My Thoughts On This: Our Money, Our Mouths, and Our Climate

Our Money, Our Mouths, and Our Climate

Greetings,

I am sending this email to you because you are one of two types of people.

One, you may be someone who I saw changed their email address from the one that was subscribed to my Newsletter. I noticed that when I sent out my last issue. Some of you have retired and congratulations and best wishes on that!

Two, you may be someone recommended by someone leaving my subscription list as someone to send to.

Those of you in the first group will recognize the format and content of this issue which was sent out last week.

For those in the second group, my newsletter is composed of two parts. The first is a number of news items that have "caught my eye" over recent weeks. I make a brief comment on each in the form of a "blurb" and then provide a link for those readers who want to know more.

The other section is an Op Ed on something that I felt compelled to write about. In this Issue, my Op Ed is titled: Our Money, Our Mouths, and Our Climate. You can also look at My Op Eds in past newsletters by using the links to them (and the Titles of what I wrote about) that appear below and at the end of the newsletter.

If you don't want to receive this from me going forward, please use the unsubscribe button at the end of the newsletter. But you may find that this is a bit different from other things you receive, and you may find it to be useful, if not quite interesting. You may enjoy staying on my list.

Thanks for taking the time to check this out!

Best,

Dan

_____________________________________________________

If you were forwarded this email, click the button below to sign up to receive these Newsletters.

Join Our Email List

______________________________

_____________________________________________________

Links to Past Issues:

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar And Talk About Energy

Are you Ready to Test Your Climate Vocabulary?

A Different Kind of Message From the Climate Scientists

Climate Fiction and Climate Reality

Thoughts on Climate Descendants

Emissions as a Choice in Flying

The Forgotten Climate Holiday in April (not Earth Day)

Climate Change and the Snail Darter

St. Patrick's Day and Climate Change

Charging My Car in Manhattan

Step Into These Shoes Wearing a Climate and Energy Hat

Resilience Recognition is Rising - But There is That Other Thing

There is no "O" in Climate Change

It was an Instagram COP - And I am Finally OK with That

How to Talk About Climate With Your Crazy Uncle at Thanksgiving

Monty Python and Climate Change

What You Need to Know About NIMBYism

H mm..So How Much Did My Heat Pump Really Cost?

What it Means to Be a Climate Voter

The Climate Conundrum of Air Conditioning

Predictions Made About Utilities Made 10 Years Ago - How Did They Hold up?

My Vote For The Most Under-Appreciated Impact of Climate Change

10 Things I Should Have Written About

So I Went to the COP - Here Are My Top 10 Takeaways.

Efficiency and Clean Energy - Faster vs More

Efficiency & Clean Energy - More vs. Faster

It's Time For A Climate Vote - On the Record

Good COP, Bad COP .....Thoughts Before Glasgow

One of These Things is Not Like the Others

What I Should Have Written About

The Serenity of Being a Climate Voter

_____________________________________________________

Some Things That Caught My Eye ...

This City Floods a Lot and has Sued the Oil & Gas Industry Because of it.

The city is not Miami, where “Sunny Day” floods regularly occur due to king tides and sea level rise. It is Charleston, S.C. And I had no idea how much it floods until reading this. The (unlocked) article notes other similar lawsuits and gives a good, readable description of the arguments each side is making.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/29/climate/charleston-flooding-climate-lawsuit.html?unlocked_article_code=1.LE8.WnY9.v__fYNFR_ISI&smid=url-share

Coastal Flooding Related to Sea-Level Rise may be Worse Than Thought

Sea level rise in the U.S. Southeast is among the fastest of any region in the world. This unlocked article highlights new research that shows that the actual flooding is worse than thought.

https://wapo.st/3FnulGF

A Supreme Court Decision Leans in the Direction of More Rapid Action to Get Things Done

Some of you may remember my Op Ed where I talked about how I was willing to risk a limited amount of species impact – or even elimination to move a clean energy project forward given where we are on the emissions reduction timeline. I wish that were not the case, but I believe it is. A fresh ruling (8-0) by the U.S. Supreme Court is in that vein as it addresses how the implementation of one of the bedrocks of environmental law – the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA) requires some modification to not be overly obstructive.

https://thehill.com/regulation/court-battles/5323635-supreme-court-environmental-reviews/?email=467cb6399cb7df64551775e431052b43a775c749&emaila=12a6d4d069cd56cfddaa391c24eb7042&emailb=054528e7403871c79f668e49dd3c44b1ec00c7f611bf9388f76bb2324d6ca5f3&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=05.29.25 -- Energy %26 Environment -- RF

https://www.vox.com/scotus/414856/supreme-court-seven-county-eagle-railroad-abundance?ueid=1a9879292cf708655369e57c2f0d1aec&utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Today%2C Explained 5/30/25&utm_term=Sentences

With Electricity Demand Suddenly Rising Rapidly, At Least We Have Turbines, Transformers on the Shelves …Wait, What?

Supply and demand principles exist in the electricity sector just like everywhere else, and that is especially true when it comes to big-ticket, capital-intensive items. Manufacturers, like everyone else, have been caught a little short by the sudden and rapid increase in demand led by AI and Data Centers.

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/reshore-electrical-equipment-backlogs-transformer-breaker-nema/749265/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue: 2025-05-29 Utility Dive Newsletter %5Bissue:73595%5D&utm_term=Utility Dive

The Norwegian Paradox – The EV Edition

In spite of cold and range issues, 90% of new car sales in Norway in 2024 were EVs. So far this year, it is up to 97%. EV prices are competitive if not low, thanks to a transfer of funds Norway earns for being the largest oil & gas producer in Europe.

https://wapo.st/4kM5tHG

A Big Oil & Gas Companies Has a New Business Unit to Build Gas Power Plants for Data Centers

In a world where business decisions were driven by climate policy, it seems you would not find a company starting an entire new business unit based on building gas-fired power plants for data centers. In our present world, however …

https://www.axios.com/2025/05/29/chevron-data-center-natural-gas-plans

We’ll Hit 1.5 Degrees in 2040 – Wait, I mean 2030-35 – Wait, I Mean 2027 ….

The World Meteorologist Association keeps having to erase its projections, and for all practical purposes, declares that we are already at a 1.5 degree Celsius rise and headed far beyond. Moreover, climate scientists and other experts, as well as many on Wall Street, are skipping right over 2.0 degrees and talking about when we get to 2.5 or 3.0. Remember -the scale of temperature to impacts is not linear and going from 2.0 to 3.0 is a big deal.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2025/05/29/15degrees-celsius-world-meteorological-organization/

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/05/29/get-ready-for-years-of-killer-heat-top-forecasters-warn-00372231

So – How Many Data Centers Will Actually Get Built?

It is hard to believe estimates and predictions because so very many turn out to be wrong. Right now, in the energy and climate space, predictions on growth in demand from Data Centers are up to bat in a game with high stakes. Utilities are talking about (and planning to build) new gas-fired power plants. But they don’t want to be stuck with stranded investment if the demand forecasts are faulty. And from a climate standpoint, building a new power plant that will burn fossil fuel for the next 20-30 years becomes an issue – or at least it should.

https://www.utilitydive.com/news/a-fraction-of-proposed-data-centers-will-get-built-utilities-are-wising-up/748214/?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue: 2025-05-23 Utility Dive Newsletter %5Bissue:73411%5D&utm_term=Utility Dive

Who Will Pay for Grid Upgrades That Are Necessary for Data Center Growth?

One of the reasons that the electricity sector is so highly regulated is that the electricity system is made up of common goods, i.e. things that everyone shares and thus everyone should pay for. But it is not as simple as that when you have large corporations and individual customers using the same wires. That is where ratemaking comes in, with regulators deciding how to apportion costs in different ways to different classes of customers. That issue is now front and center when it comes to meeting the sudden, rapid increase in demand.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/16/business/energy-environment/data-centers-utilities-electricity-bills.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue: 2025-05-23 Utility Dive Newsletter %5Bissue:73411%5D&utm_term=Utility Dive

This State is Taking Steps to Host More Nuclear Plants

There was a time not too long ago where the last thing a state would want to do it try to attract more nuclear power. But that was then, and this is now, and nuclear has new “cred” from an emissions and reliability standpoint, and New Jersey is stepping out.

