States Step out in Cancun

Greg Dalton, Club vice president and director of its Climate One program, is in Cancun this week for the climate conference taking place there. He blogs:

With international negotiations stuck in the sand and the political climate in Washington DC hostile to the reality of "global weirding," much of the discussion at the Cancun climate conference is about what states and cities can do to keep moving forward. Seen in that light, the United States looks firm around the edges and is starting to appear flabby in the middle.

California has been a bright spot at these conferences for the past several years and it's aura is shining even stronger these days following the results of this fall's election. Lauren Faber, Assistant Secretary of the California Environmental Protection Agency, crowed that more people (nearly 6 million) cast ballots to sustain the state's core clean energy policy (AB 32) than voted for or against any other candidate or issue around the United States.

Read his entire blog post

Shai Agassi: A Better Model?

Shai Agassi (left in video) talks with Greg Dalton, Climate One director and vice president of The Commonwealth Club, about making electric cars a reality.

Some Religious Perspectives on Environmentalism

From a March 23, 2010, program at The Commonwealth Club's Climate One series of programs, panelists discuss religious attitudes and actions regarding the environment.

Is Geo-Engineering a Viable Alternative to Our Current Climate Change Initiatives?

Geo-engineering -- the idea that mankind can intentionally alter the earth's atmosphere to undo some of the effects of manmade climate change -- recently emerged from the worlds of academic papers and science fiction stories into public discourse, thanks to the broaching of the subject in the recent book SuperFreakonomics.

The Commonwealth Club's Climate One program investigated this topic in a recent program, which included Ken Caldeira, the atmospheric scientist at the heart of the SuperFreakonomics climate controversy.

The Views from Copenhagen, Part I

As 192 nations meet in Copenhagen, Denmark, to debate and debate and debate about what to do about climate change, The Commonwealth Club is there to report what's happening, plan upcoming climate programs for Club events, and even hold a program featuring California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, Nobel laureate Rajendra Pachauri, and others.

In the top photo below, you get a sense of why Copenhagen might have been chosen to host this event: bikes. Dr. Kerry Curtis, chair of The Club's Environment & Natural Resources Member-Led Forum, reports that there are many more bikes than cars around the apartment building where The Club's contingent is staying. Middle photo: The big meeting room, generally reserved for official delegates to the UN climate summit. Bottom photo: The Commonwealth Club team poses at the entrance to the conference.

(All photos courtesy Dr. Kerry P. Curtis.)

See Part II and Part III of this report.
For further reports from Copenhagen, also see the blog of Climate One, the Club's climate initiative.

China at the Crossroads

A panel of experts convened at The Commonwealth Club last night for a look at the pivotal role China will play in the development of a post-downturn, 21st century global economy.

Recent studies from economic and environmental agencies alike point to the heavy influence China exerts on our daily lives, driving up fossil fuel prices and contributing to the quality (or lack thereof) of the very air we breathe.

According to a two-year study by U.S.-based Energy Foundation and the World Wildlife Fund, if China continues to grow at its current pace, its annual greenhouse gas emissions would reach 17 billion tons by 2050 - accounting for 60 percent of all emissions worldwide and easily supplanting the U.S. as the world's biggest "greenhouse gas gorilla." The fast-approaching U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen has identified discourse between China and the U.S. as a turning point in the fight against global warming.

Addressing these and other issues were Felicia Marcus, Barbara Finamore and Gao Jie of the National Resources Defense Council, which works in the U.S. and Beijing to preserve and protect the environment. Joining them were Peter Liu, founder and vice chairman of New Resource Bank, an FDIC-member community bank with expertise in funding green and sustainable businesses.

For more information on upcoming events, check us out at www.commonwealthclub.org. A China-related event of note is Lynne Joiner speaking about "Honorable Survivor: Mao's China, McCarthy's America and the Persecution of John S. Service" on October 7. For a list of upcoming climate and environmental programs, see our Climate One series of events and our Environment & Natural Resources Member-Led Forum events.

--By Andrew Harrison

Schwarzenegger Tells Commonwealth Club California Must Lead on Energy, Never Follow

In his third appearance at The Commonwealth Club of California in 13 months, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a room of nearly 500 attendees that the state must always be a leader on fighting climate change and on generating economic growth from environmentally friendly activity.

