The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (the climate change scientific body of the UN) recently released another report verifying that climate change is having disastrous effects in many parts of the world — even worse than previously understood.
This is not the news we want to hear, of course. However, it does remind us that the climate crisis is shared by all of humanity. If we can remember more often that we are each part of a global community, connected to people everywhere by our shared humanity, we are more likely to be able to handle bad news about the climate. We will be more likely to let bad news spur us to take increasing action to make whatever difference we can in the climate crisis.
The new climate report was released four days after Russia invaded Ukraine. A Ukrainian botanist on the IPCC had to make his last text checks on the report from a bomb shelter in Kyiv. Svitlana Krakovska, the meteorologist who heads the Ukrainian IPCC delegation, said, “We will not surrender in Ukraine, and we hope the world will not surrender in building a climate resilient future. Human-induced climate change and the war on Ukraine have the same roots — fossil fuels — and our dependence on them.”
For years, Russia’s oil and gas industry has been a huge part of the Russian economy, accounting for 60% of its export earnings and 30% of Russian federal budget revenues. About half of their fossil fuel exports go to Europe. Purchases of Russian oil and gas, necessitated by the world’s dependence on fossil fuels, have been propping up Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian economy for years.
Since Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the western nations have been imposing sanctions on Russia, but the European Union can’t impose the most significant sanction — boycotting Russian oil and gas — because people in the EU would be unable to heat their homes and their economies would suffer drastically. (During the first two weeks of the war, analysts estimate that the EU bought $10 billion worth of fossil fuels from Russia.)
Now, as some countries are cutting back on imports of Russian oil and gas, fuel prices are climbing steeply. Reactions to this have been predictable and revealing. The fossil fuel industry and its backers are calling for more drilling, more export terminals, and more pipelines to meet the “need” for more oil and gas. (Ignoring, of course, that these things would take years to build and have no effect on current prices.)
Meanwhile, climate advocates are calling for us to see this crisis as a wake-up call to get off of fossil fuels — both because of their disastrous climate effects and because of the way they increase the power of Russia and other petro-states, and limit our options in international affairs.
Three days after the Russian invasion, Bill McKibben, the founder of 350.org, wrote a piece in which he recommended that President Joe Biden invoke the Defense Production Act to get U.S. manufacturers to produce electric heat pumps in large quantities so they can be shipped to Europe and installed before next winter. His research revealed that the European electric grid could handle 50 million new heat pumps. Any significant number would lessen Putin’s power, create thousands of manufacturing jobs in the U.S., and help with the climate crisis.
The Defense Production Act has been used recently by President Donald Trump and by President Biden. McKibben says we could provide Europe with heat pumps at cost, or below cost, just as we did with the “lend-lease” program leading up to World War II. The Washington Post reports that White House aides are seriously studying the idea.
The IPCC report says that billions of people’s lives are already being affected by climate change, and that climate change is “a threat to human wellbeing and the health of the planet.” It affirms that there is still an open, but rapidly closing, window of opportunity in which “concerted global action can secure a livable future.”
The report also states that “climate change is a global challenge that requires local solutions.” I take this to mean that as we engage in local campaigns to prevent new fossil fuel infrastructure, require that new buildings be net-zero, reduce emissions from all sources, and increase carbon sequestration, we are playing significant roles in the global effort that is required.
One final note for this month: I’m inspired by one of our local community members, Sue Donaldson, of Northampton. Sue is a retired doctor who has decided to participate in a hunger strike, with five other members of the climate group “350 Massachusetts.”
Beginning March 15, they will be protesting the folly of new fossil fuel infrastructure. They are demanding cancellation of a proposed gas/oil “peaker” plant in Peabody, and condemning the proposed Eversource pipeline in Springfield. They invite anyone who is willing and able to join them in a symbolic, supportive fast of any length (3, 6, or 12 hours) and to let them know at climatecourageusa@gmail.com, so they can make public how many people participate. I will join them in a one-day fast.
Russ Vernon-Jones lives in Amherst. He blogs regularly on climate justice at www.russvernonjones.org.