A Bottom-Up Approach to Combating Climate Change, One Neighbor at a Time
“This [sustainability] consciousness will not be attained simply because the arguments for change are good or because the alternatives are unpleasant…The central lesson of realistic policy-making is that most individuals and organizations change when it is in their interest to change, either because they derive some benefit from changing or because they incur sanctions when they do not…”
These words were spoken by William Ruckelshaus, who served as the first head of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Although climate change had just begun to creep into the public consciousness in the late 1980s when Ruckelshaus made these remarks, his comments reveal an important truth which presciently resonates in today’s global warming debate: governments can lead the country towards a more sustainable interaction between people and their environment but civil society is essential in realizing this profound change.
Ordinary civic engagement or “citizen activism” is frequently lost in the sheer largeness of the atmospherics at play in the climate change dialogue. Preventing global warming is most often perceived as the province of the state and the bulk of the environmental movement’s advocacy efforts seem to focus on developing international consensus on goals for carbon emission reduction on the one hand, and enacting some form of “cap and trade” legislation at the federal level which sets emission limits nationwide on the other hand.
But both of these efforts to date have largely been failures. In the international arena, the much-heralded U.N. climate change summit in Copenhagen resulted in an impressive list of attendees – 192 countries and 115 world leaders – but a disappointing outcome: the agreed-upon accord fell short of the binding treaty sought by many nations, set an insufficient goal of limiting global warming by keeping temperature rises to no more than 2 degrees Celsius, and left each nation to set its own targets for 2020.
The outlook for cap and trade legislation in Congress is even more dismal. Although the House of Representatives passed a bill in June 2009, the Senate declined last month to even take the issue up for debate. And prospects for passage will dim even further if Republicans pick up seats in November as is widely anticipated. Indicative of the dreary mood afflicting advocates, Bill McKibben, author and co-founder of the climate-focused group 350.org, recently told the Washington Post, “Our side did absolutely everything you’re supposed to do . . . but got nowhere”
But it is exactly because of the size and scope of these failures that important progress is being obscured that brings hope to many citizens, household by household, neighborhood by neighborhood, and community by community. All across the nation, the ingenuity of entrepreneurs, private industry, and non –profit organizations – at times in partnership with state and local governments – is creating a groundswell of support for programs that empower individuals to take control of their energy usage and make responsible, personal decisions about everything from using Energy Star appliances, to installing efficient shower heads, to switching to renewable power generation.
The fundamental premise of these programs that seek to empower “citizen activism” is to engage the community directly in order to lower individuals’ carbon footprints. Companies such as Earth Aid are at the forefront of the movement to mobilize energy conservation at the grass-roots. The animating principle behind the appeal of Earth Aid is simple: bring transparency to the home energy usage sphere by facilitating greater access to information; and create vehicles where ordinary citizens can realize personal savings and measure their success over time.
So how exactly does this work? Although programs differ across the country, the basic idea is that you should not have to spend money to buy energy efficiency. The vast majority of utilities you receive at home have some form of online access or online bill payment. To help you manage your energy usage, groups like Earth Aid will link all of your accounts in one online platform – similar to the way you might view your checking and savings accounts and credit card statements all in one banking portal – and enable you to more effectively monitor your personal energy consumption.
It gets better. The site has social-networking functionality. Americans can compare their home energy usage, for example, to the average energy usage of participating neighbors in the zip code in which they live. Nothing enlivens the spirit like a little healthy competition and, as William Ruckelshaus reminds us, most individuals change when they derive some personal benefit from changing. Earth Aid provides tips rated on several factors such as “green benefit” and cost regarding how you can save on energy usage at home and makes available information about rebates and utility incentives in your area that actually pay you to help the environment. The rewards are both climate-friendly, economically-enticing, and gastronomically-appealing – you literally can get free cupcakes for saving money on energy usage.
We live in an information rich society. These programs excel by aggregating disparate utility data and creating access and transparency for an energy sector which as been too confusing and too opaque for many Americans for far too long. Because barriers to citizen empowerment are being torn down, a conservation ethic which has been bubbling just below the surface in this country is starting to see the light of day.
Indeed, studies have shown that the notion of personal conservation activism is not abstract; Americans are just waiting to be mobilized. A Yale University Study indicated that 75 percent of Americans recognize that our own behavior can help reduce global warming, and 81 percent believe it is our responsibility to do something about it. The ethos of person empowerment is taking hold. Earth Aid reports that it has signed up thousands of households, from every state in the country.
And state and local government are also getting in on the action and helping their citizens be more energy efficient. David Gershon, founder and CEO of the Empowerment Institute, shows how over 300 communities in 36 states have built a bottom-up movement. Gershon cites the example of Davis, California: the city organized 100 households to participate in Low Carbon Diet EcoTeams. Participation included the city council and staff; University of California, Davis, administrators, faculty, staff, and students; and local businesses, among others. Results were received from 65 percent of the households who reported reducing their carbon footprint an average of 5,516 pounds.
David Burd, Earth Aid’s Vice President of Business Development notes that: “there is a lot that individuals can do today to promote energy efficiency, this platform is a way that any citizen or state or community can act now. We enable people to take ownership of their energy usage.”
With all of the set-backs in climate change policy at the national level, it is easy to miss the great progress that is being made in states, localities, neighborhoods and homes. Importantly, however, as these low-carbon communities are aggregated and citizen activists are continually empowered on the grass-roots level, the path towards a greener U.S. national economy begins to take shape.
Robert Friedman is the Managing Editor of Foreign Policy Digest, a non-resident Fellow at the Georgetown Center on National Security and the Law and a Principal in the Truman National Security Project.
