Environment and the Climate Crisis

By Claudia Wright

The recent failure of the Copenhagen summit was a tragedy, highlighting how important it is that those who serve and represent our nations be committed to the real and challenging steps of forging and enforcing a long-term, comprehensive energy policy. I believe that the nation that can lead the world in clean manufacturing, renewable energy resources, and practical step-by-step reduction of our carbon footprints will lead the world in the twenty-first century. I believe that nation should be the United States of America. Use of existing technologies, incentives, and a federal carbon tax could go a long way toward moving this goal forward.

Here in Utah, we face a great opportunity to be part of the solution to the climate crisis, and we face greater and greater peril if we delay action. Our generation may not experience full-scale devastation of our landscapes and ways of life, but our children and grandchildren most certainly will. We need only track the record of “unhealthy” air days in Utah to realize that our excessive uses of oil, gas, and electricity are destroying our habitat and recreational lands, and posing severe health risks to our communities and children. We need only drive to the Uintas to see for ourselves Utah’s dying forests and depleted water reservoirs. Climate scientists project that Utah desert temperatures will rise 9 to 10 degrees by 2100, making it almost impossible to sustain communities in many parts of our state. We must invest now in protecting Utah’s water, wildlife, and working farms and ranches by creating and enforcing tougher emissions controls and emissions reduction strategies.

But remedies for the climate crisis and environmental protections are not won by pledging lip service and refusing to make real, concrete policy changes. Congressman Matheson has verbally acknowledged the critical nature of climate issues, but he continues to support fossil fuel extraction from our fragile ecosystems, and in 2008 was the 14^th highest recipient in the House of Representatives of money from the oil and gas industry. Utah, and the United States at large, face the opportunity to to do something different. Currently Utah is among the top five fastest growing states for wind energy. In 2008, a record 85,000 Americans worked in the wind-energy industry, and at this point the US remains the world’s largest market for new wind-power installations. I believe Utah should lead the nation in the creation of new wind-power jobs, including the vast need for domestic manufacturing of wind-power equipment. Further, we can expand grants in education and development for promoting the geothermic and solar industries. If we don’t start now, moving beyond the fossil fuels of the past to the clean energy jobs of the future, we will lose those jobs forever to China.