A Primer on Stop Global Warming

The climate is changing, and we're holding the bag. Simply put, nearly every action we take on the average day, from cooking eggs for breakfast, to watching "Project Runway" after dinner, relies on electricity created by burning carbon-rich coal or oil. Burning these fossil fuels releases heat-trapping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, particularly carbon dioxide. Because of all this frenetic burning of fuel that's taken place since the dawn of the Industrial Revoltion, the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has increased to the point that the planet's overall surface temperature is rising. Needless to say,this is disrupting the delicate conditions that support reasonably predictable conditions for life on Earth.

Energy and Industrial Life: Not An Easy Thing To Change

This deeply scary proposition would seem to be enough to spur some action once it was understood. But the immense amount of energy we get from coal and petroleum is at the foundation of modern industrial civilization; in the past half-century, they've become crucial to industrialized agriculture as well. Transforming this infrastructure is an immense -- if exciting -- proposition. Plus, oil and coal are two of the most phenomenally lucrative business endeavors in recorded history. The corporations that make money from them are powerful and change-averse players in politics, media, and big business.

But to at least stall the process of climate change, if not stop it, we need to fundamentally transform of how we generate and use energy.

Happily, there are many options: solar and wind power generation; geothermal projects; harnessing the kinetic energy of ocean waves and underwater currents; creating fuel from plant materials ("biofuels") instead of petroleum; and more. But how to implement these technologies at scales that will support industrial society; and, how to reduce the costs to the point that they are as affordable as dirty energy has been?

The Myth of Affordability

Fossil fuels would not look so cheap if we factored their economic harms directly into how we price energy. Airborne soot (one byproduct of burning coal and gasoline) both causes and intensifies asthma, and children lose over a million school days a year to asthma. Mercury pollution from coal-fired power plants harms children and the environment; oil spills can devastate the environment and economy of coastal communities.

Backlash and the Kyoto Accord

Scientists, journalists, and policy makers attempting to raise the alarm about global warming were barely acknowledged in the 1990's, even though the assertively anti-conservationist policies of the Regan administration in the 1980's led to a mainstream pro-green backlash. But climate change was on the international front burner: in 1992, an agreement to study and act on the problem was created at the United Nations "Earth Summit" in Rio de Janeiro. At a similar meeting in Kyoto in 1994, an action plan was created -- the Kyoto Accord – setting greenhouse gas limits and reduction targets for participating nations.

The Kyoto Accord -- the most far-reaching environmental treaty in history -- was adopted by nearly all the world's nations on July 25, 2001.

But despite overwhelming international support, the Clinton administration did not send the Kyoto Accord to Congress for ratification, terming it a "fatally flawed" agreement because it did not cap emissions from developing nations, including up-and-coming powerhouses like India and China, even as it imposed caps and thus potential economic harm on the United States. (The George W. Bush administration would echo the sentiments of the Clinton White House when it too rejected the accord.)

Even Kyoto's strongest supporters acknowledge that its mandates are not ambitious enough. With Kyoto expiring in 2012, an international effort is already underway to draft a new global warming treaty by the end of 2009.

With or Without You: The American Public Starts to Get It

Meanwhile, global warming has finally become a front-page story in the United States, despite the snail-like pace of its federal government. 850 mayors in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have voted to support the Kyoto Accord, representing nearly 80 million citizens. Many states have formed regional initiatives to cut carbon emissions. And 2008 has even witnessed a rare Congressional debate on a global warming bill, widely considered a prelude to regulating carbon emissions in the next presidential administration.

The lack of federal action hasn't stopped "green" from surging into the mainstream consumer economy, either, thanks to fast-growing demand for safer and healthier goods -- as well as the growing interest of designers and manufacturers. Car dealers can't stock enough hybrid gas-electric cars, and organic is the fastest-growing sector of the food industry. Target sells organic cotton baby toys and bed sheets, and Home Depot is stocking sustainably harvested timber. People are even greening their sex lives.

Meanwhile, activists are trying to seize the moment, with some marrying community organizing to new tools -- from viral video to text messaging -- to bring about political change.