On Sunday, February 17th, nearly 50,000 people descended on The White House asking President Obama to step up his environmental policies related to climate action. There were more than 200 Ohio residents at the event and over two dozen from Cincinnati. The event was focused on urging the president to utilize executive decision making powers in order to halt construction of the Keystone XL pipeline- a devastatingly dirty oil project set to run through pristine areas of our country from Canada to Texas.
The authority to make the decision lies in President Obama’s hands alone, however this is a president who has given mixed messages when it comes to climate activism and environmental protection. In President Obama’s State of the Union speech he said, “I urge this Congress to pursue a bipartisan, market-based solution to climate change. But if Congress won’t act soon to protect future generations, I will. I will direct my cabinet to come up with executive actions we can take, now and in the future, to reduce pollution, prepare our communities for the consequences of climate change, and speed the transition to more sustainable sources of energy.” These words sound like they came from a president committed to environmental protection and clean energy development. However at the same time that thousands fought freezing temperatures marching to The White House, President Obama was instead spotted golfing with deep pocketed oil executives in Florida. It is time for the president’s actions to match his words.
The Keystone XL pipeline is making it clear that our oil resources are shrinking at an alarming rate. At the same time that our country claims to be moving forward in renewable energy sources, we are sucking the earth dry of every last dirty drop of oil we can- no matter the environmental fallout is in the process. It is unlikely that the U.S. would see any economic benefits from the pipeline; this heavy crude oil is made for export. There will be no benefit at the pump, very few permanent jobs created by the pipeline, and little revenue for the U.S from the pipeline. However, rejection of the Keystone pipeline would give our country great incentive for moving forward with cleaner energy sources, with a clear message that we are ready to move forward to protect future generations from dirty water, dirty air, and dirty oil.
One way to ease the transition to renewables would be to pass a revenue neutral carbon fee that would use the power of the market to create jobs in clean technology and decrease the demand for fossil fuels. The concept behind the carbon tax is simple: the polluter, not the consumer, pays. We have already paid enough as consumers, both at the pump, and in the health costs of respiratory issues, military costs, and more frequent weather-related disasters. The revenue from this fee could then be returned to the consumers to offset the economic impacts and would also influence consumers to make more long term commitments to clean energy investments. By placing the power in the hands of the private sector, we can move away from putting the power in the hands of the federal government. Carbon tariffs would be a strong incentive for other countries to follow our lead.
Undoubtedly, some will always be stuck in a debate over climate change, despite a meta-analysis completed by Jim Powell, a scientist and member of the National Science Board, who demonstrated that out of 13,950 high quality scientific articles from 1991-2012, only 24 can endorse causes other than CO2 emissions. A meta-analysis is the gold standard of evidence based research and empirical support. However, for those still stuck in the old debate, I urge you to think deeply of your children and grandchildren. What quality of life do we want for them? The real civil liberties we must protect for future generations include the right to breathe clean air and drink clean water; the right to live safely, without weather disasters around every turn. Time is running out. What kind of ancestors will we be?