Frog Blog

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

I was raised by a father who had the “drive them into the ground” philosophy: you buy low mileage used cars, take good care of them, and keep them until they are no longer reliable. I am facing having to replace aging vehicles in the next few years, and a new part of that equation (that my father did not face) is the decision to buy an electric vehicle (EV).

When I was considering the installation of my solar panels, the original (albeit a bit naïve) vision was to have the solar array, battery storage and at least one EV. In this way I could connect the solar array to the battery and charge a commuter electric vehicle from it overnight, thus having solar fueled commuter solution. Given the costs and incentives, that is not the way it worked out. My solar panels are grid tied, battery storage is expensive, and I continue to drive vehicles that run on gasoline.

In 2019, 58% of the emissions from the US were produced by the typical gasoline powered vehicles you see on the road everyday. This makes the transportation sector key to meeting net zero emissions goals by 2050. The expansion of the adoption of EVs and continued technology innovation means that it projected that over 50% of the vehicles on the road globally will be EVs by that time. If this is made real, it will be an offset of over 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide that would have been emitted annually from fossil fuels.

With technology advances, mainly focused on efficiency and range, EVs are becoming more popular and prevalent on the road. Given their range on a single charge, EVs are suitable for the transportation needs for many and as the US Government is giving incentives for states to install convenient and widespread charging infrastructure, the reasons to choose an EV for your next purchase are even more compelling. Soon it will be possible to drive the long distances we like to in an EV without worrying about being stranded with a dead battery.

“A 2020 study projected that by the year 2050, about half of the cars on the road around the world could be electric, saving around 1.5 gigatons of carbon dioxide emissions per year”

Heidi Roop

Radical change comes with challenges. In particular, given the requirements for batteries, safely and equitably securing sufficient minerals and metals (such as lithium, nickel, and cobalt) are key to the widespread adoption of battery powered EVs. Taking everything into account, “driving an electric car is better for the climate than conventional vehicles”.

The transition needs to start now. In order to make a difference, the sales of conventional vehicles will have to be phased out completely by 2035. The good news is that many car companies are pledging to converting their fleets to meet this deadline. This can be accelerated if consumers signal a desire to make the switch. However, in 2021 only 39% of US adults polled showed a willingness to purchase an electric vehicle.

So for your next vehicle, consider an EV. I am. I will definitely be a smart consumer and keep an eye out for incentives at the federal, state, and local level. And when I decide to buy one, I intend to become a resource and advocate in my community to convince others to do the same.

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I highly recommend the 2019 Long Way Up series where Actor Ewan McGregor and his mate Charley Boorman drive prototype Harley Davidson Livewire motorcycles from the tip of South America to Los Angeles, CA supported by a prototype Rivian EV.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 13: Drive Efficiently

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

Let’s consider the climate impact of rideshare services. I was on a business trip this week and from my hotel it was a five minute walk on city streets to reach the conference center where my meeting was being held. On the second day, when the day was done, I walked out to wind and heavy rain. I paused for a second and then reached for my phone and arranged for an Uber in order to stay dry on my way to the hotel. Don’t judge me.

When you use a rideshare app, you are often presented with choices on which type of ride you prefer. I typically use Uber, so I will use it as an example. One of the choices I have never explored is UberX Share, where you “save up to 20% when matched with another rider along your route.” In some places you can choose Uber Green which guarantees a pickup in a hybrid or fully electric vehicle. I chose this on my trip and for just a few dollars more, I was driven to my destination in a Tesla.

We are deep into examining the climate impacts of our routine, daily choices. As Heidi points out “reducing the number of individual car trips we make can have a real impact”. Like using public transportation, increasing society’s embrace of carpooling is important for climate mitigation, according to Project Drawdown. In 2018 the average occupancy per vehicle was estimated to be 1.57. All things being equal, moving to 2.0 occupants per vehicle on average is estimated to offset 7.7 gigatons of emitted greenhouse gases by 2050. A big impact.

