Skip to main content

Half Measures Won't Work

December 22, 2019

Carbon lock-in: technological, economic, political and social forces that make use of fossil energy [seem] natural and taken for granted by households, cities, provinces and countries. The word "forces" might be replaced with the word "habits." Habits like driving half a mile to pick up a gallon of milk. Habits like setting the thermostat at 70 degrees, winter, summer, night and day. Habits like accepting the cost of gassing up your non-hybrid vehicle without a second thought. Habits like re-electing incumbent government officials who vote against environmentally beneficial legislation. Habits like forgetting to recycle your clothes, furniture, books and kitchen utensils.

These habits eliminate the possibility of one day living decarbonized lives, i.e., lives that are not dependent upon fossil fuels. According to two University of Toronto researchers, seeking merely to reduce our carbon footprints will never get us a climate-change-free world. Fossil fuel energy must be eliminated. Matthew Hoffman, professor of political science at University of Toronto, Scarborough, says we kid ourselves by believing that simply reducing emissions will have the desired effect in stopping climate change. While greenhouse gas reductions are an effective transitional step in the direction of eventual elimination of fossil fuels, reduction cannot be looked upon as an end in itself.

Hoffman, who co-authored a study of the subject with Steven Bernstein, a professor of political science at University of Toronto, Mississauga, posits that multilateral treaties signed by governments are not equal to the task of dealing with the multi-level challenge of decarbonization. Nonetheless, some governments have, in fact, taken effective steps toward disrupting carbon lock-in, among them Germany's policy to incentivize renewable energy, and Norway's policy of incentivizing electric vehicles. Other innovations include renewable energy policies, improved city planning, and carbon pricing.

Hoffman maintains that, since the current energy system is so interdependent, disrupting carbon lock-in through policy initiatives could well become a more commonly used method. "Political action will need to be experimental, multi-level and multi-scale to overcome the carbon trap we're in, but at the same time, there are many opportunities," he says. Hoffman further maintains that building political and economic coalitions will lead to the push for broad, sustained change. And remember, not all of these policies need to mandate colossally expensive solutions eliminating greenhouse gases. A policy of planting trees would be a terrific way to get decarbonization underway.



With thanks to Phys.org and Nature Climate Change.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Time to be Scared

November 26, 2018 You've heard by now that the US Global Change Research Program released its Fourth National Climate Assessment last Friday. Scientists are, at last, confident enough to say that climate change is the new reality. How very much I wish they had published this bold assertion many years ago, rather than always being hesitant (" . . . we're 73% sure this could happen . . ."). While I know the politics involved cannot be allowed to sway them, and that scientists are unaccustomed to speaking for the masses, their inability to convince the scientifically uneducated of the value in climate change hypotheses has hurt us all. In any event, they have now spoken up loudly and clearly. According to NOAA, one of the 13 government agencies responsible for the Assessment, we can expect the following, should mitigating actions not be taken immediately: - Human health and safety, quality of life, and economic growth will all suffer.        The 2014 Assessment c...

A Rock and a Hard Place

October 8, 2012 - Such a pickle: we have the coal, but no longer want to burn it.  China wants the coal, but shouldn't burn it because of the resulting air pollution.  Coal mining companies in the U.S. are ready and waiting to ship their coal to China.  Citizens of the U.S. living on its west coast are adamant they want nothing to do with exporting coal.  That includes Oregon Governor John Kitzhaber.  Kitzhaber's April 25 letter to Interior Secretary Ken Salazar expresses his profound skepticism about shipping coal by way of Oregon's ports.  He has requested that a programatic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) first be conducted for all five of the export projects currently being considered, as well as a comprehensive policy review.  Here is part of a press release announcing his letter: "I have concerns about proceeding in this direction [exporting coal to China via Oregon ports] in the absence of a full national discussion about the ramif...