https://insideclimatenews.org/news/27052025/new-jersey-doubles-down-on-nuclear-energy/?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9YEj3JpuHYIG6ndBd-QYf_iJZ3rFK8Gz6bfdvdoUN0AvMN2CQ7Q0sLRlFmrRmgmy_z1HM52ygqWqb9I65_SJcc5WKA-A&_hsmi=363623559&utm_content=363623559&utm_source=hs_email

This State, Like Others, is Taking Over on Solar Siting

Which level of government gets to decide on what kind of issue has always been a challenge, especially in the system of Federalism that governs the U.S. No government likes to be forced to do something by a larger, broader government entity that it believes should be a more local-driven decision.

There is no clearer case of this conundrum than with the siting of renewable energy projects (including battery projects). In many cases the NIMBY banner has given way to that of the BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone) syndrome. But having enough electricity – and especially carbon-free electricity is something that may tilt the decision-making upward, as has happened in Maryland.

https://www.wboc.com/news/maryland-solar-bill-sparks-backlash-from-local-leaders-activists/article_8aba092a-b9a6-46fe-9dc2-a6b524e71e88.html?utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8SuxuiDpexZbH21S1xS1Z0CL40_UHTRwDzD_DsqbjN9ljvHkmBGAGehPlAQtvEQwolqvouVXb49qrN008aYeaMGMJIow&_hsmi=363623559&utm_content=363623559&utm_source=hs_email

Is This the Best Level of Government for Addressing Climate?

Cities and other forms of local governments have a lot of power to reduce emissions, in areas ranging from buildings (e.g. building codes) to transportation (e.g. mass transit). They also are closer to citizens in terms of helping citizens. And (at least theoretically) they can act faster than the levels of government above them.

https://grist.org/cities/mayors-climate-action-personal-cleveland/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

https://www.thecity.nyc/2025/05/27/cool-roofs-paint-climate-change/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=beacon

Running Out of Colors for the Famous Stripes

In my opinion, one of the best depictions of global warming is the famous “Stripes” graph, where you can see the color blue used for years past and the color red used as things have gotten warmer. With recent years breaking all sorts of records for warmth (2024 being the hottest ever recorded) the creator of the Stripes has had to use such a dark red for these years that it almost looks black. He has said that he may need to recalibrate his original color scheme.

https://journals.ametsoc.org/view/journals/bams/aop/BAMS-D-24-0212.1/BAMS-D-24-0212.1.xml?tab_body=pdf&utm_campaign=heatmap_am&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_FCmGnH7QyjJu8IIfi4vmVDqU-CsnN7GqLgG0AplDncNfA_PgafaM4mwcqkxZw39RDRky5O3eoEkWBXMlXDTv8hdqTtg&_hsmi=363621054&utm_content=363621054&utm_source=hs_email

https://www.fastcompany.com/91339154/this-viral-climate-graphic-just-got-a-troubling-update?utm_campaign=heatmap_am&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9_PO7MhN7su3MLrwhFgKeuXTzz1djphc6roTYRBjWp0kkmS6ltIlDsBuBStsVaNEehF33cm8WOlrG0O4zfNpTykRJ8Ow&_hsmi=363621054&utm_content=363621054&utm_source=hs_email

Are Climate Advocates Realizing That Protests Will Not be Enough?

There is a growing acceptance that protests, including those focused on climate, are not being effective enough. Here is an article that talks about what some are doing instead.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/mar/08/a-new-phase-why-climate-activists-are-turning-to-sabotage-instead-of-protest?utm_term=6813543605e74053e2e70c2f9383a74c&utm_campaign=DownToEarth&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=greenlight_email

A Reminder That We Need to Keep Thinking About Methane, i.e. the Gas That is Responsible for 30% of Warming

Once upon a time in the era of global warming, methane was hardly talked about. Then it was discovered how much more potent it is than CO2. This new Report from the International Energy Agency shows that methane reductions still need to be considered a threat to reaching climate-related goals.

https://www.iea.org/reports/global-methane-tracker-2025?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top

Wait … What? Western U.S. Geothermal can Produce Power the Equivalent of 10% of the U.S. Power Supply?

