THE CHALLENGE OF Climate Change
By Gordian Raacke, climate messenger

It was a Sunday a couple of years ago, December 3rd, 2006, when I happened to be in New York City taking an early Sunday morning walk around Central Park and found a cherry tree -- in full bloom.

I took a picture of this messenger of climate change to remind me that global warming is not some threat far off in the future or only affecting areas as far away as the Antarctic.

A month later I was on a plane to Nashville, Tennessee, to begin my training as a Climate Messenger. I had been selected by The Climate Project to learn more about the looming climate crisis first-hand from Vice President Al Gore and to help spread the urgent message about our planetary emergency.

We spent three intense days with Mr. Gore and his team learning to give his presentation “An Inconvenient Truth.” Listening to some of the world’s best scientists present their irrefutable evidence we began to understand the urgency for action.

When we left Nashville we were intellectually well equipped to explain the scientific facts of global warming, but it wasn’t until a few months later that I really understood it all from a gut level.

In August of 2007 I traveled to Glacier National Park in Montana. Of the 150 glaciers that used to crown this magnificent park, only 26 are left today. At the visitor’s center, park rangers explain that they expect Glacier National Park to be devoid of glaciers by 2020 – a mere 11 years from now.
I decided to hike up to Grinnell Glacier, which is featured in Gore’s movie. At the trailhead are displays of historic photos taken 50 years ago showing the extent of the glacier’s icecap back then. When, after hours of ascent, I finally reached what was once Grinnell Glacier, I found a just sliver of ice rapidly melting into a lake. I got down on my knees to fill my water bottle with some liquid glacier as evidence of our unsustainable energy practices.

I keep that message in a bottle on my desk as a daily reminder that we better not ignore the warnings that Nature’s climate messengers are sending us in no uncertain terms.

The good news in the climate change story is that we are all part of the problem and therefore can all become part of the solution. In fact, as citizens of one of the world’s most industrialized countries, and one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases, we have a unique obligation to lead and help less developed countries solve the climate challenge.
Even better news is that we already have the scientific and technical know-how as well as the technologies needed to reduce our carbon emissions.

Thanks to advances in energy efficient appliances and lighting, better construction methods, advanced heating, cooling and onsite renewable energy systems like solar electric and hot water panels, we can now build homes and commercial buildings that use no or only minimal amounts of fossil energy.

The house that my wife and I built in 1993 is super-insulated, uses mostly sunshine for space and water heating, and solar panels produce electricity without emitting any climate-changing greenhouse gases. Our LIPA bill is less than $6 which is the basic monthly fee.

The world’s leading climate scientists have warned us that we need to drastically reduce our carbon emissions if we want to avert a planetary climate crisis. Many think that we must cut emissions 80 percent by 2050 and possibly earlier.

My hope is that 2009 will be the year where we begin the much needed retooling of our economy by making a radical shift from powering our lives with wasteful fossil fuel consumption to an economy powered by smart and renewable energy choices like energy efficiency, solar, wind, biomass, geothermal and other carbon-free sources.
Governor Paterson already set the goal that we meet 30 percent of our electricity needs from renewable energy sources and decrease electricity usage by 15 percent within 6 years. The Governor rightly believes this effort will help rebuild our economy, create an estimated 50,000 jobs, meet our energy needs, fight global warming, and protect our environment.

And President Obama, as part of his economic stimulus package, has called for doubling the amount of renewable energy sources nationally and improving the energy efficiency of Federal buildings and American homes.
The convergence of the planetary climate crisis with the current economic downturn presents a perfect opportunity for all of us to rethink how we use energy to save money, create ‘green collar’ jobs and save the planet.

We can all do our part. Whether we start by changing one light bulb or changing our entire life style, the important thing is to get started today.

Gordian Raacke is executive director of Renewable Energy Long Island (RELI) and a member of Networking® magazine’s Guide to Going Green Advisory Committee.