Though his appearance focused on the third anniversary of AB32 -- legislation that set California on a path of being a national and global leader in green economics -- Schwarzenegger also touched on a wide array of topics, particularly during his question-and-answer session with Greg Dalton, director of The Commonwealth Club's Climate One program. When he was asked by a member of a fourth-grade class that was in attendance what advice he gives to his own children regarding the environment, the governor related his own upbringing in postwar Europe, where his family lived in a home without running water. As a result, he closely monitors the length of his children's showers and threatens to cut off the hot water after five minutes. He also makes his children make their own beds and do their own laundry.

From Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman's recent comments about rescinding some of his green policies, to discussing his desire to do anything possible to make the Obama administration (and future administrations of either party) successful, the governor shied away from no topic. He gave an impassioned explanation about the necessity of painful across-the-board budget cuts when an audience member questioned reductions in higher education funding.

To end the program, he was asked if, after he leaves the governor's office, he would consider holding a post in the Obama administration, being an international ambassador for green issues, or starring in a TV series about a California governor ("...like West Wing, only better..."). Schwarzenegger said he was open to all three.

We'll post the full video of the program here when it's available.

(Photos by John Zipperer)

Traffic Patterns: Attitudes Toward Cars

Everything is bigger in America. From waistlines to portion sizes, the country has a knack for cultivating and embracing all things large. But lately, it seems to many as if family-sized everything is beginning to lose its appeal, especially in the form of cars.

During August’s Cash for Clunkers program, more than 400,000 cars were traded in, 84 percent of which were trucks. While some users opted to purchase newer large cars, 59 percent of vehicles purchased were compact cars like Honda Civics and Toyota Corollas. It served as only a temporary boon to the auto industry, but it could translate to long-term changes in air quality, financial responsibility and, simply, space.

As transportation secretary Ray LaHood told The New York Times, “This is a win for the economy, a win for the environment and a win for consumers.”

Though the benefits and repercussions of the program are still up for debate, on a basic level, the extra space on the roads and in the lots might be a welcome change, especially in California. For a long time, cars in America just kept getting bigger. The SUV craze of the '90s meant the Chevy Suburban continued to expand and gain popularity, the Ford Excursion rolled out with what some people probably thought was more room than anyone had any business occupying, and the oversize obsession reached its pinnacle when the Hummer became, literally, widely available. Grappling with an increasing number of cars – which California will have to do as its population continues to grow – might be done more easily if they come in a neat, compact package.

As the climate bill winds its way through Congress, favoring smaller, cleaner cars could be a natural move. Essentially, this month-long cash-for-clunkers program could end up initiating a shift in the way Americans regard vehicles. Even in San Francisco, the country’s second most densely populated city and one with little room for cars, driving accounts for 60 percent of trips taken. City planning officials have just unveiled their transportation vision for 2030, and ambitious is an understatement. The city hopes to cut car use in half, up transit use to 30 percent and bring bike and foot trips up to 40 percent. If California can set the bar for fuel efficiency, San Francisco could hope to set it for general travel efficiency.

California, which has long pushed for strict fuel efficiency standards and is now setting the nation’s standard, is the veritable ground zero for car chaos. The state is expected to double in population by 2050, so many observers believe that its transportation infrastructure is in dire need of updating and funding to accommodate more vehicles. An October panel at The Club will meet to discuss the challenges, while the Environmental Protection Agency’s Lisa Jackson will visit on September 29 to identify key strategies to cleaning up our act.

Balancing Carbon Reduction and Economic Growth

The poorest people of the world will undoubtedly be affected the most by climate change and the current global economic crisis, according to Kathy Sierra, the vice president for sustainable development at the World Bank. Ironically, climate change will have a disproportionate impact on the poor in developing countries, who even though they have done the least to cause it, are the least prepared to deal with it and will suffer the soonest and perhaps the most from it, she told The Commonwealth Club’s Climate One audience this past Tuesday.

In conversation with The Club’s Climate One Director Greg Dalton and Awais Khan, the director of KPMG’s Clean Tech Venture Capital Practice, Sierra outlined the new dual mandate of the World Bank: help the world’s poor and simultaneously confront global climate change issues. In short, she said, successful global carbon reduction and economic growth, inextricably linked, will require “finance, technology, partnerships and a new way of thinking about development.”
When Dalton asked how the current financial crisis is affecting the work of the World Bank, Sierra responded, “It is harder now, because there is less capital out there.”

