of data are:

  1. the dominance of coal for electricity generation and as an export product
  2. Net exports (1,470 Trillion Btu) far exceed the regional consumption of energy for all uses (520 trillion Btu).
  3. The largest sources of “Unused Energy” result from electricity generation and transportation, Both sectors rely predominantly on technologies from the 1800’s- the Rankine cycle thermoelectric steam turbine and the internal combustion engine.

Data showing the global context creating an impetus for a change in our energy system was not allocated to a regional profile. Data adapting the EPA Sankey diagram on greenhouse gas emissions[1] to a regional profile would be helpful in isolating principal targets for change. Coal combustion for generating electricity is the most significant source of greenhouse gas emissions in the region.

A large data void exists in the failure to present, or even discuss, the ecosystem service components of the economy. There were some presentations about health effects and costs related to loss of productivity associated with pollution. However, the positive attributes derived from ecosystem services such as water purification, oxygen generation, food production through photosynthesis etc were not included. To the extent that the strategic plan seeks metrics and indicators to track economic conditions forward, it is essential to include metrics that reflect the health of the environment, our life support system. Measures for clean air, water quality, soil fertility and species diversity reflect not only quality of life conditions but also the resilience and sustainability of conditions upon which the economy ultimately depends. The failure to consider such parameters in economic development planning has largely contributed to the climate changing circumstances we are facing today. The classic papers of Robert Constanza et al. may be helpful in addressing this critical component of a regional strategic plan.[2] [3]

A second major omission in this discussion may be due to the absence of the presentation on environmental justice that would have been covered by Mustafa Ali. It is critical to recognize that the options for future development in energy are not limited by technology, but must be shaped by choices grounded in the ethics and values of our society. It is an ethical criterion to preserve our life support system for future generations, and indeed this is a part of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Article 1, Section 27, the Environmental Rights Amendment.[4] It is an ethical criterion to transition from a resource extraction based economy to a value adding economy, a legacy of manufacturing and innovation well rooted in our region’s history. It is an ethical criterion to establish conditions that reflect social equity among workers past and future. It is an ethical criterion to plan for a healthier solution to our energy requirements than we have done in the past.

Establishing an energy system that provides for a robust economy requires that we recognize the absolute need to rapidly move away from burning fossil fuels, in all aspects of our economy. In our region, the conditions are not favorable to take maximum advantage of the natural flows of renewable and sustainable energy. The myth that renewable energy is insufficient to serve our needs must be addressed directly. The flow of solar energy to the surface of the earth exceeds our current and projected needs by many orders of magnitude. [5] The energy uses in the region for all sectors – residential, commercial, industrial and transportation – require only 520 trillion Btu. The Unused (wasted) portion to deliver this amount of energy in useful form 1,400 trillion Btu, represents the compelling reason to change our system. If we focus on the work that needs to be delivered, rather than the replacement of the fuels that are mostly being wasted in the current system, the options are far more exciting.

WindStax Vertical turbine- Made in Pittsburgh

WindStax Vertical turbine- Made in Pittsburgh

The work of Lovins et. al. illustrate ample ways to move toward a much less wasteful energy system focus on suiting the energy source to the energy need, and addressing appropriate technologies for the task.[6] Thus as a goal, buildings will operate in net zero profile for energy, water and waste. We have current illustrations for the realistic achievability of this approach in the Phipps Living Building example, and even retrofit examples in the innovation workplace. [7] [8]

Transportation systems will require two types of transition first, to renewable fuels, most likely recovered from wasted food sources, but also new technologies such as methane gas fired or electric engines., ultimately to hydrogen driven systems. Transportation system solutions require better integration of non-mechanized mobility options such as designing communities for easier pedestrian access to services, recreation and workplace centers. Our region was once heavily dependent on pedestrian mobility, as the many remnants of pedestrian stairways testify. Walking distances to transit was normal as recently as 1968.

Industrial and manufacturing sector presents the largest challenge, but also the largest opportunity. As a strategic goal, think about converting the raw export component of the regional economy to value added production where raw materials convert n the regional economy to finished goods. Such activity can occur as part of creating a sustainable stream of energy system supports, including the technology and communication interconnects for a distributed electric system where the load and source are balanced. New categories of utility services emerge from such an inverted paradigm of utility system including DC as well as AC segments, load leveling and voltage regulation , and storage (including not only batteries but fly wheel, compressed ait, pumped hydro storage and chemical phase change crystals.) Making and installing adaptive technologies for existing buildings can also offer increased production opportunities, such as ground source heat pump auxiliary heating/cooling systems that tap into the existing water pipes with external heat exchangers.

