The Climate Ship Has Sailed

Whether or not you believe the large and growing body of scientific evidence that humans are causing climate change, it has become a political and economic reality that every responsible person and organization must prepare for. Just ask big coal.

I have just returned from an international climate change solutions conference, held in Bismarck, ND no less. Why an international conference in a state with just 640,000 people? Because North Dakota is at the heart of big ag and coal country where folks are understandably nervous about any new law that would place limits on greenhouse gases, such as the so-called Waxman-Markey bill that has passed the U.S. House and is moving to the Senate for likely action this Fall.

Now, in full disclosure, my colleagues at the Great Plains Institute helped organize this international conference, but both the speakers and the attendees were decidedly not the usual suspects, and the speakers all delivered the same basic message: It is time for the U.S. to step up and join the rest of the international community to take aggressive action against climate change. Here’s a taste of what some of the speakers had to say:

• Leading climate scientist, Brian Soden, reminded the attendees that the most prestigious scientific organization in the country, the National Academy of Sciences, has concluded that, "The need for urgent action to address climate change is now indisputable." A conclusion shared by science academies around the world.

• Michael G. Morris, CEO of American Electric Power, one of the nation's largest public utilities (and heavily dependent on coal for its electricity production) told the crowd that it is “irresponsible” to deny the need to act on climate change. "If global warming isn't real and we simply made energy much more efficient, much more diverse, much more responsible, then we won," Morris said, paraphrasing Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. "And if global warming is real, then we've really won."

• Preston Chiaro, CEO at the global mining company Rio Tinto, and former head of the World Coal Institute, said his company (which is among the largest miners of coal in the world) has long-since stopped debating the science of climate change. He said cap-and-trade policies (such as the one moving through Congress) will work as long as they are market-based and environmentally effective. And while they should be globally enforced, Chiaro added, "Someone has to go first."

The G-8 leaders meeting in Italy this week have just confirmed that the most developed nations are committed to tackling climate change, agreeing to cut emissions of greenhouse gases that cause warming by 50 percent worldwide and by 80 percent among industrialized nations by 2050. If you are still fighting this, you are only putting yourself at a competitive disadvantage. It’s like sticking with the horse and buggy in the face of the automobile.

The climate ship is leaving the harbor. And it’s time for everybody to get aboard and help make the voyage work for everyone.

Guest blogger, Rolf Nordstrom is Executive Director of the Great Plains Institute, a non-partisan, non-profit corporation based in Minneapolis: www.gpisd.net.