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Is Changing Climate Changing You?

AIR DATE: Thursday, January 31st 2008
POSTED BY: EMILY HARRIS
Download the mp3 for this show.
Photo credit: 604 Plonker / Flickr / Creative Commons

What are you doing to stop global warming? More interestingly for this hour: in the words of a therapist, how does that question make you feel? Do you roll your eyes? Do you feel confident that recycling, biking, and swapping your incandescents for fluorescents will do enough to change the planet? Do you figure the problem is too big -- and you live inland anyway? Or does the whole thing just depress you?

Lewis and Clark economics professor Eban Goodstein decided a big conversation about climate change would be a good thing. Dreaming in their attic office, he and his wife imagined students nationwide in a focused discussion about how to stop the planet from uncontrollably heating up. Their dream will become a reality on Thursday, January 31st, and OPB is broadcasting one such conversation -- students questioning elected officials about climate change policy.

Think Out Loud is looking back and forward. What did it take for climate change to move from scientific research to a laden political debate to a constant refrain? Is it a mainstream movement in the US yet? What will it take to move on to action to really chop carbon emissions? Do past movements -- for civil rights, say, or for clean rivers -- offer any insights?

The most interesting thing Eban told me when we briefly talked this week is that he wants to steer the message now away from individual responsibility. "This is not about not driving to work," he said. "We keep it away from the personal choices that make people despair."

Are you despairing? Disinterested? Or doing something?

GUESTS:

Tagged as: change · climate

Photo credit: 604 Plonker / Flickr / Creative Commons

This comment has been removed by the TOL staff.
egolts —
My optimistic idea to help out the global warming situation is to have the inmates in our prison system get involved on a voluntary basis, or perhaps as a work release basis to have them get out into the dumps and actually take care of seperating the items that can be recycled or reused and get these things recycled or reused. To have the inmates do some good for the planet while serving their time might give them an idea of ownership on the earth and help take care of a problem that nobody else wants to take care of. I can see a lot of potential issues with this idea, but I can also see a lot of good it could do.
Matilda —
Inmates to work....this is an idea I have been preaching for years. Not only to sift through garbage, but to clean sidewalks, dig drainage ditches etc. I would also have them paint the curbs where necessary, and generally work off their time in the institution. They have forgone their rights as a citizen, and thus we should exploit that by putting them to work in unsavory tasks so that they can really think about their actions. We have a largely untapped resource here!
hurtstick —
Considering the immensity of the climate change challenge, it's very easy to despair. However, I usually manage to counter this by taking action in the political sphere. This means working hard to elect candidates- usually Democrats- who I believe can make a difference. I also try to live my personal life in a way that minimizes my carbon footprint without totally screwing up my quality of life.

I also try to keep abreast of developments in the field of renewable energy that show promise to alleviate global warming and I propagate the news of such developments among my friends and my elected representatives. Some recent examples are the January Scientific American article "A Solar Grand Plan": http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=a-solar-grand-plan
and Berkeley, California's innovative plan to finance solar rooftops:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/10/26/MNAIT0DQO.DTL

I also think we need to keep in mind Michael Shellenberger's idea which is that attacking global warming is not only a daunting challenge, but a tremendous opportunity to create millions of good jobs and to revitalize our material and spiritual well-being: http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2005/01/13/doe-reprint/
littm10 —
To me, we can all be part of the solutions needed that will bring ourselves, our communities & our planet back into a place of balance. This is not about being "in despair" this is about being "empowered". By reconnecting to community, increasing our knowledge of the both the causes of our enviromental challenges as well as solutions we can make informed choices that reflect our intentions for a better world on many levels.

I just heard about David Gershon, founder & CEO of Empowerment Institute on the program New Dimensions. (aired 1/27/08 at 3am on opb radio) The program is titled:

A Practical and Accessible Strategy on Global Warming.
This program is very timely & directly related to today's topic.
His website is http://www.lowcarbondiet.net/

We all have the capacity to be the change we want to see in our world.

So to answer the question for today. . . Yes, I have changed & continue to change as I learn more ways to support postive change. Through focus on local & regional business & organizations, etc., farmers markets w/emphasis on organic produce, mass transit, bike & walking, volunteering w/tree planting- just to name a few areas- I continue to join with others who are chosing to participate to work together for a better world.

We each can and do make a difference.

