Leaders from across the entire spectrum are screaming alarm
about global warming. Leaders in the scientific
community (teams from NASA, NOAA, Academics), leaders in actuarial science (unparalleled
outreach from the reinsurance industry), leaders in economics (Nicholas Stern, and
the Economist Magazine), and leaders in morality (Jeffrey Black from United
Church of Christ, Katherine Jefferts Schori from the Episcopal Church) are screaming
alarm. Now it is time for citizens and political
leaders to take action. The United
States now needs leadership from President Obama, Secretary of State Kerry, and
Members of Congress. The citizens of the
United States need to support those politicians in their leadership.
Although we didn’t really understand it for most of the 20th
century, use of fossil fuels for energy is morally wrong. It’s wrong because it harms the earth and
depletes the requirements for life. It’s
wrong because its benefits go to a privileged few while its detrimental consequences
effect the poorest and weakest. It’s
wrong because fossil fuels represent a finite resource. It’s wrong because its enticing benefits have
lulled people around the world to lose sight of the strength we have to live
without dependence on fossil fuels. The
decision on Keystone XL is a chance to do the right thing.
Although the short-term economic benefits of fossil fuels
are tempting, those short-term benefits are far outweighed by the long-term
costs. The use of fossil fuels to date
and the failure to take into account the externalities associated with fossil
fuels has created an enormous economic liability. The service on that liability is reflected in
the current and future costs of extreme weather, resiliency investments, diminished
crop yields, water management, population displacement, military conflict over
scarce resources, and more. The economic
liability already created is overwhelming.
Adding the weight of Keystone XL and increased use of tar sands fuel to
that liability would increase the severity of what is already greatest economic
failure in history.
Although Thomas Edison viewed large scale use of solar energy
as a great technological goal, with the exception of Germany, the world has been
slow to achieve it. Solar power offers
far more energy than the human population of the planet needs. Wind power also offers far more energy than
the human population of the planet needs.
Solar, wind, tidal, hydro, and geothermal offer an abundant energy mix without
the dire effects of fossil fuels. They are waiting to be harvested. Companies with capital to invest should be
managed so that they gain their returns developing these energy technologies of
the future, not flogging the fossil fuel energy technologies of the past.
The special interests and financial power of the fossil fuel
industry have biased The United States political system. As a result The United States has become a
laggard and its policies are shaped to benefit the narrow interests of the
fossil fuel industry. The bias has made
The Unites States and all of its citizens servants of the fossil fuel
industry. It’s time to overthrow that
tyranny. It’s time for the United States
to once again contribute to the world’s moral, economic, and technical leadership.
Daily, and in the mainstream, we are called to reform immoral,
economically-irrational, and technically-backward dependency on fossil fuels. The decision on Keystone XL is an opportunity
to heed the call. The decision on
Keystone XL is a test of our ability to respond to the dire threats of global
warming, and an opportunity to begin setting new moral, economic, and technical
norms, both for policy and for individuals. We need to think boldly, not about what can be
done according to political convenience, but what needs to be done. The Keystone XL is a potential turning point
in a critical journey. For moral,
economic, and technical reasons, it’s time to say no to fossil fuel.
