Sustainable Something: Soon, Maybe, As Appropriate, and at No Cost

California Dreaming Is Becoming a Reality 

Christie Remains In Climate Denial

Democratic Opposition Lame

Duffy’s, good vibrations, and our imaginations

Can’t go on indefinately

And California dreamin’ is becoming a reality  ~~~ The Mamas & The Papas (1967)

[Update: 1/9/15 – Ironically and tragically, the concept of sustainability in this NJ legislation, i.e.

Environmental sustainability is a concept that provides for economic growth without an adverse impact upon the environment.

is virtually the same unlimited economic growth as that portrayed in the nightmare vision of Exxon:

In the world portrayed by Exxon, it’s possible for a reassuring version of business-as-usual to proceed without environmental consequences.  In that world, the unimpeded and accelerated release of carbon into the atmosphere has no significant impact on people’s lives.  This is, of course, a modern fairy tale that, if believed, will have the most disastrous of results. ~~~ Carbon Counter Attack  ~~~ end update]

In their first hearing of the new year, 2015, next Monday (1/12), the NJ Senate Environment Committee will hear proposed legislation (S2660) that would establish a new Office of Sustainability in the Department of Treasury.

This bill would create an Office of Sustainability in the Department of the Treasury. The office would be responsible for  developing and implementing environmental sustainability   measures in all State buildings and coordinating with all owners of   real property in which State agencies are located in an effort to  implement environmental sustainability practices in those buildings. Environmental sustainability is a concept that provides for economic growth without an adverse impact upon the environment. Pursuing sustainability is a means to improve the quality of life for all New Jerseyans and should be embraced as an economic tool in the State. Overall sustainability goals include: using resources  efficiently and minimizing raw material resource consumption;  maximizing resource reuse; utilizing renewable energy sources; creating healthy working environments; building facilities of long-term value; and protecting and restoring the natural environment.

Sounds good, right? But compare that bill to something with real teeth, like Gov. Florio’s Executive Order #91 (full disclosure, I worked on that, over 20 years ago!).

Oh, and one must never challenge the God of Endless Economic Growth! (GEEG). If you believe in unlimited growth and sustainability, I have a tooth fairy for you too.

As I’ve written, the concept of sustainability tends to be used as a slogan to mask the emergence of a fundamentally different public policy model and approach to democracy that promotes a market based, pro-corporate policy regime – which includes regulatory rollbacks, outsourcing, incentives (subsidies), voluntary stewardship, and privatization – while openly opposing “advocacy” and grass roots political activism.

[* A plethora of groups and initiatives have arisen, well funded by Foundation funds and DEP grants, to assume the head of the spear role in this totally corrupt deregulatory privatization outsourcing scheme – groups like Sustainable NJ, NJ Future, Conservation Resources, Inc., Wildlife NJ, et al. At the same time, longstanding traditional environmental and conservation groups have been corporatized, co-opted, and corrupted  by the “entrepreneurial spirit”, “corporate stewardship”, and the money, including NJ Audubon, ALS, Baykeeper, and others. There is a deeply disturbing and unbroken chain of mutualism between these so called conservation groups, funders, and political players in State government that is truly disgusting. The public and the press, of course, are duped by all this.]

I’ve noted that the concept of sustainability has no technical definition and lacks operational parameters or implementation requirements.

And who knew I had all this brilliant academic and theoretical backing?

While many practitioners and academics use the term sustainability instead of landscape integrity, this author is more closely aligned with Forman (2008) when he eloquently argues that, “I usually avoid the term [sustainability] as mainly being a goal reflecting each user’s agenda rather than a base of knowledge, and more to the point, it feels about as solid as sitting on a chair of jello, or toothpaste” (2008, 252; see also Conroy and Berke 2004). (@ p.3)

Meanwhile, yesterday at his fourth Inaugural address, California Governor Jerry Brown, making climate change his centerpiece and clearly recognizing the climate imperative, set forth a bold vision, calling for a significant increase in renewable energy, 50% by 2030:

“Surely one moral precept we can agree on is to stop destroying our birthplace, the only home humanity will ever have. The evidence for climate warming, with industrial pollution as the principal cause, is now overwhelming. Also evident upon even casual inspection is the rapid disappearance of tropical forests and grasslands and other habitats where most of the diversity of life exists.” With these global changes, he went on to say, “we are needlessly turning the gold we inherited from our forebears into straw, and for that we will be despised by our descendants.”

