It Is Better To Light a Candle Than To Curse the ... - ACS Publications

Chapter 10

It Is Better To Light a Candle Than To Curse the Darkness Downloaded by UNIV OF FLORIDA on December 11, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1254.ch010

Keith E. Peterman,*,1 Gregory P. Foy,1 and Matthew R. Cordes2 1Department

of Physical Sciences, York College of Pennsylvania, York, Pennsylvania 17403, United States 2Writing Works, Ltd., Lehighton, Pennsylvania 18235, United States *E-mail: [email protected].

This concluding chapter offers reflections on the personal COP journey experienced by each of the three coeditors of this book. While we face daunting challenges in addressing the global climate crisis, efforts toward climate literacy is recognized as a significant action in confronting the issue. The ACS-sponsored climate change literacy program and this book will help inform society of our moral and ethical obligation to act now for future generations. Action offers hope.

It Is Better To Light a Candle Than To Curse the Darkness According to the ancient proverb, “it is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.” This book is a collection of the thoughts, recollections, and reflections of those who have devoted considerable time and energy to pursuing the light despite occasional moments of darkness.

© 2017 American Chemical Society Peterman et al.; Climate Change Literacy and Education Social Justice, Energy, Economics, and the Paris Agreement Volume ... ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.

Downloaded by UNIV OF FLORIDA on December 11, 2017 | http://pubs.acs.org Publication Date (Web): October 23, 2017 | doi: 10.1021/bk-2017-1254.ch010

Reflections on an Unfinished COP Journey – Greg Foy As we wait for the start of the second week of COP22, I am trying to put into words the feelings and lessons that have been gleaned throughout this project. The overwhelming feeling throughout has been one of hope. When our project first began at the December 2010 COP16 in Cancun, we witnessed that hope first-hand as COP16 President Patricia Espinosa brought the crowd of delegates, NGOs, and others that had packed the auditorium beyond capacity to their feet in thunderous applause for the unification felt from her leadership throughout COP16 (1). Espinosa’s continuing leadership in the ensuing years was recognized with her appointment in May 2016 to serve as Executive Secretary to the UNFCCC (2). Now, on the eve of the second week of COP22, I feel as though a soaking wet blanket has been thrown over that hope by the recent U.S. elections. The overarching goal of climate science literacy, however, cannot be thwarted by ideological politicians. This reflection is not just about two points in time, but a journey that began in 2010 when the ACS was making plans to celebrate the then-upcoming International Year of Chemistry (IYC 2011). The celebration was scheduled to last throughout 2011. Planning commenced at the Spring 2010 ACS National Meeting in San Francisco. I did not get in on the ground floor in San Francisco, but very shortly afterward Keith Peterman asked me to join him as co-chair of the national ad hoc committee charged with Incorporating Sustainability into the International Year of Chemistry (3). This committee was launched at a Sustainability Engagement Event (SEE) in San Francisco that focused on including the ACS in the IYC2011 celebration. The journey really began when we formed a plan to expose students to the issues surrounding climate change by getting them front row seats at the epicenter of international climate negotiations. The project proposal was developed throughout the summer of 2010 and proposed that fall at the National ACS Meeting in Boston. Keith and I presented the proposal to the Committee on Environmental Improvement (CEI), where it was met with strong support. To the best of our knowledge, this project remains as the only ACS’s enduring legacy from IYC 2011, and as such, to say that this project has exceeded our expectations is an extreme understatement (4). Boston was the start of a journey that has had numerous stops at the ACS National Headquarters in Washington D.C., seven COPs on three different continents, and multiple ACS meetings from Dallas to San Diego, with multiple symposia and an ever-growing number of speakers. There have been a number of COPs that really have altered the complexion of the global fight against climate change. COP16 was the starting point of the project, and having never experienced the negotiations on the international stage, the students and I had no idea of what to expect. My veteran colleague, Keith, having attended COP15 the previous year, kept describing it as a fifteen-ring circus with all fifteen rings constantly hosting an act. We found out quickly that Keith’s description was extremely accurate—it was impossible to understand everything. We learned to make a plan but be very flexible. My impression of that first COP was one of awe; the intelligence and dedication of the leadership was 112 Peterman et al.; Climate Change Literacy and Education Social Justice, Energy, Economics, and the Paris Agreement Volume ... ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