“…hopping in an Uber or Lyft by yourself and calling it a win for climate won’t cut it.”

Heidi Roop

The rise of the prevalence of rideshare services likely has had a positive impact on society, including allowing marginalized populations more transportation options, and providing employment for drivers. However, the wide spread use of these services has the real potential to increase greenhouse gas emissions, and cause other issues like increased vehicle congestion (compared to the use of public transportation).

Overall, our individual action should focus on increasing the average number of occupants per vehicle in any way that makes sense to you and your family. Prudently using your rideshare app, especially the sharing options, is a choice you can make. Project Drawdown has some other suggestions for what you can do, including cultivating a community of friends and neighbors who coordinate rides to mutual destinations, or working with your employer or school to expand the use of carpools.

As electric vehicles become more prevalent, the potential negative impact of these services is reduced [stay tuned for tomorrow’s post about electric vehicles]. And maybe next time, if an EV picks me up, y’all will ease up on the judging if I order an Uber rather than walk in the rain.

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Bonus: Check out Project Drawdown’s Table of Solutions .

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 12: Buy and Drive an Electric Car

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

The US has a strong car culture. So much of our development – from the interstate highway system and prevalence of suburbs – was predicated on the idea that cars mean freedom. I started my early career in Virginia commuting on the DC Metro system, and extensively used bus services in college in Maryland and graduate school in Massachusetts. I was quite comfortable with, and even took for granted, the built infrastructure for public transportation that was available for my use.

When I move to Minnesota I was startled by how primitive and relatively useless the local public transportation system was. For the Twin Cities area, it is getting better with investment in and construction of light rail and express bus lines. I now live very close to where I work and on those days I choose to not work from home, I SHOULD ride my bike. But, despite the fact that my family is already thoughtful about our driving habits and try to organize trips to minimize them, I have to admit that driving my car is not only more convenient, it is an ingrained habit.

We live in a suburb where you have to drive to get food and supplies – we have a Target within walking distance, and we hear there might be another grocery store built soon. We have committed to walking to those stores more frequently. I am exploring e-bikes for my family which will make those trips even easier. I look forward to the day where we can move somewhere where what we need to live is within a convenient walking distance.

The gasoline powered cars we drive contribute mightily to climate change. When your gas tank is empty, do you ever wonder where the gasoline you bought went? I will use my car as an example. It has a 15 gallon tank (this specific argument only works with Americans, if you want it for the rest of the world, I can convert to metric units). Gasoline has a density of 6 lbs/gallon, so when my tank is full, there is 90 lbs of gas in the tank.

For every pound of gasoline burned, 3 pounds of carbon dioxide are produced. So every time I drive my car to empty, I emit 270 lbs of carbon dioxide. I fill up every three weeks or so, so that is over 2 tons of carbon dioxide pollution that I am personally responsible for emitting every year, just through the routine use of my (actually reasonably fuel efficient) car.

As I wrote in an earlier post, I wish that carbon dioxide was not colorless and odorless and was easier to visualize. I think if we saw plumes of carbon dioxide gas blowing out of the back of our cars, it would be a powerful visual signal that would motivate thoughtful citizens to drive less. As Heidi points out, reflecting on how much and how far we drive, walking and biking more if possible, and utilizing public transportation are habits we all must embrace to make a difference.

How to get started thinking about changing your habits? In the United States “35 percent of vehicle trips are under 2 miles”. Simply deciding to not drive for one of your short trips will have a measurable impact – saving 4 gallons of gas a year. Walking and biking are the best options. Deliberately combining trips is a good alternative. Taking the bus makes sense – yes it burns fuel, but it is going to do that anyway. If you decide to take the bus instead of driving yourself for one trip a week, that is still a significant 3.4 gallons of gas not consumed.