Sierra responded to queries about the bank’s mission and it major accomplishments by explaining how the bank seeks to get “knowledge out there, bring together different financial flows, and create partnerships.” She said the World Bank is strongly urging developing nations -- including India, China, Brazil, Mexico, and South Africa -- to consider the changes that need to be made to reduce their carbon footprint and create better energy efficiency. She cited Mexico as an example of where climate change is being tackled aggressively. With a loan from the World Bank, Mexico is transforming urban transport, working on its rapid-bus mass transport system to get cars off the road and implement a lower emissions bus system. She noted that if they are successful there, other Latin American countries will surely take their lead and consider that those solutions might work for them as well.

Sierra lauded the efforts of Turkey as a leader in sustainable energy development. She said that Turkey is very interested in meeting European standards and that the World Bank is working closely with it to introduce smart grids and other energy-saving advancements.

Khan added that the private sector supplements World Bank efforts by looking at attractive technologies and commercializing them. He described some of the most promising energy-saving technologies currently being funded by Silicon Valley Venture Capitalists: the electric car in China, waste management technologies, and plastics recycling. “However,” he added, “the World Bank is more active than we think in Silicon Valley.” He emphasized how closely the bank must work with the governments of countries to implement change of any kind. When asked what corporations can do to help lower negative environmental emissions, Khan responded, “they can do a lot.” He used Nike as an example of a company that has pulled back from regions of the world where energy standards are lower.

With its new climate-change agenda, Sierra said the World Bank is taking more risks. She said that many developing countries, as well, are now more likely to take risks because they want diversified energy portfolios.

Knowledge, partnerships and financial packages are crucial to orchestrating the critical changes the World Bank believes need to take place. “Part of our collective job is to get the cleanest technologies in place,” Sierra said. “Our mission at the World Bank is not just to help countries do no harm, but to help them get on the right path and move toward cleaner energy solutions. It’s already happening in wind and geothermal. ... The big challenge now is how to scale it up. It’s very expensive, time-consuming -- and complicated -- but do-able. ... Carbon credits and microfinancing, this is where the world is going.”

With 1.6 billion people in developing countries living without access to electricity, Sierra said that those countries’ leaders are more motivated than ever to provide their citizens with electricity. Moving to cleaner energy will be attractive to them, especially if there is financing and technology available. Helping these countries to get on this low-carbon growth path is key to sustainable development and poverty reduction and, therefore, key to the mission of the World Bank.

--Commonwealth Club Media and Public Relations Department

Chevron and Sierra Club: Peace at Last?

In a highly anticipated face-to-face between the heads of Chevron and the Sierra Club last night at The Commonwealth Club's Climate One program, the sold-out audience got a surprise preview of what the future holds in store for these two working together.

Climate One on the Road to Copenhagen

The Clean Coal Controversy

CBS News' "60 Minutes" recently looked at the controversial choice America has as it tries to wean itself from foreign oil and at the same time address the environmental impact of our energy use.


Watch CBS Videos Online

For more in-depth ideas about clean coal -- is it clean? is it feasible? -- check out a recent Commonwealth Club program on Clean Coal: Myth or Reality?"

King Coal Fights an Uphill Battle Against Environmentalists

King Coal is already the subject of the next big battle pitting environmentalists against big business. People involved in the issue are trying to determine how we can limit the use of the dirtiest and cheapest form of energy, and whether the notion of "clean coal" is a credible science or panacea.

Robert Kennedy, Jr. made news this week when he charged President Obama and many politicians with been too cozy with coal producers. Though the message was overshadowed by his use of the phrase "indentured servants" when characterizing political backers of clean coal, the son of RFK has been a long-time critic. Here's what he wrote for the Huffington Post in late 2007:

In fact, there is no such thing as "clean coal." And coal is only "cheap" if one ignores its calamitous externalized costs. In addition to global warming, these include dead forests and sterilized lakes from acid rain, poisoned fisheries in 49 states and children with damaged brains and crippled health from mercury emissions, millions of asthma attacks and lost work days and thousands dead annually from ozone and particulates.

