News-Letter

Environmental Agenda

We are reminded by our leaders almost every day that our generation faces innumerable great challenges, ranging from terrorism and war to social security and health care. But remarkably, climate change is often left off the list, even though it is the greatest challenge facing our generation. Its impacts extend far beyond the environment: it is an economic, political and social issue.

Nicholas Stern, former Chief Economist and Senior Vice President at the World Bank from 2000 to 2003, completed a study released by the British government this month which forecasts that global warming will soon cost the world between five and 20 percent of annual GDP. This situation is untenable and spells global economic collapse.

The Pentagon released a report in October 2003, which was coauthored with representatives from the CIA, Shell Oil and Global Business Network. The report offered scenarios for the impact of global warming on geopolitical stability: "Humanity would revert to its norm of constant battles for diminishing resources, which the battles themselves would further reduce even beyond the climatic effects. Once again, warfare would define human life."

Furthermore, climate change will hinder our ability to alleviate global poverty and inequity. Poor countries will be hit earliest and hardest due to their greater vulnerability to agricultural insecurity, rising sea levels and disease. As Andrew Simmons of the New Economics Foundation puts it, "Global warming is set to make many of the problems which Africa already deals with, much, much worse."

Despite the claims of skeptics and special interests, the debate is over: human activity is largely responsible for global warming. The strength of current scientific consensus on this fact is overwhelming. The consensus includes the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change along with every major scientific body in the United States.

The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recently conducted a detailed, well-balanced and highly prestigious study of climate change. The conclusion was identical to the consensus of the National Academies of Sciences of all other G-8 countries: we are causing global warming.

The scientific consensus and dire implications demonstrate why the debate about climate change must be transformed to a plan for action. Our uncertainty about the magnitude of future climate impact is all the more reason to act. The devastating effects could be even greater than we currently predict. If we are to avoid the risk of cataclysmic disaster, we must begin preparing for global warming immediately.

Such preparation is absolutely crucial, James Hansen argued, the director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science and a leading climatologist. His studies have shown that humans may only have 10 years left to reduce greenhouse gas emissions before the worst effects of global warming reach a "tipping point," at which point they will be unstoppable. The longer we wait, the greater the danger.

The case for immediate action on climate change and energy policy is further supported by the short-term political and economic benefits. Thomas Friedman, author of The World is Flat, has written that an aggressive energy policy is the most "tough-minded, geostrategic, pro-growth and patriotic thing we can do." Energy independence is not only sound environmental policy: it is a national security imperative.

There is enormous growth potential to be unleashed by a new energy economy. The Stern Report tells us that, in the worst-case scenario, we will only need to spend one percent of annual GDP to stop global warming. This is already a relatively low figure, and it does not account for new economic growth that will come about as a result of the fight against global warming.

Several economic analyses, including that of the Apollo Alliance, have shown that investment into alternative and efficient energy technologies will create three million new high-wage jobs in construction, manufacturing and industrial machinery, pouring over $425 billion back into the economy through new income and additional output.

Pressure for new energy policy is building across the country, and students are taking the lead. Campus Climate Challenge, a coalition of over 30 organizations from the U.S. and Canada, was founded and is led by youth. It is organizing and supporting thousands of students to push their schools towards clean and efficient energy. Over 350 campuses have already signed on, and over 100 have implemented sustainable policies.

Yet Hopkins is severely lagging. As a leading scientific institution and steward of the Knowledge for the World campaign, we should join this movement. After attending a regional Youth Energy Summit this past weekend, several Hopkins students are launching a new initiative, the Hopkins Energy Action Team (HEAT), to encourage our campus to adopt a carbon-neutral energy policy. By creating the biggest and strongest coalition of students, organizations and faculty, HEAT will send a clear message to our administration to take action now.

In a world of undeterred global warming, not only will our ability to confront the other issues of our time be diminished, but so will the possibility of a positive future for ourselves and future generations. The benefits of energy action are clear. Hopkins' inaction is currently part of the problem. We now have the opportunity to take hold of our future and do so by making Hopkins part of the solution.

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