Dear Gib,
      Great seeing you the other day!  And I appreciate your suggestion about keeping these columns clear and easy to understand.  With this Saturday being Earth Day it’s a perfect time to make a clear statement about what may be the most daunting environmental challenge of our lifetimes – climate change.   So here’s the scoop from where I sit.

     First of all, it’s real.  Burning fossil fuels like coal, oil, and gas releases greenhouse gasses that warm the planet and change the climate.  Some claim there’s still controversy over this scientific reality.  Not so.  Greed and “tribalism” have made it appear that there’s controversy where there is none.  Some fossil fuel companies have purposely spread doubt and confusion about the issue so they can continue to sell their goods.  It’s like what the tobacco companies did concerning smoking and cancer.  Second, in today’s polarized “tribal” society folks tend to stick with the message their group supports even if the reality lies elsewhere.

     Sometimes people say they don’t “believe” in climate change.  But it’s not a matter of belief; it’s a matter of trusting scientific knowledge.  Every major scientific organization and 97% of climate scientists worldwide agree that by burning fossil fuels we’re rapidly (in geologic terms) changing the climate.

     And this is a problem.  Changes on the Earth that usually take place over thousands of years are now happening in decades.  Plants, animals and humans have little time to adapt.  Increasingly violent and more frequent storms generated from a warmer atmosphere are hammering our infrastructure costing taxpayers big bucks.  These higher temperatures increase the likelihood of drought and invite new insects and diseases.  Additional carbon in our air is making the oceans increasingly acidic altering their eco-systems. Our military calls all of these issues “threat multipliers” that make it harder to keep our nation safe.

     The good news is we can reduce the risks, and it doesn’t have to be costly to do so.  It’s actually an economic opportunity.  A Carbon Fee & Dividend plan, supported by leaders of both political parties and even by some oil companies would dramatically reduce our greenhouse gas emissions while growing the economy.  Every American household would receive an annual dividend while jobs in renewable energy and energy efficiency industries expand.   Technology is on our side too.  Just look at how cell phones have rapidly transformed communication.  We’re making similar progress in the clean energy field.

     Gib, if you had just one grandchild and 97 out of 100 doctors told you she was running a fever because of something you were doing, you’d of course make some changes.  We all have just this one Earth; it’s running a fever, and we’re making it worse.  It’s time to make some changes because we’re here forever…Earthbound.

       What a difference a couple generations make.  My first recollection of a family vacation is of a half-day drive to Wisconsin Dells to visit Eagle Cave and take an Upper Dells boat ride.  And now…this middle class Midwesterner has had the decadent luxury of strolling the white sand beaches of the Caribbean.  How did I get so fortunate?

         By pure chance we’ve been born into an era of relatively steady economic expansion.  It’s been an expansion powered by the accelerating use of greenhouse gas emitting fuels such as coal, oil, and natural gas.  Until now.

        Recently, the U.S. along with the rest of the world has made a promising transition that may prove to be monumentally significant in the coming decades.  2014 was the first non-recession year with worldwide economic expansion (by 3%) while CO2 emissions actually remained flat.  2015 continued that trend.  We’ve broken free from the former reality that increasing economic growth must be tied to increasing greenhouse gas emissions.  In the U.S. between the years 2000 and 2014 thirty-three states, including Wisconsin, have increased their GDP while reducing carbon emissions.  Worldwide as economies expand emissions are dropping 1.3% annually.  It’s an encouraging trend pointing us toward a sustainable future.

        How has this come about?  A look at one of our white sand beach Caribbean neighbors provides some insight.  Costa Rica is somewhat of a wunderkind concerning quality of life and the environment.  The average Costa Rican earns about one-eighth of the average Wisconsinite yet their country can boast of almost universal literacy, healthcare, access to clean water, and cell phone service.  All this with per capita greenhouse gas emissions just one-tenth that of the U.S.  Some might assume that poverty restricts the use of fossil fuels – not so.  In Costa Rica the same amount of goods and services can be produced at half the emissions rate as in the U.S.  Aiming to be carbon free by 2021, this Caribbean neighbor is an example of economic stability and high quality of life without high emissions.  It’s a model we can learn from.

         We’ve broken free from an outdated model linking economic prosperity with high carbon emissions. Now let’s pick up the pace.  One analysis shows that the 1.3% reduction rate needs to increase to 6% annually to stabilize the atmosphere.  Let’s make it happen because this is our only home.  We’re here forever…Earthbound. 

Dear Fellow Earth Dwellers,
 
            My thoughts are jumbled.  (More so than usual?  Frequent readers may ask.)  Karen’s father, the family patriarch, recently passed.  The gathering of family and friends lending support and offering tribute to a life well lived of course evokes a wide range of emotions and thoughts.
 
            His passing occurred as this winter of record-bending warmth draws to a close.  At the same time, incredibly, our newly appointed Environmental Protection Agency director publicly contradicts the over-whelming scientific consensus that human-caused global warming is a reality.  (Honestly now, does he truly think he has a better understanding of this scientifically technical topic than does every major scientific association worldwide?) Couple all of that with an urge to write about several remarkably encouraging reports detailing the exponential growth of the renewable energy industry including progress right here in Iowa County.  So my jumbled thoughts flit from one direction to another in search of a unifying theme for a piece of writing that might have some merit.  
 
          Perhaps that theme is buried in words previously shared – those compiled as I’d struggled to find a different sort of guiding anchor.  And so I offer this re-visit of a response to the question, “Why bother with the struggle to maintain a sustainably balanced world?”
 
         Why bother?  Crystal clear evening walks with the entire universe shining down… a riot of chickadees, juncos, and cardinals dancing around the feeders… the bite of winter winds on your face… a multitude of snow geese winging their way north… springtime’s smell of damp earth released at last from frost’s frozen clasp… an ocean teeming with life – each crashing wave making music with beach pebbles as it recedes… alfalfa and clover’s fresh-cut fragrance… maple leaves showing off an impossible array of colors before answering once again to winter’s call.
 
           These are but a few of the “whys” leading us down a wise pathway.  And we breathe in these simple earthy treasures.  They are among the soul-filling reasons to work anew so that those who follow can also intimately experience these worldly pleasures.  We’re reminded that the only home our children will ever know is right here; there is no other.  Our privilege and obligation is to pass on a balanced and genuinely sustainable environment because they will always be forever…Earthbound.