Public Agenda Energy Book Authors On PBS This Weekend
What do citizens really need to know about energy and climate change? What lessons for making energy policy can be found in the movies Groundhog Day, Mad Max: The Road Warrior, Soylent Green and Apollo 13? And most importantly, how can we figure out which fuels we should pursue, which we should use less, and how we should otherwise change our ways to create a more environmentally and economically sustainable present and future?
Scott Bittle and Jean Johnson, authors of Who Turned Out the Lights? Your Guided Tour to the Energy Crisis, have answers to all these questions and more, in their book and in an interview on PBS' Bill Moyers Journal to be aired Friday, Jan. 22, and Sunday, Jan. 24 (and perhaps also at a different time in your area: check this link for the schedule in your neck of the woods).
So tune in, or record it – and if you've got questions about energy or climate change, feel free to post them or e-mail Jean and Scott – we'd love to hear from you as we all try to move forward on these critical issues. The way we power the things we like to do on this earth is one of those things that really can't be changed without the participation and consent of the public, and it's a sure thing that nothing's going to change for the better unless people learn more about the choices we have – as individuals, as companies, and as a nation – and the pros and cons of each of them.
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How intriguing your each are and as a pair on thie crucial stbject.
It is unfortunate that you did not name the culprit in climate change and climate destabilization. That is coal the lartgest contributor to climate change on this planet.
Nor did you mention the word ---science or earth or nature. There are the controlling components to man made climate change.
This is the largest most frightening issue of the day if one looks at the finite planet.
Using movies to illustrate your point and entice book buying is fine but why don't you talk of the science?
True, most folks are not interested or educated about where greenhouse gases come from and where they stay in the atmosphere.
Truly interested in your reply.
Susan Oast
As always, PBS' Bill Moyers Journal continues to have one of the most thought provoking shows on Television. The segment on this past weeks show, Who Turned Out The Lights?" really is starting to hit home. Literally!!! Over the past two years our electric utility bills have gone up almost 60%. And...all of this has taken place when our economy is running about 70% capacity. It is particularly important that all of us recognize now that when the economy does finally manage to recover fully, and that is only a matter of time, the costs of energy will sky rocket along with it. Now is the time to really focus our nations attention to this important problem before it causes even more harm to the economy and derails any future job creation proposals currently under consideration by the Obama Administration.
Here you ask the most profound question. Stated a little more pointedly:
How Much Ignorance is OK?
The greater the ignorance the more greed and mob psychosis you will have.
Absolute transparency is a starting point. Without that you end up with the delusional, corrupt, destructive, wasteful political system we have in the US.
Peoples Republic of China 1.33+ billion, India 1.1+ billion, U.S. 308 million. World Total closing in on 6.8 billion very soon (www.census.gov World and U.S. Population Clocks). Projected to increase to 9 billion by 2042 and 10 billion by 2050. The demand for energy, as Johnson and Bittle point out, is only going to continue expanding and the fossil sources are finite and will be increasingly difficult (hence expensive) to retrieve. I applaud their insights. Where can we possibly go from here?
Tom P
CEOs are in the position of Gene Kranz, the NASA Flight Director who reportedly said," Let's work the problem, people." They have the opportunity to approve bold actions from employees, many of whom agree with scientists, customers and journalists that, "Houston, we have a problem." I work for Climate Earth, the carbon accounting company. In the Apollo 13 analogy, we provide a box of resources from which the team innovates. We assess a companies entire supply chain and report the carbon emissions embedded in the materials and products, often more than 80% of their footprint. Just as in Apollo 13, you can't work the problem effectively with guesswork. Carbon accounting assures that the innovation process begins with reliable data. Every CEO who adopts supply chain carbon accounting for their company can spur a heroic solution to carbon and energy problems.
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