Transformation from fossil fueled enterprise to renewable energy flow based enterprise seems daunting and “unrealistic” according to my working group colleagues. But, many times in our history we as a country have taken on major transformations in a very short span of time, often less than a decade. The industrial mobilization that shifted production to make vehicles machines and munitions for World War II happened in a span of three years. The rural electrification of America took only five years. The shift from horse and buggy to automobile took only 20. The shift from regulated communication to unregulated and competitive communications took less than a decade. What is needed in order to mobilize this kind of capability is a clear and urgent motivating force that enables cooperation among competing interests. That force can be national security in time of war, market opportunities opened by innovative technology, or collective moral outrage.

What we cannot lose sight of in this discussion is the essential truth that the climate of the earth is changing rapidly, irreversibly, due to human activity that we can control. If we defer meaningful action to contain the conversion of sequestered carbon into atmospheric carbon dioxide, the atmosphere will no longer support aerobic living organisms…that includes people. A graph projecting 600 to 800 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere was presented as if it were a normal expectation for continued practices. This cannot be construed in any way as “Business as Usual” but as a catastrophe! Every year that we delay in addressing this situation narrows our options and reduces our chances of shifting successfully away from a course of disaster. Because carbon dioxide stays in the atmosphere for 200 years or more, our actions today determine the fate of the unborn generations who have no say in determining their fate. We must consider the legacy we are leaving to them. We have seen the accumulated damages from mining and burning coal for fifty years, including the 3,000 miles of Pennsylvania streams permanently contaminated with acid mine drainage. We must take precautions going forward to preserve, protect and if possible restore the health of the living earth we depend on for our own survival.

As you develop the formal strategic plan for the Power of 32, I urge you to seek out and consider seriously the voices who speak for the living parts of our community, our economy and our selves. If we only focus on the infrastructure and technology, we will not preserve our own survival.

Respectfully submitted,

Patricia DeMarco

[1] EPA greenhouse gas emissions by source http://www.epa.gov

[2] Constanza, Robert et. Al. “The Value of the World’s Ecosystem Services and Natural Capital. Nature. May 15, 1997. Vol 387. Pages 253-260.

[3] Hunter Lovins. Natural Capitalism. 2010. Earthscan. London.

[4] Constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Article 1, Section 27

[5] NASA Chart on energy flow comparisons renewable vs fossil resources

[6] Amory B. Lovins and Rocky Mountain Institute. Reinventing Fire – Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era. 2011. Chelsea Green Publishers. Vermont.

[7] Phipps Living Building see http://www.Phippsconservatory.org

[8] Hartkopf and Loftness – innovation workplace Carnegie Mellon University


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A Plea from the Youth for a Safe Climate Future

19Nov2014

I come from the generation of explosive activists who held sit-ins and teach-ins and street demonstrations for the clean air act, civil rights, women’s rights and opposing war and nuclear power.  We passed many laws through the 1970s addressing the most obvious signs of pollution, and the most egregious of injustices. In most cases, these laws dealt with the symptoms without really changing the underlying problems.  They put corks in the smokestacks, stoppers in the emission pipes and liners in the landfills, but did not address the underlying sources of pollution, or injustice and inequality.

Now we see the accumulated effects of our continued poisoning of the earth.  Even with permits and regulations, the US alone spews 3.6 Billion pounds of toxic materials into the biosphere. (EPA Toxic Release Inventory) Much of this comes from the continued combustion of fossil fuels, especially coal.  The laws of physics and chemistry and the responses of living organisms and ecosystems to this barrage of poison will proceed, with consequences that are not negotiable.  Nature wins, always.  We ignore the evidence of damage at our own peril.

But, we children of the 60s, who now dominate the governance of our country, must take heed to the voices of our children, whether they vote or not! The decisions we make today about our energy use, our ways of using resources and our food supply system determine the fate of millions who are not at the table to speak.  The fate of the unborn generations is in our hands.  Whether our personal ideology includes accepting the evidence of a screaming earth or not, it is prudent to err on the side of caution when dealing with issues with consequences spanning hundreds of years.

Listen to the wisdom of our youth. If we decide to accept the moral obligation to provide for their future, we will treat climate change as the emergency it is.  In the words of Jonas Salk, “We must be good ancestors.”  Preventing the destruction of our fragile life support system is a worthy legacy.

See the letter of the Australian Youth Coalition to the G-20 below, and take heed of their plea.

http://www.aycc.org.au/g20