incredible. We attended multiple press conferences with Christiana Figueres, the then-UNFCCC Executive Secretary and Chief Negotiator for the UN. Figueres’ calm demeanor, pleasant tone, and continuously positive attitude were infectious. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon was also a regular at press conferences, and I can say without a doubt that Ban is the most impressive, thoughtful, kind, and ethereal man that I have ever encountered. But COP16 was Patricia Espinosa’s shining moment. As the president of the COP, she managed to establish, promote, and portray an aura of inclusiveness that permeated the negotiations. Everyone that we spoke to sang her praises, and at the closing plenary session, she received a standing ovation that lasted at least five minutes. The delegates, NGOs, press, and other observers were not joining the ovation out of a sense of duty, but from genuine, heartfelt appreciation. The intervening COPs were speckled with special moments—the tremendous feeling of community and culture in Durban, South Africa (2011 COP17) and the strange, almost sterile feel in Doha, Qatar (2012 COP18). We wondered at the choice of venue for COP18, and then were struck again the next year at the choice of Warsaw (2013 COP19). Both seemed quite out of place given their significant production and use of fossil fuels; Qatar as the largest per capita greenhouse gas producer on the planet, while Poland (dubbed “Coal-land” at COP19) is one of the world’s major coal users and producers. The choice of Warsaw became even more peculiar when it was announced that the World Coal Council was meeting at the same time. The meeting location seemed to get back to a more reasonable spot with the 2014 COP20 in Lima, Peru. With this COP, there was a feeling that the attendees and civil society were reengaging. Keith and I took part in the largest climate change march in the southern hemisphere with an estimated 15,000 people marching through the streets of Lima calling for action, and this seemed to invigorate the negotiations (5). All signs were pointing toward tremendous advances in Paris. The energy leading up to Paris was palpable. With massive climate demonstrations around the world and Secretary General Ban calling for a summit at the UN in New York, the world was taking notice. There was promise of action in the air. In the previous five years that we had been involved, nothing came close to the expectations for Paris. Then came the terrorist bombings just two weeks before the opening of the COP. The City of Lights was rocked with chaos, destruction, senseless injury, and loss of life. The overwhelming feelings of sorrow for the victims and rage against the perpetrators turned to thoughts of what this would mean for the people of the world who were fighting to save the earth and its people from the devastating impacts of climate change before it was too late. The people of France, and especially the citizens of Paris, stood strong and proud as their President and the Secretary General announced that COP21 would take place. The 2015 COP21 lived up to expectations, producing an Agreement that all countries could support using their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) to keep global temperature rise below two degrees centigrade (6, 7). The city of Paris also lived up to expectations as the most exceptional host city that we have encountered during this journey. 113

Peterman et al.; Climate Change Literacy and Education Social Justice, Energy, Economics, and the Paris Agreement Volume ... ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


Paris lit a flame that continued to grow throughout the year leading to the 2016 COP22 in Marrakech, Morocco. INDCs (“Intended” commitments) became NDCs as countries around the globe formally submitted their Nationally Determined Contributions. President Obama and President Xi of China jointly announced the U.S. and Chinese commitments to reducing global emissions, a move that led to a cascade of commitments from more than 55 countries representing more than 55% of emissions by October 5—a result nobody had expected to occur so quickly (8). This meant that the Paris Agreement would enter into force the day before the start of COP22 (9). We had assumed that the Paris Agreement would not likely enter into force until Earth Day 2017! The excitement that started in Paris grew dramatically in the ensuing months. COP22 was dubbed the “COP of Action,” and Marrakech seemed headed for grand success. Then the U.S. election of November 8, 2016 took place. In an outcome that shocked the world, our country elected a President who will be the only head-ofstate in the world who denies the human contribution to climate change (10). I had not yet left for COP22 by November 8, but I felt shock, devastation, and frankly unease at the thought of travelling to Northern Africa. When I finally did arrive at COP22 in Marrakech, there was a somber feeling permeating the entire official venue. Once we were identified as Americans, the immediate reaction was shock at our choice of President and questions as to how such an event had taken place. One of my colleagues was asked “Why does America hate Muslims?” We had very few answers. On Tuesday of the second week, we were fortunate to be able to attend a talk by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (11). The room was one of three press conference rooms in the Blue Zone, and the guard at the entrance told us that it had 380 seats. Since we were among the first few in line, we had no worries about getting in, but as the time grew nearer, the line grew rapidly, and we wondered whether everyone would be able to attend. By the time the U.S. delegation began to enter, the room was packed well beyond seating capacity. It was difficult to see if there was even any aisle space left. When Secretary Kerry entered, the standing ovation was emotional and heartfelt. I am not a seasoned veteran of the press, but I have attended seven COPs as a member of the press, and I have never witnessed a standing ovation at the beginning of a briefing. Secretary Kerry proceeded to deliver a message of hope and action. I felt like it lifted the giant wet blanket off of the negotiations. His message, that the reduction of fossil fuels and the rise of renewable energy sources has already turned the corner in terms of investment, and that the U.S. clean energy economy will not be stopped, provided the much-needed force to turn the COP of action into one of true hope and action! I actually had to leave before the end of Kerry’s talk to start a web chat with some students, but Keith was able to stay and reported that the standing ovation at the end of the briefing was even more impressive than the start! We are at a critical juncture in the fight against climate change. The world is moving forward with climate action, as is the U.S. clean energy economy. There 114


is still, however, a tremendous amount of uncertainty about what our government will do.