Over the past year, I have learned a lot about Utility-Scale Geothermal Energy, and its use in Power Plants. From my standpoint, it offers expansion opportunities and should be able to help out in serving data center load.

https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-agency-says-geothermal-energy-nevadas-great-basin-could-play-larger-role-2025-05-22/

Over 30 States Have Hydrogen Deposits Underneath Them?

I must admit, this story caught me a bit by surprise. When I have had to talk about the promise of Hydrogen over the past few years, I almost always stressed that it has to be created since it only occurs naturally in a few places. But maybe there was not enough incentive to look?

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43017-025-00670-1

Data Center NIMBYism is Different

As you know, I have been very focused on how NIMBYism may be threatening our ability to develop carbon-free electricity sources. But of course it is not just power plants that spur local resistance. No one wants anything. And that includes data centers – which are a whole new species when it comes to local impacts.

https://heatmap.news/energy/indiana-data-center-backlash?utm_campaign=heatmap_daily_paid&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_LjyZQ_0Ivg6ocIHCELIqS5RF5Kb5W9yCrbRPUGZQPANUAlHVLwu3Apv4xNIbcPI_-QUY95JZk3TpAwtzweolWbamJBA&_hsmi=359058316&utm_content=359058315&utm_source=hs_email

https://www.latitudemedia.com/news/utilidata-and-nvidia-are-eyeing-smart-meters-for-ai-servers/?utm_campaign=The Latitude Daily&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_hVKv1hEmn0aaEULj5lWsiDAFmyOh7O7r20RoAoYJC6mGID6NXA8V62374fvrN4q_F1EpMpb_8TnFxt6d6sP_dYTcrQg&_hsmi=359052944&utm_content=359052944&utm_source=hs_email

Smart AI Chips in Formerly Dumb Grids

Work on making the electricity grid “smart’ began decades ago. Some of the steps for doing that were software related and some – like smart meters – were physical modifications. But the injection of “smartness” has been slow. The new kid on the block – AI – may speed things up.

https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/climatetech-finance/ai-grid-utilidata-nvidia?amp%3Butm_medium=email&amp%3Butm_campaign=canary&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-83XSKGdlwkojGALaTG6AW-FJeIAfMUN97Mn5bS7tzu_ygOVZpuNQ2PC_NtFaaA8_J3I9HE9V8ggy_OENxTQO7tCQJiTg&_hsmi=358993813&utm_source=newsletter

Wouldn’t You Like to Know if Extreme Weather was Headed Your Way?

I still think that the message has not gotten through to people that Extreme Weather events are here to stay due to global warming, and that some of them will happen without a lot of notice (such as the many local deluges of multiple inches of rain in just a few hours). But we should be improving our monitoring and warning efforts, not decreasing them.

https://grist.org/extreme-weather/the-kentucky-tornadoes-spur-mounting-anxiety-over-weather-service-warning-systems/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

You Hear About the Importance of Critical Minerals, But how Much do you Know About Them

If you were asked to name five “critical” minerals, would you be able to do so? Or even what they do? This IEA Report will give you a good overview and more if you want more.

https://www.iea.org/reports/global-critical-minerals-outlook-2025?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top

Wait … What? Melting of Icecaps is Already Baked in?

Don’t take the fact that this item is mixed in with all the other things that “caught my eye” to mean it is just another "blurb". This one is big – and serious. Understanding the lag between warming and impact, and the idea of impacts being “baked in” is key to understanding the threat of climate change. This latest research indicates there may have been more baking than thought.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02299-w?utm_campaign=heatmap_am&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--f7_siduheBW21rGWUNmbn0aLjkY46BjijarmesEqSPqf9YE3DC1CizCI8P6nPtgAn_-iErHD7If7Fn_z0sZ04EW3DJQ&_hsmi=362544702&utm_content=362544702&utm_source=hs_email

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/may/20/sea-level-rise-migration?utm_term=682f03b38c3bf56d6ab231e2ce8fbef7&utm_campaign=DownToEarth&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=greenlight_email

So … What’s the Situation With Data Centers Elsewhere in the World?

