It’s time to
clear the cob webs away here. There’s certainly no shortage of energy items for
Iowa energy wonks to digest these days. I’ve just been engaged on other issues.
Just a quick post today for us to get back in the swing of things.
I’ve filed a
petition to contest MidAmerican’s wind property tax assessments in my local
county, so you can expect another post on that subject. You can also expect an
in depth post on Iowa distributed energy doings at the legislature and our
Utilities Board that you probably won’t find elsewhere in our state social or
print media.
Today though,
Climate change... As a farmer deeply
interested in renewables, I’ve understood for a quite a while that agriculture
has the potential to be a part of the solution. Just look at what farmers have
accomplished in Germany. Policy in the states is not friendly for farmers to
help on the climate issue yet. From tax policy to fair treatment on
interconnection, to getting a fair price for our electricity, policy in the
U.S.A. mostly discourages farmers from adopting renewables. Farmers can be a
stubborn lot, and sometimes we still make progress here, though the deck is
often stacked against us. Guess I’ll take a closer look here as well.
Climate
change… David Roberts, one of my favorite energy writers, took a year off to
recharge. He surfaced surprisingly at a recent climate conference in Washington
State, so let's include the
video of that conference that features his panel, along with a couple posts
of his on climate change. The
first, 'Environmentalism'
can never address climate change, was written after the national Cap and
trade effort failed. A quote - “Environmentalism” is simply not equipped
to transform the basis of human culture. It grew up to address a specific,
bounded set of issues. For 50 years, American environmental politics has been
about restraining the amount of damage industries can do. Environmental
campaigners have developed a set of strategies for that purpose, designed to
overcome the resistance of industries and politicians to such restraints. And
they’ve been successful in a number of areas. So when climate change entered
American politics via environmentalism, that is the model into which it was
slotted. Environmental campaigners set about restraining the amount of
greenhouse gases industry can emit, and industry set about resisting.”
The second -
Climate
change and “environmental journalism” will probably be of interest to readers as
well. “Climate change is not “a story,”
but a background condition for all future stories. The idea that it should or
could be adequately covered by a subset of “environmental journalists” was
always an insane fiction.“
This isn’t a
partisan issue, although it is used as one frequently. Unfortunately, that keeps
most people from engaging about this. Here are
a couple posts, one from George Lakoff, criticizing progressives on climate
discussion, among other things - "Liberals
Do Everything Wrong", the other, an interview with retiredArmy Brig. Gen. Chris King laid out the military’s thinking on climate change, contains some messaging that should resonate with conservatives.
As a farmer,
I simply go to the idea that makes sense to me – advocating for policy that
enables farmers and non-farmers alike to adopt bottom up solutions… the old
positive messaging approach! John Farrell seems to one of the best at articulating
this approach. But as we look at positive
examples of folks who are making a difference, let’s remember that there is a lot
of heavy lifting to do to enable people to start adopting their own renewable
energy solutions.
Thanks for checking
out the blog!
