Peak Oil is the Least of our Worries

Bill McKibben has written another powerful and chilling piece on climate change, this time in Rolling Stone magazine (link). In it he highlights a few very important numbers concerning fossil fuels and climate change. The scariest one is the amount of carbon stored in known reserves of fossil fuels on the planet, 2795 Gigatons. That dwarfs the amount the atmosphere can handle and maintain any reasonable temperature increase due to global warming (which scientists set at about 2 degrees Celcius). Prior to the latest economic bubble bust, the concept of peak oil was getting a lot of coverage due to the concern about increasing demand and prices relative to known oil reserves. Now that frakking has made billions if not trillions of cubic feet of natural gas available for mining, no one much talks about peak oil anymore. Even if frakking hadn't opened up new natural gas reserves, the world has enough coal to keep polluting the skies and running Industrial Age economies for a century or more.

Economists often like to take a value-neutral stance when it comes to such issues as global warming, assuring us that human ingenuity, market forces, and advances in technology will cure what ails us. But what McKibben has made clear is that the no invisible and price-driven hand will be able to avert the global-scale catastrophes that global warming is already causing. With past progressive movements, such as the abolition of slavery, equal rights for women and minorities, and protection of the environment, economists may point to things like changing economic and technological forces that made slavery and suppression of women's full participation as workers and consumers inefficient and uneconomical and fouling of the environment counter-productive and unnecessary. While interesting, it assumes changing economics and technology are necessary (if not sufficient) for societies to take effective action. 

Regardless of what you think of that argument in general, global warming and climate change simply cannot wait for market forces or technological shifts to make the move away from fossil fuel use toward renewable energy production and sustainable economies inevitable or more efficient. Such changes must be spurred by the moral call to action and the political will to do what is right, not what is expedient. That is why people of faith cannot sit on the sidelines on this issue or urge patience and moderation, as southern ministers asked of Martin Luther King, Jr. in the fight for civil rights. The continuing struggle to overcome ingrained predjudice against minorities and women, e.g. unequal pay, home loan discrimination, and voter ID laws, all speak to the need for a strong moral foundation to ensure we uphold the ideals of the nation and the values we hold most dear as people of faith. Bill McKibben's latest essay not only reinforces the importance of global warming and energy use as moral issues but moreover the need for people of faith to speak out and take action to make it a personal, social, and political priority.

The Moral Degradation of Fossil Fuel Dependency

The trial and recent sentencing of an environmental activist in Salt Lake City who protested the selling of oil and gas leases on public lands illustrates an important but largely overlooked moral dimension of an energy economy based on fossil fuels. In this case, the government prosecuted an environmental activist bid on federal oil and gas leases during an auction in 2008. Tim DeChristopher, known as "Bidder 70", bid on leases with no intention to drill in order to disrupt the auction and bring attention to the Bush administration's fast-tracking of lease auctions during the waning days of his administration.

His creative act of civil disobedience was not unprecedented and thus not unexpected by the government. Regulations related to the 1987 Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act (FOOLGRA) (Cornell Law) requires holder of energy leases to develop the land for energy development, essentially preventing conservation groups from bidding on and obtaining leases. They also require bidders to have the financial means of paying for the lease. Bidder 70 "won" the auction but was charged, tried, and convicted of interfering with and making false statements at a federal auction (Huffington Post) both for not having the funds to pay for the lease and not intending to actually drill for oil and gas. He was recently sentenced to 2 years in a federal prison, an unprecedented punishment for an act of civil disobedience. DeChristopher maintained that the auctions were illegal attempts to fast-track oil and gas development, and, in fact, he was right: once the Obama administration took office and reviewed the leases, they found them to be illegitimate and dismissed them (MSNBC). However, that had no bearing on DeChristopher's prosecution. The judge also did not allow him make the argument that there are at least 25 other cases of winning bidders who found out they did not have the financial means to pay for the lease and walked away without prosecution (Time).