Both sides of this debate have featured vociferous opposition to each other. Jeff Goodell, the author of Big Coal: The Dirty Secret Behind America's Energy Future, will attempt to moderate a panel containing a scientist, two lobbyists and a venture capitalist next Tuesday at the Commonwealth Club of California.

Goodell presented the pros and cons of clean coal's main contention in a blog posting for Yale University last year. He wrote that coal's dirty byproduct -- carbon dioxide -- could be liquefied and injected underground, thereby theoretically making the fortified black rocks of energy scrubbed of their ozone-depleting hazards. The science and feasibility, he says, is somewhat dubious, though. "Unfortunately, CCS [carbon capture and storage] is more fantasy than reality at the moment," wrote Goodell.

He does agree with Kennedy on the implication that clean coal is politically expedient and neatly explained. "Politically, CCS is a godsend. Both Barack Obama and John McCain are eager to carry Big Coal (swing) states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and Ohio, where the promise of 'clean coal' is the easy answer to every hard question about energy security, global warming, and the economy."

One of the leading proponents of Clean Coal is Joe Lucas, the vice president of communications for the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity (ACCCE) and a member of Tuesday's panel. He was called an "obvious huckster" by David Roberts of the Huffington Post while lampooning his powers of persuasion. "It's old-fashioned street theater, showing you the con and charming you into nodding along anyway," Roberts said. "You kind of have to give him style points."

At a time when populist tendencies are heightened along with broad acceptance of environmental platforms, corporate leaders are being pressured like no time since perhaps the early 1930s. If Clean Coal is nothing more than hokum, the onus of proving its viability to the American public may have passed -- like about six months ago, when more accommodating ears resided in the White House. In the meantime, only the great promise of scientific discovery is their best hope.

Author Jeff Goodell will moderate "Clean Coal: Myth or Reality?" with S. Julio Friedmann, Carbon Management Program Leader, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory; Ray Lane, Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers; Bruce Nilles, Director, Beyond Coal Campaign at Sierra Club and Joe Lucas, Senior Vice President, American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity. The program, April 28, begins at 6 p.m. Click here for more information.

Walking the Walk

The Planetwalker's Commonwealth Club appearance in Silicon Valley was postponed, and it's too bad – we'll miss hearing from the legendary John Francis PhD. He's one of those people who helped build the Bay Area's international reputation and character.

Alongside other luminaries of the Bay Area's environmental movement like Paul Hawken, Dr. Martin Griffin, Jr., or the great Mrs. Elizabeth Terwilliger (to name only a few), Dr. Francis tackled and brought to light a challenging and sad aspect of our society.

He's best known for a personal saga. But that amazing story sometimes clouds a deeper message, so Hawken's work at the intersection of environment and commerce is further illuminated by Francis' writing.

Periodically mucking-up our oceans, beaches and marine life is a cost of doing business these days, and the global shipping industry grows ever-more ponderous without scrutiny. The container ship that struck the Bay Bridge in late 2007, leaked some 58,000 gallons of bunker oil into the bay, illustrating that point most recently. But that spill is one of many, and seems minor when compared to the 1971 spill that unfolded after two oil tankers collided beneath the Golden Gate Bridge, spewing hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel.

Ports in Oakland and Long Beach rank among the most heavily trafficked in western North America, insuring that the treasured marine sanctuaries just off our coastline will continue to serve double duty as “on-ramps to the global economy.”

Francis' story reminds us that our willingness to regulate polluting industries – such as shipping – is constrained by our dependence on imported goods. Critics like Francis pin some of the blame for these environmental catastrophes on ship pilots or greedy executives, but their livelihoods are fueled by consumer demand. John Francis is out to change that.

Check out his latest books or watch his TED presentation below.



And keep an eye on The Commonwealth Club's program listings for your chance to hear him in person.

– A. Shaw

Experts: After Spill, Local Bureaucracy is Still Lagging Behind Clean Up

Though the ill-fated cargo ship Cosco Busan trudged through the San Francisco Bay one dense, foggy morning a year ago today, the consequences of the oil spill still reverberate not only ecologically, but at all levels of government.

Despite a bevy of bills signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and a far greater amount of awareness about the issue, critics complain that the region is still not sufficiently prepared to deal with another large-scale spill.

