Kristof hits a home run

Finally some mainstream focus on efficiency

Posted by David Roberts at 11:36 PM on 19 Aug 2007

Read more about: energy | energy efficiency | climate | climate change mitigation

I've had my issues with NYT columnist Nic Kristof in the past, but he's knocking them out of the park on climate change. His latest hits exactly the right notes. Check it out:

Concern about greenhouse gases and reliance on imported oil usually leads to a focus on the supply side of the energy equation, particularly exotic sources such as wind, solar, waves and hydrogen. ... but the low-hanging fruit on the energy front is curbing demand -- meaning more energy conservation. And it's appalling that our government isn't leading us on that.

This is, as far as I'm concerned, the baseline understanding that separates those with a clue about climate change from those without one: efficiency is the gimme, the biggest, fastest, cheapest step forward. As James Woolsey says, "People have radically overestimated the sacrifice and dramatically underestimated the opportunity."

For story: Kristof hits a home run
12 Comments | Post a Comment

Wants aren't needs

This touches on a pet peeve of mine: you keep hearing people talking about producing new fuels to meet America's energy "needs", when so much of our consumption is in the name of meeting our WANTS. We lived for thousands of years without the internal combustion engine - how did we come to think of it as a vital part of our lives?

A big reason for this is the loss of the walkable neighborhood. Most places in America you simply need a car to survive.

I count myself lucky to live in a very walkable neighborhood, where I have a grocery store, pharmacy, hardware store, library, bank, and plenty of restaurants, all within a half-mile radius. And I'm not talking urban density here, not exactly. Rather my neighborhood (in the Mt. Tabor/Hawthorne area of Portland, OR) is the 1910 version of the 'burbs: quiet streets packed with comfortable single-family homes, and interspersed by commercial boulevards. It's a great place to raise kids, yet I can meet my needs (and wants) while hardly every needing to - much less wanting to - get into a car.

(A big part of this, I should mention, is that I work from home - another great way to cut down on carbon emissions!)

The only problem is the commercial streets that make a 'hood like this so walkable tend to get popular, which makes the rents go up, which drives out the little mom & pop stores that supply the necessities, and replaces them with pricey, impractical boutiques. A seemingly inevitable process that is another pet peeve of mine :).

A really useful innovation would be to re-engineer car-dependent cul-de-sac 'burbs to be like small, walkable villages. This would mean rezoning them to allow for commercial development, and allowing - perhaps even encouraging, through tax breaks - people to start little mom and pop stores in what were originally intended to be suburban homes.

by PDXistence at 1:28 AM on 20 Aug 2007

Agree with the post

Thanks for the post. Something that really shows how true this is, is the fact that so many people today are still not using CFL's.

Advocates (like me!) of market-based solutions like carbon tax or cap-and-trade tend to argue we should give consumers a "pricing signal" so that it is cost-effective to do the right thing. But for CFL's, it already is cheaper. This suggests that the problem is perhaps one of education, or greater consciousness of the effect of small decisions.

Public education is clearly going to have to be a part of the campaign here. (And as a positive, educated citizens will vote for more sensible policies... well, let's hope so.)

by kayser at 6:22 AM on 20 Aug 2007

strange mix

I could see a strange mix emerging, with walkable communities, and more on-line shopping. That combination is much more efficient than driving the middle distances.

by odograph at 6:39 AM on 20 Aug 2007

Exactly

This should have been the government's highest priority following 9/11. This would have sent a much more positive message to the world community instead of invading Iraq. Not doing so has made us less secure and made our economy less resilient in handling future price shocks and fuel shortages.

by justlou at 7:41 AM on 20 Aug 2007

Choice

The problem with "small walkable villages" is that they do not have perfect information.

That is, the car allows for total consumer choice which is why it's popular. Don't like your mall? Go to the one in the next town.

Small towns died out because they were too constraining for many people...who want choice and diversity.

The automobile lets us choose our work, friends, entertainment anywhere in the metropolitan area.

by jabailo at 8:05 AM on 20 Aug 2007

Much of this is not going to be done voluntarily

On the transportation front, people are still buying the shit out of poor fuel economy vehicles. Many and maybe most people are just not putting conservation at the top of their priorities. SUV and pickup sales are down but are still way up there. Sales of Toyota's big pickup, the Tundra is up over 100% from a year ago, which tends to negate any bright spots in the Prius line.

Part of this is choice. For the most part, there just are not good alternatives for what people say they need in vehicles. And people who want a new vehicle want it now. They will not wait for better fuel economy. Part of this is also a huge coolness factor and there are plenty of seductive vehicles on the showroom floor and in glizty ads that almost beg them to be fondled.

I think I am finally coming around to the need for high taxes on gas. At a time when a recession may be just around the corner, this ain't going to fly. But sometimes people just need to be slapped in the face with reality.

by justlou at 8:07 AM on 20 Aug 2007

Lot of great comments

Dave's link goes all the way back to 2005. I see that the last commenter in that link is still whining on the blog to this day.