California has the most far-reaching environmental laws of any state and the most integrated policy to deal with climate change of any political jurisdiction in the Western Hemisphere. Under laws that you have enacted, we are on track to meet our 2020 goal of one-third of our electricity from renewable energy. We lead the nation in energy efficiency, cleaner cars and energy storage. Recently, both the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the President of the World Bank made clear that properly pricing carbon is a key strategy. California’s cap-and-trade system fashioned under AB 32 is doing just that and showing how the market itself can generate the innovations we need. Beyond this, California is forging agreements with other states and nations so that we do not stand alone in advancing these climate objectives.

These efforts, impressive though they are, are not enough. The United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, backed up by the vast majority of the world’s scientists, has set an ambitious goal of limiting warming to 2 degrees Celsius by the year 2050 through drastic reductions of greenhouse gases. If we have any chance at all of achieving that, California, as it does in many areas, must show the way. We must demonstrate that reducing carbon is compatible with an abundant economy and human well-being. So far, we have been able to do that.

In fact, we are well on our way to meeting our AB 32 goal of reducing carbon pollution and limiting the emissions of heat-trapping gases to 431 million tons by 2020. But now, it is time to establish our next set of objectives for 2030 and beyond.

Toward that end, I propose three ambitious goals to be accomplished within the next 15 years:
Increase from one-third to 50 percent our electricity derived from renewable sources;
Reduce today’s petroleum use in cars and trucks by up to 50 percent;
Double the efficiency of existing buildings and make heating fuels cleaner.

We must also reduce the relentless release of methane, black carbon and other potent pollutants across industries. And we must manage farm and rangelands, forests and wetlands so they can store carbon. All of this is a very tall order. It means that we continue to transform our electrical grid, our transportation system and even our communities.

I envision a wide range of initiatives: more distributed power, expanded rooftop solar, micro-grids, an energy imbalance market, battery storage, the full integration of information technology and electrical distribution and millions of electric and low-carbon vehicles. How we achieve these goals and at what pace will take great thought and imagination mixed with pragmatic caution. It will require enormous innovation, research and investment. And we will need active collaboration at every stage with our scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, businesses and officials at all levels.

Taking significant amounts of carbon out of our economy without harming its vibrancy is exactly the sort of challenge at which California excels. This is exciting, it is bold and it is absolutely necessary if we are to have any chance of stopping potentially catastrophic changes to our climate system.

California, since the beginning, has undertaken big tasks and entertained big ideas. Befitting a state of dreamers, builders and immigrants, we have not hesitated to attempt what our detractors have called impossible or foolish. In the last four years, in the last 40 years, yes ever since Gaspar de Portola in 1769 marched along the King’s Highway, California has met adversity with faith and courage. We have had setbacks and failures, but always in the end, the indomitable spirit of California has triumphed. Through it all, through good times and bad, California has been blessed with a dynamism and historic trajectory that carries each generation forward.

Whether the early explorers came for gold or God, came they did. The rest is history: the founding of the Missions, the devastation of the native people, the discovery of gold, the coming of the Forty-Niners, the Transcontinental Railroad, the founding of great universities, the planting and harvesting of our vast fields, oil production, movies, the aircraft industry, the first freeways, the State Water Project, aerospace, Silicon Valley and endless new companies and Nobel Prizes.

This is California. And we are her sons and daughters.

Meanwhile, NJ Governor Christie remains in deep denial on all things climate and renewable energy related, and legislative leaders offer up weak tea.