The subtractive solutions - buy less stuff if you are in the global 1% income bracket, deforest less, burn less fossil fuels, sprawl less into our forests, drive less for community health, waste less for our landfills, … makes climate citizens stand on the sidelines and ask others to not do. Or self implode while optimizing our selves. If culture cheerleading/critique is all we do, culture wars/new religion is what we end up creating. We take the civilization forward by building better solutions and creating laws that tax the pollutors. We must create new abundances that makes the subtractive solutions bearable. Building abundant multi-story multi-family housing in existing urban zones prevents deforestation and car-centric suburban sprawl. Build transit, get us out of the drudgery of rotting in traffic and we will drive less. Create walkable cities and we have healthier citizens. The additive solutions are upon us. One such opportunity is at our door step.
IRA : Inflation Reduction Act
My parents wanted me to become a doctor, save lives.
Nothing but engineering was on my radar. To save lives, any of us can now do climate work. We solve for the root causes before they get people sick. We think in systemic change and don’t ONLY rely on treatment after we get sick. Any job is a climate job once we start optimizing for emissions and resources consumed. “But it’s my job”, the pimp’s defense, is no longer a valid excuse to be climate blind.
Climate work is a great source of joy in my home. The passing of IRA was a personal win for my husband, some of our friends and I. We sat with our teeth chattering at the edge of our seats for days as the politicians went back & forth. We cheered and hugged when VP Harris cast her tie breaker vote. We are back to doing election work because climate progress and protections for our home, has become a deep seated need in our bones now.
If I became a doctor, I couldn’t have saved as many lives as climate policies, that we as climate workers help push through. I am not alone in caring about reducing carbon pollution.
Americans have tapped into 8 Billion dollars ( ~3 million households claimed ~$6 billion in credits for solar panel installation and related projects, as well as ~$2 billion for other home improvements ) worth of tax credits. Half of these households report an annual income less than 100,000$. Take a moment to savor the fact that the median citizen wants climate policies. IRA is projected to reduce US emissions by 40% and is the biggest climate bill in my lifetime so far. There is one big problem : our capacity to transmit this clean energy and permitting timelines for energy projects. We have a compromise bipartisan solution on the senate floor.
The Energy Permitting Reform Act.
Read about the compromise here.
Read about the opposition here.
Follow it’s progress here.
Read the case for it here.
Without this reform, an estimated 30% of the projected savings from the IRA will be lost.
Do call your senator to express your interest in the bill.
We are going to have to make it easier to meet our clean energy goals. All of these environmental safeguards were about stopping bad stuff, and now, the goal is not just about stopping bad stuff; it’s about building good stuff.
-Sen. Brian Schatz, Hawaii
On a different note, Sen. Josh Newman’s “Responsible Textile Recovery Act,” SB 707 calls for clothing producers to create and fund an organization to help launch a textile recycling program that would be overseen by CalRecycle. Elections matter !