To Stop It: Not Easy But Easier

People in the developed world, and specifically in America, are showing their concern for the Climate Crisis and related energy issues by trying to do something about it. (After all, the Toyota Prius hybrid outsold the Ford Explorer SUV here in 2007.) Though the eventual need will likely be nothing short of transformational, there are places to start that could have profound effects on lessening greenhouse gas pollution, and on lower energy costs at every level, including to families and individuals.

In Tuesday's Democratic debate, Barack Obama brought up energy conservation as such a strategy. He mentioned replacing light bulbs with more efficient florescents, and various design changes to increase efficiency and use renewable energy. He referred to these as the "low hanging fruit"--that is, the easiest alternatives to harvest.

I have to admit that although I am transitioning to florescent light bulbs, I didn't quite realize the magnitude of what such a switch can mean. Here is what Lester Brown of the WorldWatch Institute writes about it (as excerpted in Sentient Times ), with my emphases:

Perhaps the quickest, easiest, and most profitable way to reduce electricity use worldwide—thus cutting carbon emissions—is simply to change light bulbs. Replacing the inefficient incandescent light bulbs that are still widely used today with new compact fluorescents (CFLs) can reduce electricity use by three fourths. The energy saved by replacing a 100-watt incandescent bulb with an equivalent CFL over its lifetime is sufficient to drive a Toyota Prius hybrid car from New York to San Francisco. ..

Shifting to CFLs in homes, to the most advanced linear fluorescents in office buildings, commercial outlets, and factories, and to LEDs in traffic lights would cut the world share of electricity used for lighting from 19 percent to 7 percent.

Here in California, CFLs are practically free, as the result of a state program. So except for lamps and fixtures that don't accept the current designs, there's no excuse not to switch--even given the disposal problems. By the time a new CFL gives out, they may have improved design to deal with that.

My latest conservation efforts have been in turning off as many appliances that are always on (in standby mode, like computers, TVs etc.) as practical, by plugging them into power strips, and switching off the power when not in use. We saw results in the electric bill immediately.

On a slightly larger scale, there are changes in home and workplace design, and eventually in community design as talked about in Lester Brown's article, and advocated by many, including writers Kim Stanley Robinson and James Howard Kuntsler. But again, the cumulative effect of gradually going green when repairs and replacements are necessary, and maybe making one major change every so often (like solar panels) when that's practical, can add up.

Then there are the decisions by communities that inevitably become political ones, that can have major consequences. To its advocacy for green design, a group called Architecture 2030 is calling for a complete end to building new coal-fired electrical plants. John Edwards advocated the same at the Tuesday debate.

This site has often emphasized the bad news and the likely outcomes if we don't change, as a way to emphasize the urgency of changing. (And more of that is coming, unfortunately.) But while the necessary changes are ultimately major, they can start with what's easy, and then what's maybe not easy but easier than ultimate change, which can come step by step. In fact, the people who deal with figuring out the details of solutions are much more hopeful that the necessary changes are doable than those who deny the causes of the Climate Crisis and then add that it's too difficult to deal with anyway.

Unfortunately a lot of these science and design types are not great communicators to the many of us who are not. (Lester Brown is one of the exceptions, so I refer you back to that article.) And while all the video and poster contests are probably helpful in getting young people involved, they need to do a little more towards informing and inspiring the adults who can actually do something now.