Justlou, good points

Instead of promoting telecommuting, online shopping, and on and on as a reaction to 9/11, the imbecile spends a trillion dollars and pisses away billions of gallons of liquid fuel to essentially increase the number of people who hate us by an order of magnitude. The man should go down in infamy. Stupid people should not be allowed to run for president.

"Part of this is also a huge coolness factor and there are plenty of seductive vehicles on the showroom floor and in glizty ads that almost beg them to be fondled."

It's all about sex and status. The most effective thing we could do is hire the best ad agencies to make fun of low mileage cars. If done well, this would lower the status of these cars and trucks, sending consumers to higher mileage cars to scratch their status itch. How you would pay for this is another problem.

A gas tax would really hurt the poor, hardly phases the rich. We can't just slap a gas tax on. It should be revenue neutral. People should get a bonus check every year based on income along with their tax return to pay them back for the gas price increases. Poor people can't run out and buy a Prius or move to where there is a bus line.

kayser,

I agree. I am real happy with my CFLs but I keep some regular bulbs around in the bathrooms because the women folk don't like the way they make their skin look. It takes time for information to disseminate. In addition, the first generation CFLs were not worth buying. My local government sent me a bunch for free. I tried them and they sucked. They were dim and took forever to brighten up. So, the government inadvertantly turned me off on CFLs for a long time. Then one day I saw one on display in a store with a switch. It was bright and started immediately. I bought a pile of them and have been happy ever after.

PDX,

"The only problem is the commercial streets that make a 'hood like this so walkable tend to get popular, which makes the rents go up, which drives out the little mom & pop stores that supply the necessities, and replaces them with pricey, impractical boutiques. A seemingly inevitable process that is another pet peeve of mine :)."

Same thing is happening here. We have been waiting for years for a new grocery store. They just announced that it will be too expensive to build and have left a giant hole in the ground where our old grocery store used to be.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 10:03 AM on 20 Aug 2007

"low-hanging fruit"?!

Surely it is rather too optimistic to characterize "curbing demand" that way. I mean, it is obviously a praiseworthy goal, and there is no reason, really, why we cannot accomplish it. Nevertheless, getting there is not going to be easy. Just consider all the resistance to CFLs (Kayser's example), to raising CAFE standards and to reducing private automobile transportation.

As for DR's volcanic reaction to what NK had written back in 2005: That was before my time. Though I have no strong opinion about the sociology of the Gristmill community, and our relationship with DR, I generally agree with what BioD wrote then. DR was justified in asking NK to give a more positive endorsement of contemporary environmentalists; but calling NK's column "a lazy piece of shit" was a bit much.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 12:35 PM on 20 Aug 2007

Odd

... I have no strong opinion about the sociology of the Gristmill community, and our relationship with DR ...

And yet, unsolicited, you return to the subject with numbing regularity.

grist.org

by David Roberts at 12:45 PM on 20 Aug 2007

"risible" piece of shit

...Canis, not lazy. And I have to admit, I love that phrase, and the way Dave can rip new ones when he gets pissed. It is a phrase that should be reserved for special occasions.

In the end, it all comes down to biodiversity. Poison Darts--Protecting the biodiversity of our world

by biodiversivist at 12:47 PM on 20 Aug 2007

"numbing"?

Well, the subject is an interesting one, isn't it, DR, and even an important one, and I would be surprised if you should disagree. I only meant that I could not be so confident as was BioD in referring to "feedback loop" and "preaching to the choir." While on that occasion you got a lot of comments expressing agreement and approval, it seems that generally, the Gristmill readers and commenters are fairly diverse, and not at all uniform, with values of many kinds; and they are not at all afraid to express disagreement, even with you.

In fact, the sociology of the Gristmill community, and our relationship(s) with you and all the other writers, are most certainly part of the story of environmentalism today, and I am afraid I cannot apologize for being fascinated by the subject. I thought you had a sweet tooth for such meta-ish considerations, so I am surprised that you have used the characterization "numbing." I suspect you are really referring to some other aspect of what I write -- and that is fine, life is short, you are under no obligation to read any of it.

(Ooh!, you know, I could be wrong about that. Is that part of your job description? Does Chip make you wade through absolutely everything that we-all write? Poor baby!)

On "risible piece of shit": Thanks, BioD, for correcting my quote. But I think "lazy" was in there somewhere.

Not that it matters at this point, but "risible" means "capable of provoking laughter." I do not think I have ever laughed at a piece of shit, save my own, now and again. In the case of the text of that ancient document from 2005, it might be interesting to observe that DR, who wrote the word "risible," seems not to have been moved to laughter at all.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 2:18 PM on 20 Aug 2007

Exactly

What you quote is true. Energy efficiency is the low-hanging fruit. And think that when stock market & media understand this logic, we are going to see a second wave of cleantech. (Obviously, with some companies being overvalued.)

I write about that here:
http://renewabletech.blogspot.com/2007/05/prediction-of-c ...

http://renewabletech.blogspot.com/2007/07/prediction-of-c ...

by Marckert at 9:56 AM on 21 Aug 2007

ADVERTISING POLICY

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have an account, log in. If you don't have an account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.