My Beef with Climate Change

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania recently submitted a Climate Change Action Plan to the public for comments. This plan contains 52 action items that the State intends to implement to save 36% of Green House Gas emissions between now and 2020. As some of you may know, I have a significant image problem concerning the Climate Change debate. I am a student of science, and therefore I know that the entire scientific community now concurs that climate change is occurring according to a warming trend (thus the term “Global Warming”). What very few scientists, and a good chunk of the American public, disagree on is the cause of this change. Most scientists attribute the change in climate to human use of fossil fuels for transportation, home and office climate control, and industrial production. Very few scientists disagree with this assessment, and those that do have the ears of a significantly forceful segment of the media, who in turn have the ears of about 30 percent of Americans. As a result, the terms “Climate Change” and “Global Warming” have become overly politicized to the point that it is very difficult to solve any local environmental problems without the divisive issue wedging a divide.

I believe that consumer excesses, backed by a culture of “Me”, are causing local environmental problems, which all combine together to create the global problem of climate change. If you ask any supporter of the climate change agenda, he or she would likely agree with that assessment, yet the way the issue and its solutions is presented makes it seem as if individual consumer behaviors on the local level are largely irrelevant. The problem with the Climate Change issue is one of marketing, and reflects a complete misunderstanding of human psychology. By and large, people are driven to act locally, because they live and breathe and think locally. There’s a reason why it is said that, “All politics is local.” As much as polar bears look cute and cuddly and most of us feel sorry that they are losing their home, it is difficult to understand that that is connected with my driving habits. If the presenters of climate change information and solutions understood this at all, they would realize that their efforts are working against their goals.

You can read the plan, or at least the parts you are interested in, at the following link:

http://www.depweb.state.pa.us/energy/cwp/view.asp?a=1532&q=539829

You may also comment on the plan by sending an email to epclimatereportcomments@state.pa.us. I thought some of you might be interested in a comment that I sent earlier today:

Thank you for your work in creating this Climate Change Action Plan. I am glad to see that Pennsylvania emits 4% of US GHGs (we are 4% of the population) and that our population growth is greater than our GHG emission growth, but it is disheartening, yet not particularly surprising, to know that we are emitting 1% of the world's GHGs (we are .2% of the world's population). I have been educated as a Smart Growth urban planner, so I will make a couple of comments about the Land Use and Transportation section of the plan.

First, I think we would be doing ourselves a disservice by relying on fuel efficiency standard increases without coupling it with increasing state gas tax rates. There is a phenomenon known as the "rebound effect" in which the consumer cost savings of better fuel efficiency encourages drivers to drive more. Unless CAFE standards are drastically increased from what they are currently, the gains we will make in fuel efficiency will be quickly lost in increased VMT. Thus, our GHG emissions from fuel efficiency will be cancelled out and, likely, increased. The evidence for this phenomenon is not conclusive, yet it is intuitive and well known. One goal that could be used in concert with higher CAFÉ standards to counteract the rebound effect is an increase in the amount of state tax added to gasoline purchases. This approach has worked well in many areas of Europe to discourage people from driving unnecessarily and encouraging them to use public transit and other low-energy transportation options, as well as encouraging municipalities to invest in Smart Growth options. The point here is that fuel efficiency in the absence of higher gas prices and other disincentives for driving will not only counteract your Smart Growth plans but will also nullify GHG emission savings in the long run.

My fear with this document, and the climate change debate as a whole, is that it encourages decision-makers to think of reducing GHGs as the end-goal and not as a byproduct of the end-goal. Personally, I believe the end-goal should be to create vibrant, inclusive, and healthy (economically, environmentally, and human-centered) cities and communities. Gasoline consumption is largely dependent on the design of our cities. Diesel consumption is largely dependent on how much of our materials can be produced and obtained locally. Electricity consumption is largely dependent on the size and efficiency of our buildings. Climate Change is a local problem that has global consequences, and focusing on the global consequences encourages us to take one of two flawed actions: 1) treat the symptoms and not the causes; or 2) completely dismiss the validity of Climate Change because it is presented as too large of an issue to fathom. Overall, you have done a decent job of presenting locally-based solutions, yet the fact that these solutions are presented as Climate Change solutions (no matter how much evidence exists to support those solutions) will largely work against you politically.

Thank you for the opportunity to submit my comments to your plan. I wish you well in passing and especially implementing these actions. For questions or return comments, you may contact me at the address below: