Red, Green, and Blue

Editor’s Note: Jeff Wolfe is the co-founder and CEO of groSolar. This is his second post. See also: Building a Solar Company in a Recession Economy.

I am at the North American Climate Presenter’s Summit. I am privileged, and burdened, by being one of the 1200 people in the US trained by Al Gore to deliver his climate slideshow. I say privileged because it is an incredible group of people and fantastic training. I say burdened because, well, ignorance is bliss, and not only am I not allowed to be ignorant, I am required to understand and spread both the message of the crisis confronting us and the solutions we must undertake immediately.

We’re getting updated science from some of the leaders in climate science. We’re getting information on human health effects (right now while I’m multi-tasking and typing this actually). We’re getting information on the just released draft of the Waxman–Markey climate bill. And of course, we’re getting motivation and direction for immediate action.

The overriding message is that the time is now, this is the moment. Historians look back through time and note those periods when significant change happened. It is unusual to be able to understand at the time of occurrence, that this is an historic moment in the history of the world. This is such a moment, such a time.

Such a moment for what? As Paul Krugman said Thursday, “It’s time to save the planet.” How? Most immediately get climate legislation passed in the US Congress before the Copenhagen climate conference. The Waxman–Markey bill is not perfect, but it’s pretty good, and is a start. Let’s start. What we’ll find once we start is that saving the planet has a whole bunch of benefits! Energy security, green jobs, economic recovery, controlled and perhaps reduced energy costs, healthier lifestyles, and a more peaceful world. Yes, China is a huge problem. They will follow, or join us in leading, but we’ll never know unless we lead.

Can we afford it? On a purely economic basis, yes. We’re wasting $420 billion dollars per year due to electrical system outages and electrical system inefficiencies. We’re spending unknown (at least to me) billions treating disease from pollution that is avoidable (like asthma due to air quality issues) and will spend many billions more fighting diseases brought on by climate change. Frankly, we cannot afford to not beat climate change on a pure economic basis. Of course, there is also the question about where we will all live if we don’t beat it and stabilize global temperature increase to 2 degrees. Last I knew this Earth is our only option.

Photo Credit: World Resource Institutes Staff’s photostream via Flickr under Creative Commons License

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