Seems like a modest contribution. The real power is in a wholesale, societal change of driving habits where all 300 million or more of us decide to do it. The Get Around Greener tool at Breaking Boundaries is a good place to explore your options in a guided experience. You can find suggestions tailored to your lifestyle and get advice on new practices that could soon become new habits. “All you need to start walking is a pair of comfortable shoes.” Indeed.

It is going to be a challenge to change our car dominated infrastructure and make the investments needed in transportation systems where emissions are minimized. As always, start in your own community and model the behavior. Look into establishing bike lanes, expanded access to public transit, or lobby for the conversion of existing buses and ferries to battery or fuel cell alternatives. As ever it starts with being mindful of your current habits, reflecting on your local resources, and (literally) taking one step at a time.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 11: Consider Carpooling and Rideshares

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

The IPCC defines decarbonization as the “human actions to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from human activities.” Since the mid 1800s we have firmly established a global society that relies on the burning of fossil fuels to operate.. that operates with the wholesale, global emissions of carbon-based greenhouse gases.

Now, to mitigate the most catastrophic effects of climate change from greenhouse gas pollution, we will have to rapidly change the way society operates by rapidly phasing out the use of fossil fuels. This change involves the considerable risk that in solving a global existential problem, we will cause undue hardship and devastation locally.

Why? Because the technical solutions required to address global climate change require new raw materials: not the extraction of coal and gas, but of metals and minerals to make solar panels, wind turbines, energy storage, and the technology to establish a hydrogen economy.

Wars have been fought over fossil fuels. The shifting dynamics of world politics are starting to motivate nations to secure vast quantities of raw materials such as lithium, cobalt, and graphite to ensure “first mover” advantages in the new clean energy economy. This will involve establishing new mining and processing infrastructure with the very real probability of subjecting disadvantaged populations to pollution and toxic waste.

While the urgency to implement critical new solutions is very real, because (as Heidi points out) the work must often be done “in places with weak environmental regulations and labor safety practices”, it will mean generating and enforcing global policies and regulations to protect the health of the affected populations.

“… it is critical to advocate for an ethical, just, and sustainable transition in places where resource extraction occurs.”

Heidi Roop

To be “conservative” often means being resistant to change or reluctant to embrace disruption of the status quo. Mitigating the effects of and adapting to climate change involves changing the way society operates at a global scale – “business as usual” is not an option that allows for life on the planet by the end of this century. By this logic, the types of technology transitions that are necessary for the long-term survival of the humans on this planet are therefore “radical”.

The danger, of course, is that in the process of implementing these potentially life-saving measures, lives are lost through reckless and callous action. Implemented equitably, in the long run, the wholesale implementation of “climate solutions” like electric vehicles, carbon capture, and hydrogen holds the promise for meeting the reduction of emissions needed to address climate change.

As the comedian John Mulaney quipped, “it is so much easier not to do things than to do them”. Doing nothing is not an option for climate change. The challenge is to do the right things (with urgency) and make sure they are done equitably.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 10: Drive and Commute Mindfully

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

Want to equip yourself to be an advocate for our local community? Going to a meeting with your local government utility or school district and want good data and graphics to be persuasive? A good place to start is WeatherPower at Climate Central, “an independent organization of leading scientists and journalists researching and reporting the facts about our changing climate and its impact on the public.”

You can navigate to the county or congressional district level and get insight on the implementation of renewable energy locally, among other data. You can judge action at the regional level, especially implementation of solar and wind generation.

For the Chez Creel Solar Power Plant, yesterday was not a good day of production. It was cloudy and my solar panels were covered with snow. But across Washington County, MN, there was positive production from other solar resources. At WeatherPower, the data was easily retrieved, and you can select the most meaningful way to convey your message.

Heidi quotes from an analysis by Project Drawdown clearly showing the impact of distributed solar (both on the grid and stand-alone) on avoiding anywhere from 28 to 69 gigatons of greenhouse gases emitted into the atmosphere by 2050 and the potential for more than $13 trillion in savings for the operational costs for the systems.

