By Stuart Cohen
The coronavirus has given us a firsthand experience of how fragile and unpredictable our complex society is. Astute people with thriving businesses are suddenly facing bankruptcy, and workers who have worked hard, lived frugally and put their faith in the American system have found themselves unable to pay rent or buy food. Supply-chains have broken down for toilet paper and the critical chemicals needed for testing. Normally decent Alaskans have begun to invest in conspiracy theories and deliberately risk others’ lives by refusing to wear masks, perhaps wishing the problem away. That’s what it looks like when things stop working.
[Lawmakers should put American democracy first]
As terrible as the pandemic is, it is only a dress rehearsal for the much deeper and much more intransigent breakdown that will result if we do not address climate change. In Alaska, if your village is washing away, like Shishmaref or Newtok, the system has already stopped working. If you’re a Southeast gillnetter who relies on hatchery chum salmon that is having its second failed return in a row, climate change is rocking your world right now, not sometime in the future. The losses that these people are experiencing in the flesh are being experienced by millions around the world and that number will become billions over the next decades. If you think that what happens to those people will not affect you, consider that even with only 1-3% of the United States infected with Coronavirus, the consequences to our economy have been extreme. No one is immune to climate change and the unrest, food shortages, extinctions, and mass migrations it will create. Solving Coronavirus is a walk in the park compared to trying to repair an acidic ocean or re-create a glacier.
There is good news; we can still avert the worst of this impending catastrophe if we act decisively in the next few years. Fortunately, the changes we need to make are practical, create jobs and help to make our society healthier and more resilient. For example, carbon-capturing regenerative agriculture can improve the environment and farmers’ profit margins at the same time, but they need help implementing it. Solar, hydro and wind energy are cheaper than fossil fuels, as well as cleaner, but it takes investment. Leaving a vibrant and abundant world for our children and grandchildren is possible if we just choose to spend the resources.
The investment will be large but is less costly than the alternative. The cost of moving Newtok, a village of 350 people, is over $100 million. What do you think the cost of moving Miami is? How about New Orleans, Houston and other climate-threatened areas that are already seasonally flooding? We are going to spend money either way: it’s just a question of what we get for it.
In Southeast Alaska, we can cut our carbon footprint and strengthen our communities at the same time. In some villages, electricity costs up to 42 cents per kilowatt-hour — nearly four times that of Juneau. Investing in new sources of hydroelectricity and connecting them to smaller towns and villages enable a whole range of efficient cheap technologies such as heat pumps and electric cars, saving people money and speeding our transformation to a lower-cost zero-carbon society. Regional cruise ship docks can be electrified to keep our air and waters cleaner.
Many renewable energy projects are shovel-ready and waiting to be funded. There are numerous hydro projects, and the Southeast Alaska intertie would bring cheap hydroelectricity to Haines and Skagway from Juneau via a submarine cable. The private and local government sector cannot do this alone, but Senator Murkowski, Chair of the Senate Energy Committee, is in a unique position to fund these and other Alaska energy projects. Please write to her and ask her to do so. Let’s put Alaskans back to work building things that will their children will enjoy.
As we emerge from the pandemic, it’s critical that we grasp new opportunities and not simply return to the old way of doing things. The high-carbon lifestyle was fine for its time, but we wasted too much and squandered what we were given. We can be equally happy doing things more efficiently, smarter, local, and at a lower cost. Now is the time to be bold and seize a better future.
• Stuart Cohen is a local businessman and Co-Chair of Alaska Interfaith Power and Light. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.