Thanks for your program & selecting this topic.

beherenow —
Even a big ocean is made of small tributaries flowing into it, I think in the same sense each human if he did his part, we could certainly not avert this global phenomenon but atleast lessen its impact. I think we should first start with the use of just water, an average person in the US consumes close to 100 gallons of water everyday in comparison an average person in Europe consumes about 25 gallons each day, why is there such a huge disparity, I think if everyone questioned themselves how do humans survive everywhere in the world, I think its becomes obvious that as a society we are very wasteful of the resources we have, I think we should first correct these flaws and then preach to the world about the ill effects of global warming.
ravikk —
ravikk has an excellent point about the huge differential in per captia use of water in the US, comparable to our overuse of most other resources. If, as several have suggested, we move to regulating certain building standards to maximize energy conservation, we should not miss the opportunity to also set regulations on methods for water conservation in new and remodelling construction. Requiring new construction to incorporate water saving technologies (e.g., low flow toilets, water flow restrictors, reuse of gray water, and collection of rainwater) should be included in new regulations intended to save energy or we will be slapping ourselves on our collective forehead for having squandered such an opportunity.
dapollack —
I have been writing about global warming in my near future SF for about 15 years and I'm SO glad to see it gain some national attention. But what I worry about is that it's easy to do something small -- use energy efficient light bulbs or cut out a trip in the family SUV and feel complacent. It is going to take a lot of small steps...every one helps, but don't stop there!
Mary Rosenblum —
Please have the discussants incorporate the connections between global warming and energy consumption to the issues associated with water, especially access to potable and irrigation water throughout the world and the need to more wisely use water in the US. Groundwater resources and water policy, even in rain-soaked western Oregon, are limited and we may need to consider more systematically promoting and mandating the use of rainwater to augment our challenged groundwater resources.
dapollack —
As a recent graduate of a Master's program in the physical sciences, I was nearly suffocated with the topic of global warming. Now, rather than accepting the prevailing theories about the science behind global warming, I find myself driven to seek out its flaws. It's now clear to me that the evidence is quite shaky. Nonetheless, I do pursue an environmentally-friendly lifestyle, but I do it in light of the relationships between humans and nature that we better understand.
winnebagos —
Selling your SUV to someone else to purchase a hybrid is simply moving a game piece to another square - giving someone else the problem. It is the solution for folks with money and becomes a status symbol. If you are hardly driving your SUV and sell it to someone who then drives 400 miles per week - did you help or hurt the situation? The only way out is to recycle your SUV into metal and start from scratch - but to put this a bit milder - all cars need to be improved and all low MPG cars will eventually be in metal salvage somewhere. If you hold onto your SUV until it is ready for salvage, don't drive excessive speeds, use alternative modes of transportation when possible, and buy compact fluorescent light bulbs, you are probably the best off.
vetpathpat —
I'm disinterested, because I feel the real problem is over population. And this never gets addressed. Global warming is a side affect. That being said, I really want to put solar panels on my house. I also want to reduce my household over all consumption of energy and consumer products. The government wants to fuel the economy but ignores pollution that causes.
jaikenone —
"I'm disinterested, because I feel the real problem is over population. And this never gets addressed. Global warming is a side affect."

Very astute! You're absolutely correct.
winnebagos —
I do what I can but as a college student I feel like I am limited in time and money to be able to make real changes that have an impact. This makes me feel pretty hopeless. In addition, we have built a fossil fuel driven global economy of consumption, which has been growing for nearly 100 years. I'm all for a massive change in society - I feel like our current obsession with overconsumption is a serious problem and contributes to making our lives completely meaningless. However there are too many of us on the planet who want more and more cheap, worthless goods, and as long as our economies and cultures are based on high consumption levels we will never be able to reduce energy consumption to the point where we as a species can live sustainably. We are too numerous, and we are too greedy.
While I find this all very depressing, I will continue to do what I can to contribute to sustainable living, because I personally care about this lovely blue dot.
mayflyaway —
Also, why are people talking about selling the SUV and buying a hybrid? A) someone else will buy the SUV and it's still a problem for the world and
B) You're still unnecessarily consuming energy because you don't need to drive!
We need to completely shift our way of thinking about life and ways of living.
Live close to where you work and you can walk everywhere. Imagine if kids grew up thinking it was normal to walk everywhere instead of drive everywhere. We'd cut down on rates of obesity and everyone would be consuming less energy as well.
mayflyaway —
You have it absolutely right. Consumption of cheap goods is a major problem. 2/3 of our economy is based on consumer activity (statistic from just post-9/11, when W said that to support our society, citizens needed to go shopping). We import goods from China, exporting the pollution generated in their production to China as well. (Of course, that's where our CF light bulbs come from!) Many people go into debt, trying to buy happiness or keep up with the lifestyles of advertisements, while not actually making themselves happy.
wjw1961 —
Climate change should be changing all of us. One of the simplest things we can all do to make a dramatic change is to eat less meat and dairy! Industrial agriculture is one of the worst culprits of global warming as the research shows and yet few of us discuss how eating more of a plant based diet would positively impact our environment.
bmacveg —
As your caller just stated, It difficult to change a culture when the goverment wont acknowledge it. After Al Gore finally bustered the 'W' bubble he changed his story which I find trully funny that the "decider" changed his views so fast. It goes to show how the US is gear for profit and ease.. I personaly am a bit scared with just the few things I've seen change since I was a kid growing up here in the Pacific NW. It's sad to say but the public has to be forced to change with extra gas taxes and other measures to force a change from our current way of life. On the other hand the goverment needs to make things easier for everyone. It'll create a snowball effect for sure.

