U.S. and China announce climate and clean energy deal

The U.S. and China have provided some encouraging news in international efforts to curb carbon emissions in an effort to mitigate the worst effects of climate change. According to a fact sheet released by the White House yesterday, President Obama committed the U.S. to reducing net greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 26-28% by 2025 over 2005 levels. In addition, President Xi announced for the first time China's intention to peak its overall CO2 emissions, by around 2030 or earlier. China is also committed to meeting 20% of its energy needs through renewable energy sources by 2030, according to the same fact sheet. 

The U.S. goal also commits the U.S. to a total carbon pollution reduction target, not just a reduction in emissions from electricity generation. 

When combined with the EU's target to reduce emissions by 40% by 2030, the goals of the U.S., China, and EU (whose combined emissions account for over 50% of all GHG emissions globally) taken collectively are widely viewed as a serious first step toward a low-carbon future.

Early reactions to the announcement among environmentalists have been positive. David Victor is quoted on the NY Times dot Earth blog as saying

This is exactly what is needed — credible pledges by groups of important countries that are rooted in a vision of the effort they will make together. If each country only does what makes sense from its individual interest then the outcome from international diplomacy isn’t much more than status quo. Serious cuts in emissions (and all the things that allow that — like a big rise in R and D) require collective action. And you get started on the complex and difficult task of collective action by starting in small groups that are focused on real actions.

This will be criticized as inadequate, and for the long haul it is. But what matters more is that it is credible and this is now the high water mark for serious Chinese pledges and engagement in the international process since China is probably the most pivotal player.

Whether the announced targets are significant enough to meet the globally agreed goal to limit warming to 2ºC by 2100 remains to be seen. But it's encouraging to see the world's two biggest emitters committing to serious action together.

Introduction

This site is a work in progress, but I wanted to give you a taste of what to expect.

My story

In the late summer of 2009, I began undergoing an environmentalist awakening. I was recently married, had just finished my undergraduate degree, and was looking for my first real job out of school. While visiting family, I noticed my sister gathering food waste to compost in a pile behind my parents' house in the woods in Connecticut. At first, I didn't think much of it, except that I found this new behavior of hers a bit odd. Up to that point, I had never considered the impacts of a human life on the environment.

Fast forward five years and much has changed. I am again recently out of school, having just finished a master's degree, but my interest in, knowledge of, and experience with environmental issues have progressed immensely. Shortly after the episode with my sister at my parents' house, I started a career in management consulting in New York. The composting had marked me, however, and I became curious: what was the impact of a human life—and particularly of my life—on the environment?

I soon began thinking not just about my impact but also the impacts of millions of fellow New Yorkers and billions of people around the world. I started thinking about the impacts of whole companies and countries, of individual purchase decisions and entire lifestyles. At work, I began learning more about corporate social responsibility and sustainability, and I sought out projects and experiences where I could have a positive influence on reducing our company's and our clients' environmental impacts. I even started recruiting colleagues to do the same, forming and leading an "Eco Team" of co-workers to promote pro-environmental behavior and to participate in environmental improvement volunteering events.

Despite these efforts, I didn't feel I was answering my original question satisfactorily, so I read. I subscribed to Bloomberg Sustainability and Environmental Leader. I read Before the Lights Go Out, The Conundrum, Natural Capitalism, and Environmental Policy. As the nature of our environmental impacts became clearer to me, I began to wonder: why, if we know about the severity of our environmental impacts, has more not been done to reduce and reverse them? And so I explored additional psychology, social science, and philosophy resources for possible explanations and linkages. I read You Are Not So Smart and Thinking, Fast and Slow. I read Language Intelligence, Nudge, The Spirit Level, What Money Can't Buy, and How Much Is Enough? and began to connect a few dots.

And I decided it was time to structure my searching. As a graduate student at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), I explored the relationships between human activity and environmental impact, as well as our attempts to enact policy to protect the environment. And I kept reading. In addition to a host of academic articles, I read Weak Versus Strong Sustainability, The Stern Review, Architectures for Agreement, How Bad Are Bananas?, The Burning Question, The Signal and the Noise, Paternalism, and Merchants of Doubt. I'm halfway through Capital in the Twenty-First Century, and I'm always reading news articles and blogs from a wide variety of sources on environmental issues.

Having recently completed my master's program, I am creating this blog as a way to continue exploring solutions to environmental issues.

This blog

In all my reading and studying, several themes have emerged. Here are just a few:

1. While there are many environmental problems caused by human activity, the largest and most pressing is undoubtedly climate change.
2. Solutions to environmental problems exist, and implementing policy to bring about these solutions doesn't necessarily spell disaster for the economy. In fact, environmental protection often saves money and promotes a healthy economy.
3. People are largely unaware of the environmental ramifications of their lifestyles. Even for those who are aware of their environmental impact, knowledge alone is typically insufficient to change environment-damaging behavior.
4. Educating people on their environmental impacts is an important but insufficient step to improve environmental outcomes. 
5. In addition to individual action, system-wide changes are required to achieve any level of sustainable economic activity.

While I still don't have perfect answers to the questions I started asking in 2009, there's no question my understanding and experience have progressed. This blog will serve as a platform to share what I have learned up to now, to keep tabs on the latest developments in environmental issues, and to continue my searching for answers. To achieve these objectives, there will be a number of reference articles/posts on topics such as environmental ethics/philosophy (i.e., why should anyone care about the environment?), climate change science, climate equity/justice, the history of environmentalism, and the sociology of science, just to name a few. These posts will serve as the backdrop informing the discussion on current events in environmental issues, which will include responses to news articles and academic studies. The final element is the exploration of answers to the questions I started asking five years ago, which will involve interaction with readers through comments on posts. In this way, we can participate together in our exploration of solutions to environmental problems.

I very much look forward to sharing my thoughts and hearing yours. Happy reading, sharing, and commenting!