I am advocate for and user of rooftop solar. It may not be right for you, but we should all amplify the message of the potential impact. Perhaps talk to your local school district or workplace to advocate for new installed capacity. If you see open space at your local school, town hall, or library, solar panels can be installed on the roof, in a field, or over a parking lot. The potential for mitigating climate change is profound – take action!

I will be posting some insight and background on my own solar journey soon. Feel free to reach out with any questions you may have!

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Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 9: Weigh the Impact of Decarbonization

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

According to the Pew Research Center, “most Americans think the U.S. should prioritize the development of renewable energy over fossil fuel sources. At the same time, most say they are not ready to stop using fossil fuel energy sources altogether. And a sizable share think the U.S. should never stop using fossil fuel sources.”

At the same time, according to the US Energy Information Association, “once built and when the resource is available, wind and solar are the least cost resources to operate to meet electricity demand because they have zero fuel costs. Over time, the combined investment and operating cost advantage increases the share of zero-carbon electricity generation.”

“As we think about large-scale systems change, decreasing costs can be a significant milestone toward turning the tide toward cleaner energy.”

Heidi Roop

Our need for electricity will continue to grow. Traditionally we have grown our industrial base and current prosperity on a model where we dig or pump up fossil carbon, burn it to produce heat to drive our industrial processes and provide electricity. The combustion processes releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere which in turn is warming the planet.

This is the model we know. We rarely think about it. You might also know that it is not sustainable and change has to come quick to avoid a climate disaster. However, since as a population, we typically are uncomfortable with change and worry about future prosperity, the majority adopt a moderate approach – the prevailing view (68%) of polled U.S. adults is a move towards the use of a mix of fossil fuels and renewables.

We are fighting perceptions based on common experiences: the sun goes down everyday, the wind stops blowing, some places are always cloudy, in some places the wind doesn’t blow. Effectively implementing solar and wind resources to match our current electrical grid – which took over 100 years to build – in a short amount of time seems like a big, intractable problem, especially if sources of disinformation are trying to convince you that you won’t be able to keep the lights on in your home.

The good news is that through considerable investment in the last couple of decades, renewable energy is the cheapest source of energy today – due in part because there are no on-going fuel costs. And as such, it becomes the attractive technology for investment as the fossil fuel infrastructure comes to end-of-life.

The US Department of Energy sees it as a challenge that is critical to address, with considerable upside for success. We have established the technology to generate electricity from renewable sources. With revolutions in our ability to reliably distribute and store it, we are likely to find ourselves at a tipping point away from the use of fossil fuels for our electricity. As always, effective advocacy requires you to not only turn off the lights in your house, but also to speak up for accelerated wide-spread adoption of renewable energy in your community and beyond.

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In other controversial, complex news, nuclear energy is important as well.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 8: Support Solar and Other Renewables in Your Region

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

#rescuethatfrog

Energy Production and Transportation

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

In this new section of the book, we will start exploring specific actions you can take to make a difference, starting with the electricity in your house. Heidi presents this as a four part action framework that should guide you:

• What climate impacts stem from our daily activities?
• How can we contribute to climate action in our own communities?
• Where do we have influence to motivate systems-based change?
• What “wins” will motivate us to continue to act?

Presumably you can find your way to a light switch, wherever you are reading this. Go to it, and turn on a light. Now pause and reflect on the electricity that powers that light, and all the other lights, appliances, and equipment in your house. Where does it come from? Chances are pretty high that it comes from the burning of coal or natural gas. Renewable sources are becoming a bigger percentage of the production mix in many places, especially in the upper Midwest where there has been considerable investment in wind and solar, as well as nuclear. But the >100 year legacy is the burning of fossil fuels and it will take considerable investment and new technology to completely convert to carbon free sources – for Xcel Energy in Texas and New Mexico, 61% of the electricity comes from coal and natural gas.

