local solutions to a global crisis

Gov. Schweitzer, Panelists Urge Aggressive Action on Climate Change

By Peter Metcalf, 2-01-08

Naming global climate change as the most pressing issue facing the nation, Gov. Brian Schweitzer called for swift and decisive action by individuals, industry and government to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in a speech at the University of Montana Thursday night.

“The fastest way to decrease our carbon footprint is to decrease our consumption of energy,” Schweitzer said in his keynote address before a panel discussion by state and local leaders on climate change policy.

Schweitzer emphasized his office’s commitment to significantly reduce the state government’s greenhouse gas emissions over the near term and to improve the state’s production of renewable energy to 25 percent of its portfolio by the year 2025.  Schweitzer touted the potential of wind energy as a source of “clean and green energy” that could help wean America from coal and the nascent development of the industry in Montana despite stiff resistance from traditional energy industries.

“We found that not only is wind cleaner and greener, it costs less money” than coal power developments, Schweitzer said.

He laid out his vision for America’s energy future as a nation of plug-in hybrid electric cars that essentially functioned as mobile electrical storage and supply units.  These smart cars could pull energy from the grid when demand is low, such as at night, store the energy in their batteries and then use the stored energy to power their owner’s home or sell the stored energy back into the grid for a profit when demand is high, such as in the morning.

“If we had in this country, batteries on wheels, the wind power of Montana would always have a market,” Schweitzer said.

Notably absent from his discussion was any mention of coal gasification technology, long the foundation of Schweitzer’s energy plan.

The governor’s speech headlined a panel discussion on climate change policy at the federal, state, local and university levels.  The panel discussion was part of the University of Montana’s participation in a national day of action on global warming sponsored by the organization Focus the Nation.  The two-day event began with a day of dialogue and teach-ins across campus on Wednesday. It was also part of the University’s on-going efforts to facilitate public education and dialogue on climate change that have included speeches by UM’s Dr. Steve Running, who earned a share of the Nobel prize for his work with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and James Hansen of NASA.  The annual Wilderness Issues Lecture Series this spring will also focus on climate change. 

Following the governor’s speech, UM geography professor and climate specialist Anna Klene painted a stark picture of the potential effects of climate change on Montana over the next fifty years: an average increase in winter temperatures of 5.4 degrees, wetter winters, hotter drier summers, longer fire seasons, declining snow pack and a spring run-off that arrives over a month earlier, leaving 20 – 50 percent less water in Montana’s rivers during the summer for irrigation, municipal water supplies, power generation and wildlife.  All the predictions were based on models for a doubling of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the year 2054.  Current emission rates, however, lead to a tripling of atmospheric carbon dioxide in that interval.

“We don’t even want to talk about a tripling because the impacts will be that much more severe,” Klene said.

One by one the panelists underscored the urgency of the issue and the importance of conservation at all levels of government and by all individuals to reduce levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.

“Conservation is the easiest and least expensive way for us to get to where we want to be” on climate change, Missoula Mayor John Engen said.  Engen highlighted some of the steps the city has taken in the last few years to reduce their energy use, primarily by cutting vehicle emissions.

Cities like Missoula have some responsibility and opportunity to address climate change, particularly by how it designs development, Engen said.  The mayor suggested Missoula needs to improve its layout of roads and intersections to keep traffic flowing instead of idling and plan development that places work and services close residences so people can walk. 

Richard Opper, director of the Montana Department of Environmental Quality, stressed that states cannot wait for the federal government to act.

“We don’t have the kind of leadership we need at the federal level right now,” Opper said.  Opper argued for Montana to reduce its dependency on coal as a source for electricity. Along with incentives for industry, the state also needs to adopt a stronger regulatory framework to improve emissions standards and sequestration techniques for existing and new electrical generation facilities, Opper said.

The final panelist of the evening, associate professor of Environmental Studies Phil Condon, encouraged the audience to think of sustainability on a different time frame than years or decades, but as a pattern of living forever.  A member of the UM Sustainable Campus Committee, Condon reviewed the steps the committee has taken over the past six years, including changes to the UM bus system designed to limit the number of private cars on campus and an on-going campus wide energy inventory. 

“The problem is urgent,” Condon said.  “The problem, as we discover more (about climate change), is more urgent than we thought.  It is moving fast and there is no time to waste.”

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