COP Reflections – Matt Cordes When my oldest son was five, he watched me one Sunday morning as I returned my DVD copy of Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth to its case. Being full of questions, he asked what the movie was. I told him it was a big-person movie, and I said he probably wouldn’t like it. His next question, whether or not the movie was scary, gave me pause. Even though the film manages to include a certain measure of hope, it is an unvarnished look at the subject of climate change. For those like my son, his siblings, and others born after the dawn of the new millennium—a generation facing the potential for lives more influenced by climate change than my own—the issue is a scary one indeed. At the time, I wrestled with just how to tell him this. How could I lay on those small shoulders the fact that the world faced a crisis with the potential to unweave the very fabric of peace and prosperity we have come to take for granted? Worse yet, how could I tell him the world was already seeing storms increase in number and severity, as low-lying island nations struggled with the reality that rising seas threatened their very existence? At least, how could I tell him that without also being able to offer the parents’ classic bromide that “but you don’t need to worry about that”? The truth was that he did need to worry. He still does; we all do. So the next logical question is what are we doing about it? That day I was not yet aware of the efforts of the UNFCCC and the annual COPs. I knew of the Kyoto Protocol, of course, but it would be four years before I connected with Keith Peterman and traveled to Copenhagen for the much-anticipated COP15. Although we departed from “Hopenhagen” without much in the way of progress, those were to be my first steps on this continuing journey. The intervening years between Copenhagen and Marrakech—punctuated most notably by the euphoric success of COP21 in Paris—offered some confidence that we are making progress in our efforts to reduce the effects and eventual impacts of climate change. As I finalized travel plans to Morocco in the fall of 2016, it seemed this truly would be the “COP of Action.” Indeed, the momentum created in Paris carried over to COP22. In order for the Paris Agreement to take effect, it required ratification by no fewer than 55 countries that together represented at least 55% of global climate emissions (12). We passed that milestone on November 4, 2016, marking the first time that such a sweeping number of governments have agreed to binding limits to combat the rise in global temperatures (13). As the agreement entered into effect, UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa, and Moroccan Foreign Minister Salaheddine Mezouar issued a joint statement. It read in part that “…humanity will look back on 4 November 2016 as 115 Peterman et al.; Climate Change Literacy and Education Social Justice, Energy, Economics, and the Paris Agreement Volume ... ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


the day that countries of the world shut the door on inevitable climate disaster and set off with determination towards a sustainable future” (13). The stage was set. Morocco would mark an important pivot from the hard work of forging an international agreement, to the even harder work of executing the plan laid out in Paris. The pivot, it turned out, was not the one we expected. Instead, it came in the form of a presidential election result that sent shock waves across the country and around the world. Perhaps nowhere were these waves felt more acutely than at Bab Ighli, the official venue for COP22. I arrived at Marrakesh Menara airport just six days after the election, and I’m sure I was not alone in my misgivings about the future of the COP process. King Mohammed VI of Morocco had welcomed the attendees to “…the land of dialogue and coexistence,” but judging from the mood I’d left back home, this might be the last time we would experience either of those things for some time to come (14). Donald Trump is many things, but a believer in the science of climate change is not one of them. He has famously called global warming a hoax “created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive” (15). As he contemplates the fastest means to remove the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, though, one thing is clear—withdrawal will not mean the death of the agreement. If we cede leadership on this issue as part of an attempt to revitalize our reliance on coal and other fossil fuels, the world will simply move on without us: •

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France has announced plans to decommission all of its coal power plants by 2023 (16). Already a leading exporter of electricity (due in large part to low generation costs), France sees revenue exceeding €3 billion per year as a result of its renewable focus (17); The UK (which met more than half of its energy needs through renewable means in the summer of 2016) has similar plans to shutter all coal-fired power plants by 2025 (18); Germany’s coalition government has agreed on a climate change action plan that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 95% by 2050 (19). Among the world’s primary industrial nations, Germany is an established leader, drawing roughly 27% of its electricity from renewables in 2016—an increase of 300% over the last decade and more than twice what the United States gets today (20); and China has unveiled a proposal for a $50 trillion global electricity network linking existing and future solar farms, wind turbines and electricity plants in Asia, Europe, Africa and the Americas, with the expressed purpose of fighting pollution and the effects of climate change (21).