I have solar panels on my roof. People think that my house is solar powered and might wonder what I do for electricity at night. [To be fair, I have not ever been asked that question]. My solar array is grid-tied. I draw from the electrical grid to power my house, and when my solar panels are producing electricity, it goes back out to the grid. If the local grid goes out, I lose power like everyone else.

This was a reasonable choice for me because my house is suitable for rooftop solar. If your house is not suitable (and most communities would not let you put a wind turbine up in your backyard), you have to be more creative to ensure that your utility is motivated to make renewable energy available to you.

The Bathtub Metaphor for the Electric Grid
“The New England power grid is like a very shallow bathtub with a huge drain that can’t be closed.“

So what can you do if you are concerned about tapping into renewable energy for your electricity needs? If you are an Xcel customer (and I am sure there are similar programs) you can sign up for community solar plans like the Solar*Rewards® Community. You subscribe to a nearby, third-party solar garden so that some portion of your electricity will then be definitely sourced from a renewable production.

The catch? “Must live in the same county as the solar garden or an adjacent county”. So if there are none near you, you are out of luck.

So where does that leave you? Keep taking action. If you actually commit to and execute this research project to find out where your electricity comes from, you are empowered with knowledge. You are starting to make decisions that may impact your local community: No community solar? Why not? Who do I see about that? The simple act of your inquiry becomes a signal to the utility that the community wants more renewable energy, which, if it comes from all us, may motivate larger, system-wide change across the region and the nation.

Most important for you is that this action, this win, may motivate more action in turn. “Now that’s one action with a big impact!”.

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Bonus: Check and see how Xcel Energy is doing on their claims that they are the first major U.S. energy provider to set goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across all the ways our customers use energy, including electricity, heating and transportation. Greenwashing? You decide.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 7: Curb the Cost of Renewable Energy

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

Starting and Sustaining Your Climate Action Journey

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

You may remember The Crying Indian advertisement from the Keep America Beautiful campaign. Cultural appropriation aside (the “Crying Indian” was not Native American), the ad was disinformation at its finest. As Michael Mann points out, it is the most prominent and possibly first indication of companies and industry groups engaging in a deflection campaign. Designed cynically to deflect attention away from efforts to regulate industries. All that trash you see? That is your fault. You are a litterbug! If you people would only stop littering, there would be absolutely no need to regulate the use of unsustainable single-use plastic.

Not merely a deflection campaign, The Keep America Beautiful campaign is a fine example of greenwashing. Corporations are engaging in greenwashing when they spend more on advertising to convince the public that they are “green” then actually working on improving their environmental practices. Companies like Coca Cola proliferated this greenwashing focus on consumers as the cause of pollution for decades.

There are lots of tricks, traps, and communication strategies deployed to deceive when it comes to climate change”

Heidi Roop

As Heidi points out, the fossil fuel companies in particular have engaged in deflection campaigns centered around encouraging you to reduce your “carbon footprint” and recycle. Worse, they used active disinformation campaign to discredit climate science and climate scientists (like Michael Mann). They also concealed and their own internal knowledge about the connection between burning fossil fuels and global warming that they knew for years.

ExxonMobil has engaged in particularly egregious disinformation as they sought to maintain shareholder value and secure record profits. In 1980, an internal report stated that “It is assumed that the major contributors of CO2 are the burning of fossil fuels… There is no doubt that increases in fossil fuel usage and decreases of forest cover are aggravating the potential problem of increased CO2 in the atmosphere. Technology exists to remove CO2 from stack gases but removal of only 50% of the CO2 would double the cost of power generation.” [emphasis added]

It is up to us to hone and practice our critical thinking skills when navigating advertisements, social media, and the world around us. We also need to let those businesses who are engaging in deflection and greenwashing know that we understand what they are doing and will actively expose and oppose their effort.