Data Centers, Data Centers, Data Centers – the new focal point for seemingly any discussion of the electricity system and electricity generation. Is the U.S. the only country having to deal with this issue?

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/may/22/datacentre-drought-chinese-social-media-supercomputers-brazil-latin-america?utm_term=682f03b38c3bf56d6ab231e2ce8fbef7&utm_campaign=DownToEarth&utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&CMP=greenlight_email

So EV Drivers, Like Regular Drivers, Will Drive Out of Their Way for Lower Prices?

We all know people who think nothing of driving a few miles more to get to a gas station where the price per gallon is a few pennies less. Well, apparently that syndrome is playing out when it comes to EV drivers when they are not charging at home.

https://subscriber.politicopro.com/article/eenews/2025/05/22/ev-drivers-desire-for-cheap-juice-could-help-renewables-study-00361272

The Gridmeister Weighs in on This Coming Summer’s Electricity Situation

Utilities and Grid Operators across the country are pleading with their regulators to add generating capacity to avoid problems this summer. Here is what the North American Reliability Corporation, the non-profit with nationwide reliability responsibility, has said.

https://www.nerc.com/news/Headlines DL/05142025 SRA Announcement Final.pdf?&utm_campaign=Newsletter&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-8CIEPdT0PI_2ZPvUXoB3oV-tHeBNNUDNPqtQZaK0n_Z87TSO7qQ2QZDQhi2ldN0DzvLEBazSRRErwpIqhdpCCQ4gBxLw&_hsmi=361644250&utm_content=361644250&utm_source=hs_email

A List you Have Probably Seen Before, but it’s Good see it Every Once in a While

It is almost a certainty that at this point you are experiencing at least one of these climate impacts, but there may be many others coming your way.

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2478856-the-everyday-ways-climate-change-is-already-making-our-lives-worse/

A Good Way of Seeing That Climate Impacts Have Already Happened – Shifting Plant Zones

We can all feel rising temperatures, but you can’t see heat. What is possible to see is how the plant kingdom is reacting to global warming. Things are growing where they didn’t used to and not growing where they did.

https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/shifting-planting-zones-2023

https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/warming-planting-zones-2025?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosgenerate&stream=top

Plants Aren’t the Only Things Moving to New Places

Ticks have been moving northward for a long time due to their ability to survive what are warmer winters than before. They are not just bring Lyme Disease.

https://grist.org/health/babesiosis-mid-atlantic-delaware-maryland-virginia-tick-borne-disease-lyme-research/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=daily

____________________________________________________

gotten limaNot Ea Da

Our Money, Our Mouths, and Our Climate

I must reluctantly admire the PR people that work for the fossil fuel industry. In an effort right out of Mad Men, they came up with the idea of a carbon footprint and have used that concept to make many consumers think that it is primarily our responsibility to reduce carbon emissions. Given that the vast majority of emissions come from less than 100 companies and given that even if every consumer created a perfect carbon footprint it would not be enough to do what must be done, you have to give them credit. Their emphasis on personal consumer responsibility has helped them avoid collective efforts by all of us to force them to reduce emissions.

But is a personal carbon footprint not important at all?

I constantly get asked, especially when I do listener call-in shows on WAMC-NPR, what a person should personally do to address climate change. The first thing I always say is to cast their votes based on climate change, and what policies a candidate will follow on that front. The second is to simply talk about climate with one’s friends, neighbors, family, etc. I don’t mean intensive and combative debates – just have it be a topic now and then. It is difficult to reconcile complex, multi-faceted things alone in one’s mind but when you talk with other people it helps you do that, and you also help other people understand things they didn’t.

The third thing I say is to lower your carbon footprint.

Wait, Dan … What? I thought you started off this piece by saying that a carbon footprint was akin to a Jedi mind trick by the big emitters. I thought you said that personal carbon footprints would never add up to enough of an impact?

Not exactly – at least I didn’t mean to imply that. I was simply saying that we can’t get carried away with the idea of a carbon footprint as being the primary source of emission reductions. That doesn’t mean we all don’t need to pitch in.

And we are not doing that.

I see many people who have a chance to reduce their emissions that pass on that opportunity and instead make a choice that continues their use of carbon fuels instead of choosing a more carbon-free option.