The progress is by no means limited to the world’s developed economies, either. In an effort to show their own commitment to dealing with global warming, the 47 members of the Climate Vulnerable Forum (CVF), which includes Tuvalu, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, and others, issued a promise in Marrakech to fully green their economies between 2030 and 2050. 116 Peterman et al.; Climate Change Literacy and Education Social Justice, Energy, Economics, and the Paris Agreement Volume ... ACS Symposium Series; American Chemical Society: Washington, DC, 2017.


This plan, called the Marrakech Vision, promises that the members will “strive to meet 100% domestic renewable energy production as rapidly as possible, while working to end energy poverty and protect water and food security, taking into consideration national circumstances” (22). Costa Rica is years ahead of even this ambitious goal, having announced that more than 98% of its energy in 2016 came from a mix of hydroelectric, geothermal, wind, biomass, and solar generation methods (23). The loss of any sort of credibility on the global climate stage, however, will put us at risk of damaging our economic competitiveness. Both Mexico’s Undersecretary for Environmental Policy and Planning, and French Presidential candidate Nicolas Sarkozy have said carbon tariffs against the United States are an option for us,” (24, 25). The pace of innovation and investment related to clean energy is staggering. No longer are emission-free energy sources economically questionable—unsubsidized solar is becoming cheaper than wind and outcompetes coal and natural gas on a larger scale (26). Thierry Lepercq, Head of Research, Technology and Innovation at the French energy company Engie SA, has even said that he sees potential for the cost of solar energy in the most favorable climates to fall below $0.01 per kilowatt hour by 2025 (27). Meanwhile, software-titan-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates has announced the creation of the $1 billion Breakthrough Energy Ventures fund, aimed at commercializing new technologies for power generation and storage, transportation, and system efficiency, among others (28). Moreover, as then-UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon stated in Morocco, “We have no right to gamble with the fate of future generations” (29). The COP process is an established, effective hedge against precisely the kinds of threats that can be presented by a lone demagogue. As the parties gather again in Bonn for COP23, they will reaffirm this fact, and the ACS student representatives will be on hand to play their ongoing, vital part in the process (30).

Reflections by Keith Peterman Earth Day 2016 Earth Day 2016 was especially poignant for me. From the global to the personal, a number of events served as reminders of times past and hope for our future. On the global scale, world leaders gathered at the UN in New York to sign the Paris Agreement. The 175 signatory nations represented the largest number of countries ever to sign an international agreement on a single day; it clearly turned our global economic ship in a new direction toward a low-carbon energy future (31). My personal context relates to the global theme for Earth Day 2016: Trees for the Earth (32). In conjunction with the Earth Day theme and opening of the Paris Agreement for signatories, the UN proposed a worldwide challenge to plant 7.8 billion trees by 2020 (33). This number represents the projected population—one tree for every man, woman, and child—who will be alive in 2020. 117



In keeping with the Earth Day theme, and in support of nations around the globe signing on to the Paris Agreement, chemistry majors at my home institution, York College of Pennsylvania, decided to get their hands dirty. They planted nine trees on our campus—five dogwoods, three redbuds, and a red oak (34). Watching these students remove the sod and dig into the earth gave me a great sense of hope for the future of our planet. As the students were giving new life to our campus, my oldest daughter was in labor with her third child in Florida. By early evening, she delivered an Earth Day baby girl. The red oak, which I donated to this project, is officially named “Annette” after my Earth Day granddaughter. This tree, along with the eight others planted on Earth Day 2016, equal the number of my grandchildren. Just 7,799,999,991 more trees to go.