Also beware of news organizations like the New York Times that are executing campaigns to craft and publish ads promoting fossil fuels. Their tactics include native advertising (advertising disguised as actual news content), contextual advertising (where ads are placed next to real articles to provide misleading contextual connections), and podcast advertising (where fossil fuel companies sponsor unavoidable advertisements embedded in podcasts). Grassroots groups are fighting back, for instance #AdsNotFit2Print is organizing to get “The New York Times to stop writing and running the fossil-fuel #AdsNotFit2Print!”.

For us as individuals, the only power that we have, besides signing petitions, is to “vote” with our dollars. We can send messages to corporations with policies and practices that we do not agree with by not only not spending money with them, but letting everyone know why we are making the choice. As you move through your day, “keep a critical eye out for climate information coming from the fossil fuel industry” – and let everyone know when you spot it.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 6: Know What Powers You and Your Home

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

1. 

   We cannot express enough gratitude for Howard and Heidi’s exploration and guidebook to practical action, pushing back against the much-ignored…

2. 

   Yours is a compelling back-story. Thanks for sharing

3. 

   This entry by Howard Creel is particularly excellent, and addresses much more than just our climate crisis. It’s a concise…

4. 

   Thanks, Mark. Of all topics in the series, I have gone the deepest on the sources and sinks of carbon…

5. 

   Brilliant post and analysis. A primer on the cynical tactic of greenwashing, everyone needs to know the difference between talking…

Starting and Sustaining Your Climate Action Journey

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

What does it take for you to contact your elected officials on something that you feel strongly about? Maybe it never occurs to you to do it. Myriad reasons may prevent you from taking this action – too busy, not sure how to do it, don’t think it will make a difference, not interested.

If you accept the premise of this series – that individual action is important, but the scale of the issues requires governments and corporations to lead – then you must address the disconnect between what you want as a voter and your expectations for what your elected officials must do. There is a significant majority of voters (70%) that recognize the problem of climate change and want action but an even greater percentage (90%) that have not contacted their elected officials. Meanwhile growing partisanship fueled by cynical special interests is increasingly hindering government action on anything important.

The polarization is extreme, just witness how divided we were on what to do in the face of a global pandemic. Scientists will tell you that addressing a viral pandemic involves logical steps to prevent the spread of the disease while a vaccine is developed and distributed. The response in the US was anything but logical. Climate change is subject to just as much irrational vitriol, and the magnitude of the problem promises ultimately to cause far more suffering and death than any pandemic we’ve experienced so far.

January 2021 is a memorable month for many in the US, mostly the one day where our democracy almost failed. Exactly three weeks later, on January 27, 2021 the Biden Administration issued the Executive Order on Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad. This rational blueprint provided context for and spelled out the needed actions that a united Congress controlled by Democrats in narrow majority quickly worked to execute.

The following year, the passage of the H.R.5376 – Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 galvanized the US Department of Energy to invest heavily in the needed technology to address climate change, including decarbonization of US industry, establishing a hydrogen economy, carbon capture, utilization and storage, and other key mitigation strategies.

The vote was strictly along party lines in the House of Representatives and the Senate. Not a single Republican voted to address climate change when given the chance.

The Democrat-controlled congress also passed H.R.3684 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, also based on the Biden executive order, which is motivating, in part, the build out of critical infrastructure needed to enable a robust, energy efficient economy driven by batteries and hydrogen. Oddly, the bill is most commonly known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, despite the fact that only a few Republicans voted for it.

The current Congress has not done a damn thing on anything, let alone the important job of accelerating and amplifying the climate action of their predecessors. It is likely that the 2024 election, if it goes badly, will result in an actual roll back of the progress we have made in the last few years. Remember, the FY2018 budget initially proposed by the Trump Administration called for cutting the DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy programs by as much as 82%, and it was only the intervention of Republican lawmakers that lessened the blow to the EERE’s budget.

