Spirituality and Ecological Hope

Today from Margaret Swedish:

Ten states are suing the federal government in an effort to force tougher mileage standards for SUVs and trucks.  I know I was not alone in being rather underwhelmed when President Bush announced new standards last year — 27.5 mpg for new cars and 21.6 mpg for 2006 trucks and SUVs.  Yawn…

The suit "contends that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration failed to conduct a thorough analysis of the environmental benefits of fuel economy regulations and the impact of gasoline consumption on climate change."

New rules set by the Bush administration would lead to an average of 24 mpg for light trucks by the year 2011, the program to be phased in through 2010.  Bold leadership, that.

This is incredible when put up against the challenges we face around fossil fuels and a consumer society utterly dependent on them.  Much of the price rise for gasoline has to do with the fact that supply is very tight right now — we pretty much consume every drop of oil put on the market each day.  Demand, meanwhile, is rising steadily, accelerated not only by our refusal to lower consumption, but by the insatiable thirst for oil of China, followed by India and other rising economic powers.

Meanwhile, we are rapidly reaching peak oil, the point at which we have tapped more than half of what lies in the earth, with future demand coming up against the reality of diminishing supply.  Our political leaders, so many of them tied to the oil industry, don't really want to talk much about this.  The result: we are in for a big surprise.

Automakers are, of course, pleased that the administration is not asking more of them.  I'm asking why we haven't already set a minimum standard of 50 mpg or more.  If you can't make an SUV that does that, well, it is time for the SUV era to end in any case.  But even more is required — moving away from fossil-fuel based consumption altogether, reorganizing how we live — and rethinking our values.

Many states have been taking action independent of the federal government to try to clean up their air or address climate change driven by global warming which is in turn driven by our carbon emissions.  Ten states sued the Environmental Protection Agency in April over the administration's failure to regulate carbon dioxide emissions, one of the leading greenhouse gases (the case was dismissed).  The administration actively opposes this state-led movement.  But as the crisis looms before us, many state and local politicians are frustrated at the lack of effective measures to address global warming and pollution and are taking matters into their owns hands

Said the Massachusetts attorney general, Thomas F. Reilly, "At a time when we are all facing a gas crisis, the Bush administration is pushing for fuel economy standards that appear to be authored by the oil and auto industry."  Precisely. That is definitely the problem.  Energy companies, especially big oil, determining our energy policy, writing legislation, making our laws.

And to this crisis — peak oil, an imminent energy crunch, rising gas prices (they will go up a lot farther soon) — we are offered a $100 rebate by the bold Senate Majority leader Bill Frist.  There are no funds for this, of course, so, should this get passed Congress, it would add $10 billion more to the federal debt, most likely financed by China, one of our biggest creditors and competitors for oil supply.

Does this sound insane to anyone else?  How many times can you gas up your car for a hundred bucks?

Well, US voters are not fooled by this (a lot of the reaction indicates that people don't like being insulted quite this badly), but clearly folks still hope like crazy that they can get into their various vehicles and drive wherever they please, that somehow, magically, the technology and policies will be found that will make it possible for us to live like this forever.

And that wish and denial will only continue to fuel this insanity.  Please believe — the energy crunch is coming.  Global warming is real.  Climate change will impact all of our lives, disrupt our world.  Only our willingness to radically alter how we live gives us a chance at a decent future on this planet.

The states involved in the suit: California (the leader), Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, along with the District of Columbia and New York City.  Let local officials in these places know they have your support.