Time for climate activists to switch gears

We've won one battle. On to the next!

Buddy was a terrific salesman. But then he spent a lot of time working at it.

The technology to dramatically reduce global warming has arrived! ClimateDog reported on it last week. We know how to build solar panels and wind turbines and batteries fast, at scale, and more cheaply every day. (We can do safe nuclear plants too, although they’re very expensive and slow to build.) We don’t need to wait for sun-blocking particles in space, or nuclear fusion, or machines that suck carbon out of the air.

And, the money to deploy this technology has arrived too. The Inflation Reduction Act makes billions available to help utilities, towns, businesses and families grab these sustainable energy sources. If the products and the financing are here, what’s missing?

The American climate movement is just beginning to discover what we need. We need a sales force.

LESS PROTESTING AND MORE SELLING
We need a bigger, different push: less fighting specific fossil fuel sources, more promoting sustainable energy projects to rapidly expand solar and wind energy. The protest efforts have been really important, but they need to be morphed from this:

into this:

Projects like the removal of state and local solar taxes and regulations in Nevada (left) or power grid upgrading in Illinois (right) and many such initiatives are what we must now fight for to deploy the new cheap sustainable technologies. And to use the new money being provided for just those sorts of initiatives.

BIG PROTESTERS AGREE
Sunrise, the nationwide youth-led initiative, is a good example. They are uncovering opportunities to push their mission differently.

Sunrise had a gigantic growth spurt. Now, it’s retooling for a new chapter. For all Sunrise has done to shift climate policies, its leadership admits that the group’s original playbook has begun to play itself out. It’s time for a reset. . . The only way the IRA funding will actually get used for decarbonization and environmental justice initiatives as intended—especially in red states and cities—is if there are groups ready to mobilize around ensuring that happens. That’s what Sunrise 2.0 is meant to accelerate.” [Slate Magazine]

While educating and fighting against the danger of emissions certainly needs to continue, it’s now time to focus on educating and fighting for the new remedies. This push must become much the bigger part of climate activism. In short . . .

WE GOTTA START SELLING!
Hey, how about something like this?

• STEP RIGHT UP, FOLKS! STEP RIGHT UP! EVERYONE’S A WINNER! BARGAINS GALORE!

  
  IT’S FREE MONEY! SAVE BIG WITH LITTLE OR NO EFFORT! REBATES! TAX CREDITS! EASY TO UPGRADE YOUR HOME! YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD!
  
  RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW! THESE ARE THE DEALS YOU’VE READ ABOUT, YOUV’E HEARD YOUR NEIGHBORS TALKING ABOUT, AND HERE THEY ARE! NOW’S THE TIME TO GET THE BENEFITS FOR YOURSELF, FOR YOUR TOWN!
  
  FREE MONEY! YOU WON’T BELIEVE IT! STARTING RIGHT NOW! HURRY, HURRY, HURRY! CALL IN THE NEXT 10 MINUTES AND QUALIFY FOR AN EXTRA REBATE FREE!

Seriously, there’s all this money and technology out there for us, our state, and our town. But it’s going to take huge levels of local support and promotion to make sure it gets used, to make sure we’re spreading it fast to bring down America’s emissions.

• Up to $7,500 per vehicle for us—or our local government!—to drive electric cars and trucks. Up to $8,000 to install a heat pump. More to buy efficient appliances, residential solar panels, or other home energy efficiency upgrades. And all these save energy—and money.

• Billions for local coastal disaster relief, flood prevention, flood insurance, crop insurance, and wildfire suppression. For public housing efficiency improvements. For clean school and transit buses, garbage trucks, and other heavy-duty vehicles, and with a priority for communities burdened by air pollution!

• Not only can businesses that make and install solar panels, batteries, and other clean energy technologies reduce emissions, save money and get extra revenue, they can be sure those benefits will stay in place for many years.

There’s a whole lot more in the IRA (the Inflation Reduction Act) that will create millions of jobs and help the average family save $1,800 per year on energy bills.

BUT this money isn’t going to be spent, these actions taken, these savings realized and, most of all, these emission reductions achieved, unless Americans demand them. And demand them en masse.

That’s the new job of climate activism. It’s never easy persuading people to help themselves. But it should be easier now we can persuade them to save money rather than just save the planet.

WHAT WE CAN DO
In coming newsletters, ClimateDog will examine the attractions of specific rebates/credits, who can benefit, and what each of us can do to help promote these benefits widely.

In the meantime, it’s not too early for each of us to practice our barker’s spiel. (Anyone want to learn from a master? We have some videos of Buddy in action.)