CLIFF NOTES FROM: "IS THERE STILL TIME TO SAVE THE WORLD?"

As climate activists, one of our most important roles is conveying to the public that we can convince our leaders to change course regarding current climate trajectories. Focusing ourselves on which methods can change the outcome of the current climate crisis will enable us to not only educate ourselves, but reliably convince our local legislatures to pass green initiatives.

Is There Still Time To Save The World? was an event held last month by 350 Contra Costa (Is There Still Time To Save The World?). The keynote speaker was Dr. Daniel Kammen, Director of the U.C. Berkeley Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and a Coordinating Lead Author for the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

Dr. Kammen presented his research to us, explaining the science, economics, and policies of his recent co-authored report: Accelerating the timeline for climate action in California. Here are our key takeaways from his presentation:

WE HAVE MADE PROGRESS IN CURBING GLOBAL EMISSIONS…

While the world has a long way to go in reversing centuries of high emissions output, Dr. Kammen remains optimistic about the current trends switching to renewables worldwide. California has been at the forefront of the green energy shift, and has set aggressive targets towards its grid being reliant on 60% renewable sources by 2030.

And with the Biden administration’s agenda pushing for 100% clean electricity by 2035, Gov. Newsom has asked the state’s legislature to accelerate California towards 100% carbon neutral energy in line with the federal timeline.

This marks a rare case where federal initiatives have spurred accelerated action in California. Our state serves as a model for other governments to create laws incentivizing green initiatives, which the Biden administration has enabled at the federal level.

Progress has also been made in making renewable power cheaper, accessible, and more advanced than ever. We can see these shifts in the prices of solar and wind becoming more economically viable than non-renewable sources like oil and natural gas. This has translated into exciting shifts in the way California’s electrical grid is handled.

Two of the more interesting developments come in the form of offshore wind platforms and power storage facilities to shore up reserve power for the state. Offshore wind turbine projects have been permitted in Humboldt Bay and Morro Bay, which will naturally flow with inland wind farms’ peak production cycles. Industrial scale storage facilities have also enabled stored electricity to offset peak usage in California’s electrical grid.

These are all indicative of positive changes moving forward for climate advocacy. Economic and social incentives towards renewable shifts in energy production mean we can curb their impact on global emissions standards.

… BUT WE CAN DO BETTER. HERE’S HOW: 

• Current policies for curbing global temperature rise predicted towards ~2.9 C (2.7-3.1) by 2100. Optimistic scenarios place global temperature rise to 2.1 C if climate initiatives are aggressively tackled by world governments.

• Technological advancement could keep warming below 1.5 C but only if properly utilized.

• Dan suggests that we should price the damage fossil fuels do to our climate instead of subsidizing the fossil fuel industry as we currently do.

  • And if we removed these subsidies, we could invest in storage solutions such as green hydrogen.

• Problems exist with hydroelectric dams, nuclear, and carbon capture projects if we want to meet these goals.

  • California’s water crisis makes dams and reservoirs much less viable as sources of power. Not to mention the fact that hydroelectric dams ruin freshwater ecosystems…

  • Without a viable, environmentally-friendly solution for nuclear waste disposal, nuclear energy remains on shaky ground for energy supplementation. The pattern of facility closures also makes pushing for nuclear a quixotic cause.

  • Carbon capture could become useful in the future, but the most advanced facilities can only capture emissions in tons. These facilities would need to capture in the billions of tons to make carbon capture a viable tool to combat climate change and global temperature rises.

    • Also of concern are the sponsors of these facilities being heavily involved in the fossil fuel industry. This casts doubt on their deployment being an excuse for several more decades of fossil fuel usage.

So, is there still time to save the world? Yes there is. But we all must act now.

To watch a replay of Dan Kammen’s talk and learn more, click here.