I keep trying to stop using plastic bags when I shop. I own about 4 reusable bags but I always forget them. Maybe the store should stop supplying plastic bags?
Dmiller226 —
OK, so we've changed out our incandescent light bulbs for CFCs, added R25 of insulation to the attic and under the floor, and drive a 40 MPG car. We use 100% "blue skies" renewable electricity. We're ALSO trying to eat more of a local and vegetarian diet. Those are the changes we can easily, directly make.

As someone else pointed out, we need to change at a national level. Australia has new laws that will eventually eliminate incandescent bulbs. An easy national change would be to lower speed limits as a means of improving gas mileage.

HOWEVER, just changing direct obvious consumer consumption won't be enough to reduce our consumption to 1/6th of the present level. That's HARD. We have many greenhouse costs that are more hidden. For example, I understand that the production of dry concrete (the mix, not the sidewalk) is the second largest use of energy (behind transportation). Changing that will require a change in construction and architecture. Aluminum production uses huge amounts of energy, as witness aluminum operations located near lignite (soft coal) strip mines.

We must make the small changes AND the big ones as well.
wjw1961 —
We always hear lots of talk about how our children are going to pay the costs and suffer the consequences of our current environmental policies (or lack therof. .) but I think this often falls on deaf ears. It's either too vague or people don't buy it as a typical "liberal" whine. What can be done to demonstrate the actual costs that we are already paying and have been since the industrial revolution? Things like health care, energy, housing, etc. I think if people who insist that it is a problem that has to be dealt with through economics realized the direct economic impact it is already having on them personally, they might start thinking about solutions a bit more.
paulbrainard —
I have been having a public discussion with friends for a few months now and have been frustrated on occasions because I too feel we are too focused on individual action when nothing short of a carbon tax or cap and trade will reduce greenhouse gasses the amount that is needed.

I have found that as a nation we are so "me" oriented that most people get offended when you try and tell them to stop individual action and focus on gov't policy. We all seem to have plenty of energy to do something but the concept of community effort that is so foriegn to this generation of Americans is preventing us from pushing larger scale solutions.

Our next meeting is a McMennimins at Mall 205 Thurs Jan 7 at 7 pm.