While DeChristopher had a trial by a jury of his peers, the way in which this act was prosecuted and the very regulations and punishments underlying it reveal a deeper moral degradation that we have institutionalized in an economy that is dependent upon fossil fuels. And that's what is important for people of faith to consider. In my opinion, the intent of the regulations from FOOLGRA that were selectively used to prosecute DeChristopher is to outlaw environmentalists from getting between an addict and his dealer. Civil disobedience is used all the time to disrupt the smooth operations of public and private activities, but violators are never accused of fraud or misrepresentation; indeed, DeChristopher claims he clearly stated his intentions prior to the start of the auction (bidder70.org). Rather, these regulations were used to express the government's increasing frustration, denial, and complicity in a harmful, unsustainable energy system. The response was not to acknowledge the inherent problems and take corrective action but rather to lash out at protestors who would dare to speak truth to power. There are clear parallels with global trade negotiations where meeting sites are more and more cordoned off like security compounds and protestors are removed so far away as to have no visibility for the negotiating representatives.

While these actions are far removed from the atrocities committed by isolated autocratic rulers in the Middle East, they represent the same type of moral degradation. In the case of the Middle East, rulers depend upon largely unjust and immoral political systems; in the US, we are dependent upon a harmful and unjust fossil fuel energy system. When the injustice and harm of these systems is brought to light, a moral (and religiously grounded) response would be to acknowledge the problems, ask for forgiveness, and work for restorative justice grounded in the development of a morally defensible alternative. Continuing to defend and support an unjust system requires governments to deny the problems and increasingly engage in immoral acts to suppress or silence the voices of the harmed and those demanding justice. Climate deniers, as a former post explained, aren't really anti-science; they're mainly in denial about the immorality of a fossil fuel-based energy system. To accept the problems is to affirm the harm they have caused and accept the moral responsibility to take action. The governmental dissonance of prosecuting DeChristopher for bidding on leases that were later declared illegitimate demonstrates the struggle we face in trying to "balance" our desire to protect the environment while continuing to depend upon an unjust energy system. A morally defensible response would be to fundamentally change the laws and regulations so that we move as quickly as possible to a renewable energy system that ensures justice and protection of the environment and human health.

The point, to make a long story short, is that clinging to a harmful and unjust energy system is inherently degrading of our own moral character. The corrupting nature of unjust and harmful systems is clear in the stories of the Hebrew prophets (Old Testament books) when rulers who most benefited lashed out at the prophets who spoke out against the harm and injustice. The call to personal repentance that is so prevalent in modern evangelical religious movements (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, or otherwise) may seem to ignore social or institutional immorality, but the two are intertwined. The fruits of personal salvation should be morally defensible actions and decisions, but such a redeemed life cannot be fully lived while clinging to a morally indefensible support system. That is why prophets have targeted religious and political rulers for their most stinging criticisms: they most benefit from unjust systems, they have the power to change or perpetuate them, and thus their moral character is most connected to their decisions and actions in regard to their defense or transformations. The Bidder 70 case illustrates the morally corrupting and degrading character of our fossil fuel-based energy system and the need for Interfaith Power and Light and its supporters to emphasize this point in their role as prophetic voice for a just and sustainable energy future.

The Full Cost of Fossil Fuels

A new report from the Center for Health and the Human Environment demonstrates clearly that the low price of fossil fuels hides the true cost of the environmental and social damage they cause. The focus of the report is on coal, but the same analysis can be made for oil, natural gas, or other fossil fuels. The environmental, social, and economics costs are immense, as detailed in a 2009 report by Environment America. This does not include the costs to national security and foreign relations, where America's strategic interests are intimately tied to its fossil fuel dependence.

Economic arguments against a concerted and rapid move toward renewable energy sources essentially fall flat when we take these full costs into consideration. And these arguments are only half of the story: minimizing costs has never been and never should be the sole or overriding consideration for how we use energy. As people of faith, we are keenly aware of the moral and spiritual consequences and motivations of our decisions and behavior, and these considerations should weigh just as heavily as economics on our thinking and action. But as this new report shows, translating these considerations into the realm of economics shows just how expensive fossil fuels really are to our environment, our health, and frankly, to our souls.

