Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
LIFE OFTEN PRESENTS US WITH PARADOXES, BUT SELDOM SO
blatant or consequential as the
following. Read this sentence slowly: Today it is especially difficult for most people to under-
stand our perilous global energy situation, precisely
because
it has never been more important to do
so. Got that? No? Okay, let me explain. I must begin by briefly retracing developments in a seem-
ingly unrelated field—climate science.
Once upon a time, the idea that Earth's climate could be changing due to human-caused carbon
dioxide emissions was just a lonely, unpopular scientific hypothesis. Through years that stretched
to decades, researchers patiently gathered troves of evidence to test that hypothesis. The great ma-
jority of evidence collected tended to confirm the notion that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide
(and other greenhouse gas) levels raise average global temperatures and provoke an increase in ex-
treme weather events. Nearly all climate scientists were gradually persuaded of the correctness of
the global warming hypothesis.
But a funny thing happened along the way. Clearly, if the climate is changing rapidly and dra-
matically as a result of human action, and if climate change (of the scale and speed that's anticip-
ated) is likely to undermine ecosystems and economies, then it stands to reason that humans should
stop emitting so much carbon dioxide. In practical effect, this would mean dramatically reducing
our burning of fossil fuels—the main drivers of economic growth since the beginning of the Indus-
trial Revolution.
Some business-friendly folks with political connections soon became alarmed at both the policy
implications of—and the likely short-term economic fallout from—the way climate science was
developing, and decided to do everything they could to question, denigrate, and deny the climate
change hypothesis. Their effort succeeded: Especially in the United States, belief in climate change
now aligns fairly closely with political affiliation. Most elected Democrats agree that the issue is
real and important, and most of their Republican counterparts are skeptical. Lacking bipartisan sup-
port, legislative climate policy has languished.
From a policy standpoint, climate change is effectively an energy issue, since reducing carbon
emissions will require a nearly complete revamping of our energy systems. Energy is, by definition,
humanity's most basic source of power, and since politics is a contest over power (albeit
social
