Charleston, South Carolina is drowning. In 2015, climate change seeped into my childhood home, into my living room, into my kitchen. The 1,000-year Charleston flood incurred 17 causalities. President Obama declared a State of Emergency, and called in the Coast Guard, FEMA, the National Guard, and hundreds of other volunteers. The deaths were “harrowing,” newspapers stated. Historic flooding, and all associated costs, has become the new normal.
Despite renewable energy’s exponential growth, clean power and reliability, a strong coalition of private and public allies feed fossil fuels’ life support. They claim it’s for jobs, money, security. And instead, we are given a clear mechanism for today’s political, economic and ideological divide.
Prominent Republican leaders used to acknowledge the existence of human-made climate change, many have changed their tone drastically. This is despite the frankness of forward-looking Republicans and Democrats, such as former South Carolina Representative Bob Inglis and Florida Representative Carlos Curbelo, who emphasize climate change’s ecological and economic impacts.
Increasing polarization coincides with the Supreme Court’s decision in the now-famous Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission (2010), allowing energy interests to exert unlimited financial influence in Congress. This court ruling is coupled with a modern, informal “gag rule” in Congress condemning discussion of climate change.
Stubbornness costs us all. The fossil fuel industry’s insatiable appetite has desecrated of 1.4 million acres of Appalachia for mountaintop removal, and suffocated nearly 2,000 miles of Appalachian headwater streams. The industry fuels stronger and more erratic hurricanes, wildfires and droughts that drain our pocketbook. In the year 2016 alone, at least 12 natural disasters cost the United States over one billion dollars.
In the industry’s heartland – states like Texas, Kansas, Wyoming, and Montana – farmers aren’t wasting time with Congress. They’re transitioning to clean energy because they have to. It’s not about reducing carbon emissions or keeping coasts at bay. It’s their bottom line at stake. As erosion, drought and unpredictable heat waves ransack crops, farmers are investing in sustainable rainwater catchment systems, and no-till farming techniques. They invite private wind turbines and solar panels on their land to grab an extra dollar. As pragmatic folks, fossil fuels simply don’t make sense anymore.
And how is one to calculate the fossil fuel industry’s immense health costs? Some have tried, with estimates in the hundreds of billions of dollars. But I see these damages as priceless. The jobs promised offer 174,000 coal miners direct exposure to toxic fumes, black lung disease and dangerous conditions. What is perceived as economic progress has debilitated children now suffering from asthma. It has stripped away the rights and dignities of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
It’s not only what we stand to lose, but also what we stand to gain. The global renewable energy revolution is an economic powerhouse, and the federal government has little power to stop it. Wind power is projected to create the most jobs in our country over the next decade, with Texas leading the largest renewable-energy boom the country has seen. According to MIT, Texas would be the sixth-largest generator of wind power in the world if considered its own country.
The year 2016 also marks the third consecutive year of massive growth in solar employment and technology. Deemed the largest quarter for solar in history, the United States installed over four gigawatts of capacity, enough to power 6.5 million American homes.
Nationwide, nuclear energy is enjoying a bipartisan boost as public concern decreases and capacity skyrockets. The power source drives over $60 billion in gross domestic product (GDP) per year and supports about 475,000 full-time jobs.
Let us transform our fragile electric grid, and invest in distributed, resilient power across our homes, communities, and utilities. Let us spend tax dollars on health care rather than coal combustion’s public health costs. Let us transform our rust belt into the green belt. Let’s rise to the occasion, for the canary is singing.