Environmental groups host global warming conference in Belleville
Some stress local action on problem
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WITT PHOTO Brian Granahan, of Environment Illinois, talks about energy
efficiency during last week's town hall meeting on global warming in
Belleville. |
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By Jason Sibert
Wednesday, September 3, 2008 1:21 PM CDT
While many think of global warming as a national or international
issue, a town hall meeting in Belleville last week emphasized the
possibility of thinking globally and acting locally.
The
meeting, held at Southwestern Illinois College's Persons Serving Older
Persons Building and sponsored by the American Bottom Conservancy and
the Kaskaskia Group of the Sierra Club, featured a number of speakers
from different environmental advocacy groups. The forum, one of a
series of meetings that started on June 24 in Decatur, drew around 25
people.
"The town hall meetings address various aspects of
global warming and its impact on the local community, and what we can
do about it, and how there can be legislative fixes, and how each of us
can play a part in it," said Kathy Andria, president of the American
Bottom Conservancy and conservation chairwoman of the Kaskaskia Group
of the Sierra Club.Illinois Environmental Council Communications and
Market Director Gail Philbin said around 145 people attended the first
two meetings.
"We're starting the dialogue," Philbin said. "In
the summer, it's hard to get anyone out. So, the fact that we got 140
some people out, it's amazing."
Amy Funk, a volunteer with the
Kaskaskia Sierra Club, said local communities can help in the global
effort by "putting smart technology and energy solutions into effect."
"Since
the federal government hasn't really acted aggressively on global
warming, we're seeing a lot of local communities becoming engaged and
trying to implement solutions that aren't being made by the federal
government," Funk said.
Funk said bigger cities such as Seattle
and smaller cities such as Springfield have joined the Sierra Club's
Cool Cities Program, which commits cities to stopping global warming by
signing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. Funk said the
agreement commits cities to reducing carbon dioxide levels by 7 percent
by 2012 using 1990 levels. She said cities in the program design "a
viable and comprehensive plan to reach such a goal."
The program includes three steps: green vehicles, energy efficiency and renewable energy.
Cities
that "have been designed as cool cities use practical and innovative
energy solutions to reduce energy waste," she said, "They reduce their
dependence on oil, improve public health and they save money. This is a
target area we should focus on by interacting with our government
officials."
Funk said she volunteers her time the Sierra Club because she feels a sense of urgency about the issue.
"I feel it's an important time," she said. "I'm very concerned about global warming and coal issues in Illinois."
Funk said the meeting highlighted an issue that's usually considered global.
"An
event like this tries to bring it closer to home and put it on a level
where more people are invested, which is locally," she said.
Brian
Granahan, a Chicago-based attorney with Environment Illinois, a
nonprofit environmental advocacy group, said the United States is using
a model for producing energy that's both expensive and unsustainable.
He offered a different vision based on clean energy and energy
efficiency.
Granahan said the meeting functioned as a consciousness raiser.
"The
environment isn't going to speak up for itself," he said at last week's
meeting. "So we need people who are going to speak up for the
environment, to get out and let them talk about it and let them know
how this is going to affect their daily lives. It isn't a matter of
dirty water and dirty air, it's also a part of our economic future.
Some of the solutions we'll be talking about tonight are not just good
for the environment, they're good for our economy and they're necessary
if we're going to be competitive in the 21st century."
Granahan
said that other countries are moving more quickly toward generating
energy with solar panels and wind turbines and that the United States
is falling behind.
"In 10 or 20 years from now, we're going to
have to be not just caught up with them, but ahead with them if we want
to stay competitive," he said.
When asked about the impact of
auto and energy companies on the global warming debate, Granahan said
energy and auto companies defend models that work for their profit
margins and investors.
"We can't expect them to be protectors of
the environment," he said. "We can't expect them to guide us in the
future in the public's interest. They'll do what's best for them,
someone else will have to do what's best for the environment."
Aur
Beck, head of Advanced Energy Solutions in Carbondale, said that if
global warming continues, the Midwest could see a reduction in moisture
and an increase in temperatures Â- ultimately making our weather
similar to that of Northern Texas.
"The problem with the great
reduction of moisture in our area, most of the stuff we grow now, we
can't grow," he said. "That's unfortunate because we happen to be a
farm state."
Beck, who made a similar presentation at a town
hall meeting Aug. 12 in Alton, offered figures on the warming of the
earth through the release of greenhouse gasses. He said the economy
could shrink by 20 percent due to global warming.
Wayne
Politsch, a board member of the Piasa Palisades Group Sierra Club and a
professor of social sciences at Lewis and Clark Community College, said
he felt the meetings could raise consciousness on the problem of global
warming and spark action on the state and local level. He also stressed
the importance of action on the state and local level due to inaction
at the federal level.
Beck said the 10 hottest years on record -
1990, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2002 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 - have
occurred in the last 18 years. During the lecture, he stressed the
importance of the subject.
"I'm sick and tired of everyone
saying, 'Let's save the planet,'" he said. "The planet will survive.
Will it survive so we can live here? That's what it comes down to."
Beck
said in the last 10 years, 928 papers in peer-reviewed scientific
journals have tackled the subject of global climate change and none
refuted the premises that humans are responsible for the problem. He
faulted the media for giving half of the coverage on the global climate
issue to those who deny the existence of the problem.
Linda
Smith, a registered nurse, professor emeritus with Lewis and Clark
Community College and a volunteer with the American Lung Association,
said global climate change could lead to tornadoes, hurricanes and heat
waves. While any of the three cause physical injuries, they also
increase the risk of any number of physical illnesses related to the
interruption of food and water. Droughts and floods also increase the
amount of standing water, which attract mosquitoes, who carry the West
Nile virus. Smith also said natural disasters take their toll on mental
health with an increase in depression and suicide.
Smith said
that increasing temperatures caused by global warming encourage the
growth of molds and fungi and the production of pollen, all of which
can trigger asthma. She presented statistics from the American Lung
Associations State of the Air Report on asthma rates in the country,
state and Madison County.
Childhood asthma rates in Illinois
(8.9 percent) are higher than the national level (8.3 percent) and
rates in Madison County (11.2 percent) are higher than the state and
national levels. The adult asthma rate in Illinois (7 percent) is
slightly lower than in the country as a whole (8 percent). The rate in
Madison County is that same as the state (7 percent).
