Going Green As Rapidly As Possible
by John Lawrence, November 27, 2020
Now is the time for a paradigm change on many levels. Our whole way of life needs to be redesigned. For instance, entrepreneurs are changing their mindsets from maximizing profits by any means necessary to inventing tools and methods to save the environment and the planet. We also need to design an economy so that the benefits which are widely available to the rich and the upper middle class are available to everyone, not only in the US but in the world in general. Instead of America First we need to think: Planet First. But there is resistance to the fact that government needs to guide this development so that it doesn't proceed haphazardly and is directed toward a greening of the economy because climate change on the planet is not waiting for us to take our sweet time. They are proceeding in Europe despite resistance from Poland's coal mining region. Justin Worland wrote:
The plan is simple yet bold. In December, the E.U. outlined plans to spend what would total €1 trillion ($1.17 trillion) on a “Green Deal” aimed at eliminating the bloc’s carbon footprint by 2050 and refashioning the economy around new, low-carbon industries. The investment, originally meant to be funded through the E.U. budget, private-sector financing and other country contributions, includes everything from retrofitting buildings to scaling up the infrastructure necessary for electric vehicles to investing in hydrogen-energy storage. After the pandemic struck, the E.U. structured its COVID-19 recovery package around accelerating the plan. “We need to change how we treat nature, how we produce and consume, live and work, eat and heat, travel and transport,” said Ursula von der Leyen, president of the European Commission, the E.U.’s executive body, in a September speech.
Correct. 1) How we treat nature. 2) How we produce and consume. 3) How we live and work. 4) How we eat and heat. 5) How we travel and transport. That about says it all. We need entrepreneurs who, in addition to wanting to make money, have the incentive to improve the environment and the planet. Those entrepreneurs who are entirely profit motivated might as well stay home. We don't need them. It's well known that, if all you want to do is to make money, the best way to achieve that is to come up with another novel alcoholic drink or another snack food loaded with sugar, salt and fat. Those are the roads to riches that we need to demolish, and instead build roads to new developments that are effective and safe for the planet just as a COVID vaccine must be safe and effective for human consumption. The economy must become a hybrid of private initiative combined with government participation. We need both. If you want to call that socialism, so be it.
Even in Europe there is resistance to going green despite the fact that polls show that 90% of the people support aggressive action on climate change. If the US is not to become the backwater of the world, we must get on board with rapid change because global warming is not waiting for us while we dilly dally around. Very soon fire and hurricane seasons are not going to be seasonal any more. They will be occurring year round. In transitioning away from fracking and fossil fuels in general we need to follow Europe's lead and create what they call a Just Transition:
So officials in Brussels crafted a so-called Just Transition plan to direct some €150 billion ($177 billion) to the regions most vulnerable to a move away from fossil fuels. The money is intended to act both as a catalyst for these regions to adapt and as an insurance policy to make sure the climate agenda maintains broad popular support. The Green Deal broadly—and Just Transition specifically—are altering the politics of climate change in Europe and the nature of the bloc’s economic development. It might determine the jobs and industries that employ workers across the Continent for the next century. In Poland, the Green Deal has already fueled a rush to chart a new path, one that honors the country’s coal-mining heritage while also preparing it for a new future. In September, the country committed to shutting down its coal mines for good. The question now is how to do that, and whether the country can move fast enough to meet the E.U.’s deadlines. “We are at a key, critical moment in the history of Poland and in the making of the European Green Deal,” says Michal Kurtyka, Poland’s Climate Minister.
Even the coal miners in Katowice are on board knowing that they will be taken care of when their coal mining jobs disappear. The US needs to follow the same path with emphasis on taking care of displaced workers in the fossil fuel industry. They can be transitioned to the renewable energy industry with minimal hardship if the process is done right. Joe Biden's idea to transition from the fracking industry is correct. Perhaps coordinating with European leaders will help so that we don't have to reinvent the wheel.