Rich Howard
Portland OR
rhoward —
nobody talks about population growth being a factor. if everyone cuts their energy needs in half yet the population doubles, we're still in trouble. any thoughts on this matter?
ziwatt —
On the topic of forcing requirements for green upgrades to homes and buildings, I am all for it. My husband is in a wheelchair and deals with the lack in older buildings of ADA accessibility all the time. Anytime you update an older building it is required to make it accessible (although there are some annoying loopholes here and there) But this requirement is one that architects deal with all the time and although it makes remodeling a space a bit more expensive I don't think I could find a person who would disagree that it is a necessary requirement. Adding building requirements to save the earth for future generation's seems like a no brainer to me.
Jennyfern —
I support your idea with one catch... resistance is everywhere until it hits one in the gut, the personal is still political... I was going to remodel an older home to be a gathering place of sorts... to change the occupancy to accomodate current ADA standards I was told that I had to treat the building like it was new construction and convert all the beautifully trimmed, old doorways to 36 in. openings therefore removing all the vintage charm in the building. How sustainable is that do you think? The conversion was going to cost in the neighbourhood of 80K, I know this because a friend of mine converted a similar building for a retail store on Hawthorne. I had to take my dream and put it in my back pocket. So, no one benefited from my desire to improve this building. Policies are prohibitive and our will to change things is diminishing with every road block.
KylerM —
I am concerned about the changing out of incandescent lightbulbs for the mercury containing alternatives. If you break a fluorescent bulb in your home, you are poisoning your environment in the immediate sense and for the long term. Cleaning up mercury in our daily home/work environment is not easy. It gets little regard. While I am all for reducing energy consumption, I believe that changing to mercury containing CFCs is a huge mistake driven more by corporate interests in the profits than the benefits. There are already better alternatives including LEDs. Mercury is something that we know is bad for us and which sickens plenty of people. It is known to be a problem in our environment world wide. Why on earth would we want to bring it into our homes? And where is the plan for handling the spent CFCs? Each time a CFC is broken, more mercury is released into the environment. It is crazy and wrong.
llamabb —
Mercury is a killer. The amount of mercury found in one tooth filling can contaminate a 20 mile long lake. Tailings from silver mines and cinnabar mines continue to contaminate the surrounding water supplies. Just a little rain on a tailing from these mines converts the mercury to a poison that is
more lethal than that of the mined mercury.
KylerM —
Another area which needs to be addesses in the consumption of consumer electronics (i.e cell phones, I-Pods, printers, monitors, PC's, calculators, etc.). The production of these products uses large amounts of water, petroleum products, and energy to produce. This all contributes to Co2 into our atmosphere. The Developed World/Americans are encouraged to upgrade their electronics to the latest and greatest all the time. What is not discussed is what happens to these products when they are "tossed out." These products contain large amounts of PCBs, Cadmium and other highly toxic materials which when disposed of in landfills and contribute to ground water contamination and toxic fumes going into our air. Unfortunately, most of this waste ends up in landfills in the developing world (China, Asia, Latin America and Africa) where they literally pile these items up and burn them. I have seen this in Latin American.

A change in consumer attitude toward the high consumpion of consumer electronics also needs to be a part of a global climate change policy.
ngibson —
Meat production is the No. 1 cause of global warming! I cite the United Nations report, World Health Organization and University of Chicago reports in 2007, as seen in the New York Times as well. One third of the earth's land, over one half of the earth's water and more petroleum is consumed than the manufacture and use of motorized vehicles, in the production of meat and dairy products. The University of Chicago study found that a person on a vegan diet produces 1.5 tons fewer carbon dioxide emissions each year than the average meat eater, while switching from a gas-powered car to a hybrid only reduces emissions by 1 ton. I've been vegan for 35 years and donated my car to Volunteers of America. I'm asking everyone to Go Vegan on Mondays, since 20% more heart attacks occur on each Monday (verifiable, since the industrial revolution in America!) I'd like to offer my email address to anyone who would like to receive a Vegan Starter Kit and list of veg-friendly restaurants in Portland, or go to connie@idausa.org Do the vegan thing! You can improve your health, stop global warming and reduce the suffering of 50 billion animals each year. With you all the way, VeganSyd
VeganSyd —
It was so refreshing to hear Eban Goodstein's views today regarding the imperative call to action to our policy-makers.

With a growing variety of environmental, social, and ethical problems we are faced with today, one can easily get overwhelmed with how individual actions affect pressing issues, such as climate change.

It's about time we distribute this burden to our policy-makers who can effectively create change on a large scale. True, changing a light bulb is a drop in the bucket, but a stroke of a pen can fill the bucket.
ewhittemore —
HI I am attempting to build new construction using all green building materials, energy star products and finishes that are environmentally sensitive. The high cost for such things is still prohibitive. Having to resort to grants to help pay for these things is also prohibitive. The blue tape inherant in building codes and guidelines has also made my efforts to change almost impossible. Access to green materials and contractors who will use materials that are not yet proven to be sustainable in their quality (ie: cotton installation made from recycled blue jeans which sag inside the walls after time), is also forcing me to return to the drawing board and use materials that are more readliy available. People are still stuck in their old ways. We may have good intention to change but it's still an uphill battle. I am attempting to change my ways with lots of resistance from all directions. Believe me. From the market place to the city government to my neighbors the resistance can be discouraging. Sincerely, K
KylerM —
I'd like to help elect the political candidates, local state and federal, who will do the most for climate change. How do I find those candidates? Are there environmental political action groups I should join or should I research each candidate and support the ones who are the most forward thinking?
harrisor —
After teaching for 35 years and seeing some sad situations and some hopeful situations, I've concluded that our society needs to value children.

Where we as a society put our money speaks loudly to our values.


One child I taught had a questionable foster home and the social worker had little time to do drop-in visits to see what was happening there. She tried.
Another child was put in a good foster home and blossomed even though her situation was worse as far as her biological parents were concerned.

It tears at your heart to see what some of these children have to deal with on a daily basis. They are ALL great kids, but they need a chance!



claire06 —

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