Monday, June 29, 2009
The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com
15
It's not easy going green
Climate change. Throughout
the past two decades, those
two words have gone from
a little-known
phrase used by
environmental-
ists to part of our '
everyday culture. ,
According to the "
Intergovern- t
mental Panel on
Climate Change, PATRICK
the lengthy list of ZABAWA
problems caused
by a warming
earth includes melting ice caps
that cause ocean levels to rise and
force millions of people out of their
homes, a reduction in the supply
of drinkable water and increased
adverse health effects. And the IPCC
believes that human activity is play-
ing a big part in our planet's warm-
ing. Climate change has become a
serious concern, and many believe
it's our job to stop it.
With the escalating attention
that climate change has received,
the U.S. government is finally
doing something about it. On Fri-
day, the U.S. House of Representa-
tives passed legislation that would
drastically reduce the U.S.'s carbon
dioxide emissions, which the IPCC's
research has shown to be warming
Earth's atmosphere.
But what if this legislation
causes the exact same problems
it's tryingto fix?
The legislation is a conglomera-
tion of various methods to combat
climate change, includingideas like
mandating that 15 percent of the
nation's energy come from green
power sources such as solar and
wind by the year 2020 and enforc-
ing strict energy-efficient building
codes. The core of the bill is a cap-
and-trade system that limits the
amount of carbon dioxide compa-
nies can emit. Companies will ini-
tially have permits that allow them
to emit carbon dioxide legally, but
the number of permits will decrease
over time. As this happens, compa-
nies will be forced to purchase the
costly permits to emit carbon diox-
ide from each other, givingthem an
incentive to emit less.
With less carbon dioxide being
emitted into the atmosphere if the
new legislation becomes law, the
threat of climate change will be
lessened. But what are the mone-
tary costs of this legislation? Green
power production is more expen-
sive than producingelectricity from
carbon dioxide-emitting fossil fuels.
And green energy production cur-
rently accounts for only about 2.5
percent of all energy production in
the United States, according to the
U.S. government's Energy Informa-
tion Administration. This means
that to make our nation's electricity
production emission-free, the price
of electricity for all Americans will
have to go up. The price the non-
partisan Congressional Budget
Office estimates the climate change
bill will incur on each household is
an extra $127 per year.
Republicans callthis figure anew
$22 billion tax. But most taxes are
paid only when money is exchanged.
For example, income taxes are col-
lected only when an individual
makes an income. Sales taxes are
paid only on non-food sales. But the
new "tax" imposed by the climate
change bill will be paid by everyone
who uses electricity. And, unfortu-
nately, it will be distributed among
the rich and poor alike.
According to the Press Office
of the Social Security Administra-
tion, there are 51 million Ameri-
cans receiving social security
benefits, many of whom live on a
fixed income. Another 37.3 million
live below the poverty level, accord-
ingtothe U.S. Census Bureau. These
people - along with everyone else
- have to pay electric bills to keep
their food fresh in their refrigerator,
their stove or microwave cooking
and their furnace and air condition-
ing going. They are facing a huge
increase in their necessary electric-
ity bill with no way to pay for it.
Green energy
is nice, but it's
problematic.
With millions of Americans who
live below the poverty level or on
a fixed income forced to sacrifice
to pay their electric bill when they
have nothing left to sacrifice, many
will be unable to pay all their nec-
essary bills. Where will they make
cuts to pay for their rising electric
bill? Doctors' visits and medica-
tion, while necessary, are an easy
expense to cut. But for those who
desperately need medication, other
payments such as rent or the water
bill may be cut in favor of maintain-
ing electric power. Ultimately, the
rise in electricity costs may force
the impoverished and those on a
fixed income out of their homes or
make them sacrifice their water
supplies or medicines.
These problems look familiar.
They're similar to some of the prob-
lems the climate changebill istrying
to solve - climate change forcing
people out of their homes, reducing
their water supplies and affecting
their health.
The climate change bill will now
movetothe Senateand- ifapproved
- President Barack Obama. The
Senate and Obama may want to take
into consideration the fact that the
bill causes many of the problems
it's trying to fix. Or, like the House,
they may just choose to ignore the
plight of the very Americans they're
responsible for.
- Patrick Zabawa is the summer
associate editorial page editor. He can
be reached at pzabawa@umich.edu.