I recently receive a note from an elder relative (she's my grand aunt) who normally has no interest in what I write asking me: Why is renewable energy bad for us?

For context, she was a distinguished public servant until she retired about 20 years ago and has lived in the United States for the past decade. However, in recent years, she has lost interest in current events and no longer follows it.

But apparently, someone recently told her an alarming story about something called the Green New Deal and that the government is forcing people to switch to renewable energy. But she was told that doing so will cost a lot of money, will take a long time, and create massive disruption the economy (i.e., lost jobs, etc.) in the meantime.

She vaguely understands what climate change is and wants to keep an open mind about it. But she’s asking me why we have to change to renewable energy at all? Why not just improve the way we drill for oil so we can drill more of it?

I had to reply to her in terms that she can understand. So, here goes:

Dear Auntie,

There are already methods of oil drilling that can minimize pollution. But drilling for oil always involves risks of pollution. There is a long history of oil contributing massively to land, soil, water and air pollution.

This means that the more we drill for oil, the more likelihood that there will be more pollution and damage to the environment. Cleaning up these pollution costs a lot of money and in many cases the damage to the environment is irreversible.

I remember your stories about that beautiful and clean creek behind your childhood home in the province where you use to bathe in and catch fish as a child. That’s now full of rubbish and toxic water from the factories upstream. I don’t think you can clean that up anymore.

Also, the price of oil is subject to global forces that are beyond most people’s control which is why it fluctuates and is generally more expensive than renewable energy. That is why the price of gasoline for your car keeps going up all the time.

So no, improving the way we drill for oil is not a guarantee that we can minimize pollution and address climate change.

To your question on: Why do we have to change to renewable energy at all?

Please excuse me if this may sound offensive, but from the tone of your question it seems that you are reluctant to accept change, when it comes to this issue. I understand that change is not always easy but unless we switch to renewable energy soon climate change will only worsen.

I’m sure you can feel that the weather is becoming warmer every year. There are also more typhoons and floods, glaciers and ice caps are melting, and there are more frequent and intense extreme weather events. Of course, climate change results in increased illnesses, deaths, infectious diseases, such as Covid, lack of food and water, etc.

But if we start switching to renewable energy now, there’s some hope that we can slowdown the impact of climate change.

For example, the United Nations (UN) has set several key climate change targets and goals to address the global crisis, particularly the Paris agreement, which aims to limit global temperature rise to below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, with efforts to limit it to 1.5 degree Celsius. At present, there are 195 countries who have joined the Paris agreement on climate change.

The UN has also called for global net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2050 to achieve the Paris agreement's temperature goals. Many countries and organizations have set their own net-zero targets, with varying timelines.

But of course, we don’t live in a perfect world. The Paris agreement is subject to politics. For example, the US which is the second biggest GHG emitter in the world, had originally committed to reducing its GHG emissions by 26% to 28% below 2005 levels by 2025.

But Trump, who does not believe in climate change and panders to the oil lobbyists, withdrew the US from the Paris agreement. The US officially left the agreement in November 2020.

When Biden became president, the US rejoined the agreement in February 2021 and set a new, more ambitious target to reduce GHG by 50% to 52% below 2005 levels by 2030. This more aggressive goal was intended to put the US on a path towards net-zero emissions by 2050.

If Trump becomes president again, you can be sure the US will withdraw from the Paris agreement again and the US will be back to square one. Of course this will affect other countries as well since what happens in the US also impacts the rest of the world.

The UN has other initiatives to address climate change, but I do not want to bore you with details. You can just look them up on your own or I can explain them to you in another email if you’re interested.

Let me just add that the UN’s climate change targets and goals just provide a global framework for coordinated action, but their success relies on the commitment and implementation by individual countries, businesses and civil society, including individuals like us.

We both probably won’t be around by 2050 but at the risk of sounding cheesy I believe it is also our responsibility to do our part.

Please send me a note when you have time and let me know your thoughts.

Until next time,

B

Bayani Cruz is an executive editor at The Asset.