And please remember that this happened: U.S. Exits Paris Climate Accord after Trump Stalls Global Warming Action for Four Years.

I am desperate in hoping that the momentum built by the previous Congress will be difficult to reverse or even slow. At the Congressional level, nothing is currently happening on climate change. Meanwhile, the work of the Department of Energy continues at great pace, not only technology development programs like the Energy Earthshots Initiative, but equally importantly the critical work of the Office of Energy Justice and Equity.

In all fairness to Heidi Roop, I embellished the message of this chapter a bit with my own passion. The firm message is Vote Climate, continue to educate yourself to flatten the bipartisan rhetoric, and figure out how to make your voice heard to those who can make a difference. As Heidi points out, no matter what the politics of someone you engage with on the climate crisis, you can confidently state that “something you care about is at risk from climate change”.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 5: Beware the Corporate “Anti-Climate” Campaign

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

1. 

   We cannot express enough gratitude for Howard and Heidi’s exploration and guidebook to practical action, pushing back against the much-ignored…

2. 

   Yours is a compelling back-story. Thanks for sharing

3. 

   This entry by Howard Creel is particularly excellent, and addresses much more than just our climate crisis. It’s a concise…

4. 

   Thanks, Mark. Of all topics in the series, I have gone the deepest on the sources and sinks of carbon…

5. 

   Brilliant post and analysis. A primer on the cynical tactic of greenwashing, everyone needs to know the difference between talking…

Starting and Sustaining Your Climate Action Journey

The Frog will explore The Climate Action Handbook: A Visual Guide to 100 Climate Solutions by Heidi Roop in the first 100 days of 2024

When deciding what actions to take to address on-going climate change, you should know that it is likely that your understanding of the potential impact of your actions may be subject to misperceptions. Heidi discusses a study of our perceptions of energy consumption and savings where, “when asked for the most effective strategy they could implement to conserve energy, most participants mentioned curtailment (e.g., turning off lights, driving less) rather than efficiency improvements (e.g., installing more efficient light bulbs and appliances), in contrast to experts’ recommendations.” As summarized in the popular media: Study Shows People Are Clueless About Energy Savings.

“… we generally misunderstand the impact of different actions and their effectiveness as climate solutions”

Heidi Roop

It is not just you, either. Heidi points to a 2017 study that showed that many governments tend to recommend lower-impact actions. It may be that high impact actions for individual may be controversial, like having fewer children, maintaining a strict plant-based diet, and living without a car. It is far safer for governments and popular media to stick to less controversial recommendations such as recycling and replacing light bulbs. “Our results show that education and government documents do not focus on high-impact actions for reducing emissions, creating a mitigation gap between official recommendations and individuals willing to align their behaviour with climate targets.”

We are on a journey to explore 100 actions that can be taken by an individual to address climate change. But, as Heidi points out, we need to avoid a “one-and-done” attitude and seek to implement a diversity of solutions for ourselves as well as engaging in our broader communities and perhaps (if you are motivated) at an even larger scale. This may be, for instance, advocating for policy changes at the local, state, federal and global level and/or invest in and demand the development and implementation of critical climate technology by governments and corporations.

Next Up: Climate Action in 2024 – Day 4: Be Privy to the Politics of Climate Change

Back to 100 Climate Solutions

Howard Creel

#rescuethatfrog
Email: rescuethatfrog@gmail.com

1. 

   We cannot express enough gratitude for Howard and Heidi’s exploration and guidebook to practical action, pushing back against the much-ignored…

2. 

   Yours is a compelling back-story. Thanks for sharing

3. 

   This entry by Howard Creel is particularly excellent, and addresses much more than just our climate crisis. It’s a concise…

4. 

   Thanks, Mark. Of all topics in the series, I have gone the deepest on the sources and sinks of carbon…

5. 

   Brilliant post and analysis. A primer on the cynical tactic of greenwashing, everyone needs to know the difference between talking…