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Thursday, October 29, 2009

Don't Ignore Nature's Messages

By Kent Salazar
National Wildlife Federation
          On a recent visit to Zia Pueblo, a group of us worked to restore a sacred spring that had dried up. The spring had been around for centuries, judging from the petroglyphs in the area pointing to the source, so its disappearance was troubling. Thankfully, we were able to find innovative ways to help replenish the spring, building rock dams to slow and hold runoff water to restore the aquifer that feeds it.
        We need that same spirit of cooperation and innovation to find solutions to our energy and climate challenges.
        That's because signs are everywhere, telling us that something is amiss. Around the state, tens of millions of beetle-killed piñon pines provide one portent. We're seeing changing movements of animals, like changing migration patterns of waterfowl, appearances of bird species that weren't in our area before and smaller snow packs that we rely on to restore our ground waters, the seasonal drying of some trout streams, as well as scarier fire seasons. Everywhere in our dry state, we live with a constant awareness that our life-blood — water — is increasingly being stressed by drought that scientists tell us will only worsen as our planet warms.
        If you think that predictions about global warming are off-base — you're right.
        A recent United Nations report warned that temperature increases will be nearly double what the best science predicted just two years ago. Now, we should expect a 6.3 degree F increase during the lifetime of a child born today because of the carbon pollution we've already belched into the atmosphere. The changes to our climate are coming faster and more severe than even the worst estimates from 2007.
        The good news is there is something we can do.
        New Mexico's Senators Jeff Bingaman and Tom Udall have taken a leadership role in trying to get their colleagues to take action on global warming. Now, we look to them to utilize their leadership roles to help advance the Clean Energy and American Power Act that will create made-in-America jobs, reduce the carbon pollution that is damaging nature and give Americans back some control over our lives. We must stand behind them to ensure that our children have a clean healthy environment and a bright economic future.
        The march toward energy independence starts with initiatives that favor the vast solar, wind and geothermal resources we have under our big Southwestern skies. It also starts with courage — like that shown by PNM, our largest utility, when they withdrew from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce because of the Chamber's stance on climate change.
        "We believe the science is compelling enough to act sooner rather than later," PNM stated. "We support federal legislation to meaningfully reduce greenhouse gases and protect customers from unreasonable cost increases."
        PNM has it right.
        In fact, the Department of Energy's latest forecast predicts that America's energy bill will increase by $420 billion annually within the next five years if we do nothing. Doing nothing shouldn't be an option. Inaction is costing Americans every day in the oil we buy, the bills we pay and the air we breathe. We continue to spend $400 million every day on foreign oil, which does little to secure our national security.
        Moving away from our dependence on fossil fuels will also create jobs. New Mexico saw the clean energy sector grow by 50 percent over the last decade — one of the highest rates in the country. We shouldn't stop there. The Center for American Progress projects we could gain 13,700 more jobs if legislation like that passed in the House, and now being debated in the Senate, gets signed into law.
        Creating jobs is one benefit. Protecting family budgets and public health are benefits too. Our Four Corners region is home to some of the dirtiest coal-fired power plants in the nation. We had the sense to stop the new Desert Rock plant, and we can now look forward to a bonanza of renewable technologies that are ready to take their rightful place in our future.
        The petroglyphs that marked the location of the Zia Pueblo sacred spring weren't obvious. You had to know what the signs meant in order to find it. Today, we know what the animals and the plants are telling us. If we ignore these signs, the consequences of inaction will only grow worse, and the opportunities to improve our economy and our environment will slip further and further away.
        Kent Salazar is a National Wildlife Federation Board member representing Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah; past president of the New Mexico Wildlife Federation; former member of Gov. Richardson's Climate Change Task Force; and a New Mexico State Game Commissioner.