What I learned last night

Yesterday afternoon I posted "Do you know your and your community's carbon footprint?, then went off to a local meeting on the issue of global warming.

I arrived at the meeting upset:

A. With myself because my carbon footprint is huge, i.e., I’m contributing several tons of carbon to the atmosphere each year;

B. Because the problem of global warming is so dire. This week, The Washington Post reported that "Carbon Output Must Near Zero to Avert Danger, New Studies Say";

C. Because our county sent as its representative to the UN international climate change convention in Bali an elected official, Paul Kelley, who had made these comments within the past few years:

“I am still not convinced that global warming is not a hysterical thing, a fad that will pass.”

“It’s sort of arrogant that people think that man can have such a catastrophic impact on the earth. I’m not so sure.”

And on and on and on. I felt anxious and critical of what I had read about local efforts to reduce our carbon footprint. I planned to question the speaker, Ann Hancock, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Protection Campaign, about why we weren't doing more.

After all, using the chart from her organization’s website, the commitment of our county to reduce its carbon footprint by 25% from the 1990 level by 2015 seemed woefully inadequate. Plus our county's greenhouse gas emissions rose at double the national rate between 1990 and 2000, and the graph (see yesterday's post) shows that it's continuing to rise at virtually the same rate from 2000 to 2010.

By the time I left the meeting last night, I had lost my angry edge. What happened? I relearned something very valuable: The most effective way of getting the message across is to refrain from blaming, ridiculing, or getting angry with those who don't believe that human beings are affecting our climate. It also helps to listen. Of course, these apply to all facets of my life.

I also learned that the best way to describe what is happening is this: “Climate change is caused by a manmade blanket of carbon dioxide that surrounds the earth and traps its heat.”

Ann mentioned Marshall Rosenberg’s Nonviolent Communication - A Language of Life, which helped her become effective in carrying the message that we need to do something to protect our earth from overheating.

Why was I so impressed with Ann’s message? Because the very person who I thought would never change his mind, Paul Kelley, has now “come around.” So has the one hold-out on our city council.

I bought Nonviolent Communication - A Language of Life this afternoon and plan to start reading it tonight.

(book cover: Language of Compassion)

Do you know your and your community's carbon footprint?

Yesterday I read in The Washington Post "Carbon Output Must Near Zero to Avert Danger, New Studies Say": “The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades.” [emphasis mine]

I decided I’d better check my carbon footprint. According to the calculator at Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth” website, mine is 2.55 tons per year, with the average in this country of 7.55 tons. Using the Carbon Footprint calculator, it’s 4.7 tons and looks a lot smaller than the average footprint for a person living in California but a lot larger than the goal for each of us throughout the world.

Then I became interested in what my small town, Healdsburg, is doing about its carbon footprint. There’s a push for a new large upscale development north of town, Saggio Hills, and its carbon footprint has not been calculated yet. Will Healdsburg consider this when it approves or disapproves the project?

What about my county, Sonoma. ? I’ll learn more this evening because Ann Hancock, executive director of the Climate Protection Campaign, will be here in Healdsburg to talk about it. Hancock has been the driving force behind all nine Sonoma County cities adopting the country’s boldest target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions: 25% below 1990 levels by 2015.

But is this enough? When I look at the chart below, it doesn’t look like it to me (double-click to enlarge).

One other thing that bothers me about local efforts to reduce our carbon footprint is that Paul Kelley, who is a county supervisor, went to Bali to represent Sonoma County at the U.N. conference on climate change held in December.

How could Kelley, who said the following within the last three years, possibly represent our county at an international climate change conference?

1. “I am still not convinced that global warming is not a hysterical thing, a fad that will pass.”
2. “It's sort of arrogant that people think that man can have such a catastrophic impact on the Earth. I'm not so sure.''

I’ll go to the meeting this evening with an open mind. However, I suspect that I as an individual and my community, i.e., my town and my county, need to do more to reduce its carbon footprint.

(carbon footprint logo: Blogs Today (UK); chart of Sonoma County emission reductions: Climate Protection Campaign)