Why climate change is THE environmental issue for faith communities

The world's faith communities are increasingly making stewardship of the planet and our local environment a core value of their faith and a central part of their mission. Their are innumerable local and regional issues of importance, and having local faith communities speak up and act out to let the public and public officials know that these issues are important morally and spiritually can have a significant impact on public debates and policy directions.

For the interfaith power and light community, climate change is THE central environmental issue. This is not because climate change is inherently more important or of immediate concern but rather because climate change is an overarching threat to the health and well-being of natural and human environments. Almost daily, new reports are published demonstrating the wide-ranging and potentially long-term impacts of climate change and excess greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The complex interactions of global warming, increased atmospheric carbon dioxide and other GHGs, changing weather patterns, and biotic and abiotic responses affect almost every aspect of our environment. For example, increased carbon dioxide (CO₂) in the atmosphere is soaked up by oceans, creating carbonic acid. This increases the acidity of ocean water, which, when combined with increased sea surface temperatures, is a major contributor to coral bleaching. Warmer springtime temperatures cause earlier flowering and insect activity, which may be out of sync with bird migrations that depend upon nectar and insects as major food sources. Although God's creatures are inherently adaptable, there are physical and geographical limits to these adaptations, and isolated environments like alpine and mountainous areas may be altered irreversibly, causing localized extinction of organisms.

The insidiousness of fossil fuel energy use is that it requires a massive waste of other natural resources. Mountaintop removal in the Appalachians to extract coal permanently alters the landscape and destroys wild and undeveloped ecosystems. Throughout the US now, extraction of natural gas is occurring from shale deposits using a process called fracking that pumps unbelievable amounts of water belowground to break up the bedrock. This is not just a waste of water, it also potentially fouls underground drinking water supplies. Unfortunately, even private landowners often cannot stop this activity, as mining rights were often sold off generations ago. And, of course, catastrophic oil spills still occur, leading to merely temporary bans on specific activities and a shifting of drilling and exploration to other areas.

Of course, humans are not immune to these changes. Glacier melting and earlier snowpack thaw can cause large changes in the water cycle, affecting the quantity, quality, and timing of water availability for agriculture and urban uses. On a large scale, these changes have national and international consequences. Shifting climates alter the crops that can be grown in specific areas. Increased storm activity-winter and summer-increases risks of crop failure and damage to the built environment. And of course, the poor and vulnerable are most at risk of being affected by these impacts on agriculture, water availability, and the built environment.

The failure of national governments and the United Nations to effectively address climate change can be largely attributed to shortsighted self-interest rather than a lack of awareness or understanding of the magnitude and seriousness of the problem. It truly takes an act of faith to make major changes in energy use and energy sources on the scale required to reverse the course of excessive GHG emissions and save the planet and ourselves from the worst potential effects of climate change. It takes communities and leaders with vision, passion, courage, and dedication to do what is necessary to combat climate change. We will indeed need to make sacrifices and become new people, new communities, new societies, transformed in other words, to meet this challenge. Thus, it will truly take people and communities of faith to lead the effort and to inspire us to change our hearts, minds, and action in response to the challenges of climate change.

The good news is that the dividends of such action are both personal and planetary. The religious conversion that is required to adequately respond to climate change can affect all the major environmental issues, from conservation of wild lands and biodiversity to protection of natural resources we use in our daily lives. The less we rely on energy-intensive production of food and other goods, the more we reconnect to the earth itself and to each other as members of an intentional and mindful community. We have let ourselves become passive consumers, trading in the marketplace of ideas and values for the marketplace of dollars and cents. If we continue to expect cheap energy, cheap food, cheap transportation, and cheap entertainment, then that's what we get: a cheapened life and a ruined planet. But if we make the personal, social, and political changes needed to address climate change, we can also experience a better quality of life and a more equitable and just society as well as a healthier planet. So, while we encourage our partners in faith communities to continue to work on all manner of environmental issues, we will continue to prophesy about the curse of climate change and the need for fundamental changes to experience the blessings of a healthy planet and a sustainable society.