Let me use EVs as an example of this.

One of the ironies of the EV world is that we were all conditioned early on to worry about range, i.e. how many miles you can go on a full charge without re-charging. But I know for a fact, having had an EV for a few years, that range is over-rated. It is the location and dispersal of charging stations that matter. Because if on those few occasions where you have to drive more than 250 miles a day, you want a charging station on your route that you can conveniently and quickly pull in and out of. And those charging stations are multiplying. I can testify to that as someone who frequently drives between VT, NYC, and DC.

But there is another important factor when it comes to charging. You want to charge overnight at your house. When you can do that, you wake up every morning with the equivalent of a full tank of gas in your car.

If you can’t have your own charger, or some kind of dedicated charging station for your building or lot or whatever, then that is a different question regarding your compatibility with an EV. It may work for you but you should otherwise at least buy a hybrid.

If you can charge at your house and you don’t drive more than 250 miles a day, and – importantly – you consider yourself a supporter of climate action when asked - you should probably not be buying a conventional internal combustion auto (ICE) auto if you need a new car. You also should not be buying a hybrid. You don’t need to hedge your bet with one of the latter. You should go straight to an EV and live happily ever after. And I mean that last point - if you think you are making a sacrifice to go to an EV, you have not tried an EV.

Of course, I know a major purchasing decision can be more complicated that what I just laid out. I realize that price can be a factor, and unfortunately the price of EVs may be effectively higher than it would have been if the $7500 tax credit goes away via current Congressional activity. However, EV prices are dropping around the world, and they will do that in the U.S. as well.

Remember that I said I was using EVs as an example of the point I am trying to make. And that point is that I am seeing a lot of people that I know who meet the EV-buying criteria I listed above who are not buying an EV and instead buying another gasoline-powered auto.

I think this is an example of several syndromes. One is the average person's inability to hold climate and carbon emissions in our head at the same time when we are making purchasing decisions based on all sorts of other historical and conventional tendancies. Another is the default psychological mindset that pushes us to not take a carbon-reducing action if we sense it is too inconvenient or too costly (without having really looked into it or run the numbers). Yet another is the thought that it will be an EV next time I buy a car.

I could instead have used home heating and cooling as an example of my point. When I see people who need a new furnace or heating system installing a gas one instead of a heat pump, I find myself saying to myself “why did they knowingly lock themselves into fossil fuels for years and years to come when I know they totally and vocally acknowledge the climate crisis and totally support action to reduce emissions.

I am not talking about going out and buying a carbon-free “something” just to do reduce emissions, although in some cases that may make sense. But our regular product replacement purchasing behavior is different. It needs to defer to reducing emissions.

We have run out of runway in terms of addressing what is no longer a climate crisis but instead a climate emergency. We have passed a rise of 1.5 degrees Celsius and climate experts now nonchalantly talk about getting to 2.5 or 3.0 degrees. We are not in a situation where we can take a carbon-reducing action the next time we buy something – especially if the item being purchased is going to be around for many, many years. We need to take that step now.

As I said at the outset, we are not going to win the climate war via a mass reduction in personal carbon footprints. We have to make the big emitters reduce. But we can make a dent, and our personal reductions will be meaningful - just look at the success of appliance standards and energy star. I think we will lose the war if reducing our footprints doesn’t become a cultural norm.

And when an action to reduce our footprint is right in front of us as we make a purchasing decision one can’t choose the fossil option and at the same time talk about how they support climate action and how much they are concerned about climate impact. One shouldn’t say one thing and then do another.

We are all soldiers in the climate war whether we like it or not. The least we can do is put our money where our mouths are and not miss opportunities for carbon reductions when they are right in front of us.

_____________

If you were forwarded this email, click the button below to sign up to receive these Newsletters.

Join Our Email List

_______________________

Links to Past Issues:

Two Guys Walk Into a Bar And Talk About Energy

Are you Ready to Test Your Climate Vocabulary?

A Different Kind of Message From the Climate Scientists

Climate Fiction and Climate Reality

Thoughts on Climate Descendants

Emissions as a Choice in Flying

The Forgotten Climate Holiday in April (not Earth Day)