Determined journalist from Renewable Energy World takes the time in a long form NPR/radio style podcast to dig into this important topic.   If you are deeply ideologically committed to either “cap and trade” or to a carbon tax you should not listen to the last 5 or 10 minutes – or maybe you should . . .

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There’s a lot of talk about 2012 being the end of the world. And if it’s not 2012, it’s the swine flu.

But how will it really end? If the latest scary climate science is any indicator, it looks like humans may be to blame. We know that climate change is happening all around us, but it looks like things are changing a lot quicker than any of us expected. As such, it’s time for a climate change reality-check. Did you know?

• Temperatures are already on the rise. Since 1970, winter temperatures in the Northeast have increased by an average of 1.3 degrees per decade—changing and damaging marine life, forests, agriculture, recreation and human health.
• Extreme storms are becoming more frequent. Boston and Atlantic City, for example, can expect a coastal flood equivalent to today’s 100-year flood every two to four years on average by mid-century, and almost annually by the end of the century.
• The oceans are rising. Scientists project that sea levels could rise another 4.5 feet by the end of the century—inundating our coastline and claiming countless low-lying communities from Portland, Maine to Boston to Hyannisport and beyond.
• Heat waves are expected to increase. Within our children’s lifetimes, Northeast cities like Boston or Hartford could experience 20-30 days above 100 degrees causing pain, distress and even increased mortality for our vulnerable citizens.
• Our snow season is becoming shorter and shorter. By late this century, the length of the snow season could be cut in half across northern New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine, and reduced to a week or two in southern parts of the region, a trend that may have already begun.
• Plant and animal populations are shifting northward. Species like the fir and spruce are expected to all but disappear from the region by the century’s end. The Baltimore oriole, American goldfinch and song sparrow populations will become much less abundant.
  (Source: NECIA’s “Confronting Climate Change in the U.S. Northeast: Science, Impacts, and Solutions”)

The facts speak for themselves. It’s clear that the road on which we’re traveling is a dead end. Fortunately, we have the opportunity to make a u-turn—but it’s going to take your help to turn this country and this planet around.

What can you do about it?

As we catapult towards the point of no return, it’s time to hit the brakes. Confront the climate threat today and demand a new energy and climate law now!

It takes less than 30 seconds to use and customize our pre-written letter to your Senators urging them to pass a smart and effective “cap and trade” climate law. Click here to do your part.

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After reading Governor Sarah Palin’s op-ed in the Washington Post today, I am convinced that she is completely uninformed on the issue of cap and trade.

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Lesley Bunnell and I work in the Providence, RI office of CLF. I have a more vested interest in Sarah Palin’s environmental blunders, as I am originally from Alaska. I regularly cringe at the thought that my beloved home state’s identity is synonymous with someone so unaware of basic environmental issues.

Soon-to-be former Governor Palin’s claims that President Obama’s cap and trade energy plan threatens the US economy. Apparently, Governor Palin believes that by limiting companies and Big Business’s carbon dioxide emissions, mass jobs will be lost, there will be more expensive energy costs for consumers, and it will drive the Big Business Energy Sector out of our country. Therefore, the US will have to out-source its energy needs to foreign suppliers. Since our country’s energy sources are so plentiful, regulating their emissions only depletes their efficacy. Of course, her only example of the US’s energy bounty is Alaska.

Huh. So, let’s examine this. As the mother of a small daughter, I spend a lot of time negotiating the ins and outs of the world with her; the good vs. bad, the necessary vs. unnecessary. I can’t even explain Gov. Palin’s logic to my 6 year old.

The very basics of cap and trade are as follows:

• Companies apply for emissions permits, from a governing body, wherein their pollutants are “capped” as a specific amount.
• If they pollute more than this cap, they must PAY for credits/allowances to do so.
• If they reduce their emissions, they can SELL their allowances for a profit.

Therefore, there is a marriage of market-based and environmental resolutions that start the process of controlling and reducing global warming pollution. Companies have incentives to do the right thing (stopping their polluting of the environment) and we, as consumers, benefit from the reduction of pollution in our society. We also benefit from the cost savings generated by the distributions of the profits and energy efficiency measures created by this system.

While Alaska has abundant natural energy resources, fully depleting them to provide for the US population is hardly a solution. That is the equivalent of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Moreover, we should be investing in renewable energy sources.

Sarah Palin is wrong. I can easily explain that to my daughter.

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