California Assemblyman Jared Huffman along with an environmental activist and local emergency manager, speaking today at the Commonwealth Club found that problems still exist in the areas of response.

Huffman, who represents Marin County, which suffered oil damage to the coastline at Bolinas Lagoon, wonders whether private contractors are the best choice for clean up. “Is it a good idea to rely on folks who wold make more money if the spill is allowed to worsen?” said Huffman.

He also questions whether the proximity of such responders, nearly all unfamiliar with the terrain and surf of the Bay Area are best equipped to handle situations.

Some out-of-state responders needed to be rescued from the ocean by volunteer fire fighters, he said.

“They have adopted at the Federal level this system of private contractors." said Huffman. "I think we ought to be questioning the effectiveness and the efficacy of relying on contractors who may be very good at what they do but are not located nearby when you need them."

Also problematic to the panel is the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 that, in effect, gives ship owners the first right to cleaning any spill.

"It is the culture of the oil spill response community to make best use of primary resources -- contractors that specialize in oil spill response. They have elaborate mechanisms and pieces of equipment as well as highly trained personnel that specialize in how to get heavy black stuff off the water into the boat," said Chris Godley, manager of emergency response in Marin. "That said, though, there are other resources that may be useful for such a response that are available from local and even state governments that were initially declined.”

These include the use of aviation, communication systems and local volunteers.

Godley noted the throng of volunteers itching to help clean Bay Area beaches was unprecedented in the United States. Most places where oil spills occur are in areas away from large metropolitan area as opposed to the leak in the greater Bay Area.

“Someone literally poured oil on your doormat, you’re going to want to go out and take care of it,” said Godley.

Sejal Choksi, the director of programs at Baykeeper, a local group striving to preserve the bay waters, believes the key to preventing a large scale disaster is too work quickly after the initial accident.

(For more, read Choksi's article in the opinion section of the San Francisco Chronicle.)

One problem facing the bay's unique geography is that technology does not yet exist to clean up some local coastlines. According to Choksi, the current in Bolinas Lagoon is too swift to operate safely; Angel Island is too rocky; and both Richardson Bay and the mudflats near Emeryville are too shallow to protect.

In the big picture, though, the speakers said that everyday pollution is a more manageable and growing problem than shipping containers floating in and out the bay.

"Oil spills are not the biggest threat to the bay," said Choksi. "They are a tremendous threat to the bay, but our everyday activities do pose more pollution problems for the bay’s health and water quality.”

Though he said that local officials were not ready to respond to the oil spill in the bay a year ago, Godley thinks some of the measures taken since then would have lessened the damage to the ecosystem. “Things may have been different had the provision now in place as a result of the Cosco Busan been in place at the time of the event.”

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Tells Club Credit Crisis Can't Stop Climate Change Initiatives

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger told a Commonwealth Club audience this afternoon that budget battles and financial crises should not be used as excuses to back away from the leadership position the state has taken to reduce greenhouse gases.

Touching on some of the hot-button issues of the day, he also promised to uphold his pledge to resist oil drilling off the coast of California. Part of the solution, he said, would be better, more fuel-efficient cars from Detroit. Schwarzenegger said Detroit complains about his moves to get a federal exemption that would allow California (as in years past) to set its own fuel economy standards; he recommended that the rest of the country adopt California's higher standards and that Detroit stop complaining and begin innovating and rolling out alternative energy cars.

Speaking on the second anniversary of AB32, California's landmark Global Warming Solutions Act, the Republican governor told a packed audience of more than 500 people that the state has benefited greatly -- and will continue to do so -- from investment in green technologies. He praised the bipartisan state leaders who created the bill, and he said his administration will continue to focus on areas ranging from cleaning up its shipping ports to building the hydrogen highway.

In a wide-ranging audience question-and-answer period moderated by Club Vice President Greg Dalton, Schwarzenegger responded to the ongoing talks in Washington, D.C., aimed at crafting a large-scale government intervention into the markets to try to calm worldwide credit and investment markets. The governor offered his support for government intervention in cases where the markets have failed, but he urged that the government "not try to pick the winners" when it invests money or tries to direct economic development.

Keep visiting this Commonwealth Club blog for more reports from the governor's speech, press reaction, and photos and videos.