Paris to Marrakech This reflection is written in part as I sit with my co-editors Greg and Matt at the COP22 venue in Marrakech, Morocco. I’m touched by conflicting emotions of melancholy and hope. We are in Marrakech for the November 2016 COP22 (35). Marrakech is a gritty, bustling commercial hub situated on a plateau and surrounded by the snow-capped Atlas Mountains. While the city basks under clear, blue, sunny skies, COP22 negotiators labor under a dark cloud of uncertainty due to the outcome of the recent U.S. Presidential elections. During the run up to the election, PresidentElect Donald Trump proclaimed that he would withdraw from the Paris Agreement on day one of his presidency. Matt, Greg, and I also participated in the December 2015 COP21 in Paris, where 196 parties to the UNFCCC forged a long-awaited global agreement to address climate change (36). COP22 in Marrakech serves as the first meeting of Parties to the Paris Agreement—called CMA1—which will establish the Paris Agreement governing body with authority over all administrative, procedural, operational, and substantive matters. November 2016 may turn out to be a true turning point in the global climate change story, or it may ultimately go down in history as a month of infamy. The Paris Agreement entered into force on November 4, 2016. COP22, dubbed “The COP of Action,” opened just three days later on November 7. The very next day, the outcome of the U.S. election shocked the world as a minority of American voters were able to elect Donald Trump under the U.S. Electoral College system. Trump is a climate change denier who has declared the very existence of climate change a hoax “created by and for the Chinese to make U.S. manufacturing less competitive.” Here in Marrakech, China’s vice foreign minister, Liu Zhenmin, pointedly countered Trump’s claim, stating, “If you look at the history of climate change negotiations, actually it was initiated by the IPCC with the support of the Republicans during the Reagan and senior Bush administration during the late 1980s (37).” Once inaugurated, Trump will stand as the only head of state who denies the science of climate change (10). 118



As of this writing, Trump is surrounding himself with self-proclaimed climate skeptics. He appears to be tapping fossil fuel barons and anti-environmental regulation industrialists to stack senior positions within his administration. At the opening of the High-Level Segment of COP22, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon counseled, “countries have strongly supported the [Paris] Agreement, because they realize their own national interest is best secured by pursuing the common good.” As this book goes to press, the question remains: will Trump’s inner circle heed Ban’s warning that “no country, however resourceful or powerful, is immune from the impacts of climate change” (38)? In a compelling speech during week two of COP22 in Marrakech, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said, “For those in power in all parts of the world, including my own, who may be confronted with decisions about which road to take at this critical juncture, I ask you, on behalf of billions of people around the world: Don’t take my word for it. Don’t take just the existence of this COP as the stamp of approval for it. I ask you to see for yourselves. Do your own due diligence before making irrevocable choices (11).” It is my hope that this book, written by youth working to promote climate literacy, will fall into the hands of business decision makers and those who have influence over public policy whose due diligence will help to inform our path forward. Living in the Anthropocene The Holocene came to an end in the mid-20th Century. All of human history developed during this geological Epoch—all, that is, except that defined by my lifetime. The Holocene describes the 11,700-year epoch since the last major ice age. In general, the Holocene has been a relatively warm period, with the exception of minor deviations like the “The Little Ice Age” between 1200 and 1700 A.D. The “Age of Man” has witnessed the rise and fall of civilizations, the evolution of written language, and towering achievements in knowledge and technology. Throughout the Holocene, our planet also experienced slow, adverse impacts as humans grew in number and began to exploit Earth’s seemingly limitless resources. We began leaving discernable traces on Earth’s stratigraphic record. Then, about the time I was born, something happened. Substantial, globally synchronous changes to our planet intensified the “Great Acceleration of the mid-20th Century”. This “Great Acceleration” marked the beginning of the Anthropocene Epoch, and closed the door on the Holocene (39). I was born just after World War II, in 1947. My birth coincides approximately with the ‘golden spike’—the global signal that coincides with the change from the Holocene to the Anthropocene. Although there are multiple potential ‘signals’ in the recent strata, plutonium fallout from nuclear tests is the currently favored signal. My life has been lived entirely in the Anthropocene Epoch. My generation and all generations since have levied an outsized, planet-scale impact on this habitable rock we call Earth. The Anthropocene is but a thin smear on the timeline of geological epochs. It promises to be one with enormous challenges, as well as extraordinary opportunities. 119


It is not my intent to write a “doom-and-gloom” conclusion in this book. I have hope for humanity and future generations. I hope that readers will join me in demanding that our policymakers make decisions informed by the science, not merely those based on rigid beliefs while wearing ideological blinders.


Hope As we rode the bus to the official venue on the last day of COP22, ACS student representative Hannah Melton—a senior at Johns Hopkins University—told me that she had hope and felt energized by the Conference. She said that older participants interacted with respect and were genuinely interested in what she had to say. She recognized the somber mood of uncertainty created by the election, but she also sensed a passing of the torch. Aging policymakers will soon be gone, and her generation will take a seat at the negotiating table. With any luck, her generation will not be encumbered by climate change skeptics. I, too, have hope. Hannah, the student authors of chapters in this book, and future policymakers from her generation will be making decisions for my Earth Day granddaughter Annette, my other eight grandchildren, children around the globe, and those not yet born. Pope Francis admonishes, “We receive this world as an inheritance from past generations, but also as a loan for future generations, to whom we will have to return it (40).” It is my hope that the students engaged in this ACS-sponsored climate change literacy program and this book help inform you and others of our moral and ethical obligation to act now for future generations.

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