This letter appears in the Fall 2010 Piedmont View newsletter.

Dear friends,

This summer, when the Senate turned away from a bill that would have established a cap-and-trade system for carbon emissions, it became unavoidably clear that the current political climate in Washington and in many states, including Virginia, does not support a dramatic shift in energy and environmental policy to address global warming.  But scientific evidence continues to confirm that global climate change is occurring.  If Plan A is not going to be adopted, then what is Plan B?

We should invest in what’s working—change from the ground up.  While top-down efforts are hamstrung by political infighting and inertia, across the nation people, businesses, localities and states are taking innovative action. Even in Virginia, where the legislature voted to not recognize carbon dioxide as a greenhouse gas, there are examples of how much can be done through grassroots initiatives, sound local policies, and regional coordination.  The Piedmont is full of such examples—individuals investing in appropriately scaled renewable energy projects, local governments such as Albemarle, Charlottesville, Loudoun and Warrenton developing energy plans, and the Washington Metropolitan Council of Government’s efforts to reduce vehicle miles travelled in one of the fastest growing regions in the United States.

Although PEC doesn’t operate under the banner of climate change, our work moves Piedmont communities toward sustainability—doing good for the planet as well as local places.

We help to sequester carbon by enabling the conservation of forests—over 160,000 acres in nine counties so far.  Our Buy Fresh Buy Local campaign promotes small farms that are growing food using more sustainable practices—which matters, since farm soils rich in organic matter have the potential to sequester 40% of the world’s carbon, according to studies by the Rodale Institute.  We help to reduce transportation emissions by fighting sprawl development projects and encouraging the redevelopment of our existing towns and service districts, so that homes are closer to jobs, schools and businesses, and people don’t have to drive so far.  We help to reduce emissions from power plants by educating citizens on home energy efficiency, supporting smart local and state energy policies and fighting transmission lines that link to dirty coal plants.

Piedmont citizens already take action to conserve land, improve watersheds, create wildlife habitat and build better communities.  People want to improve the places where they live.  They want to protect the places that they love.  The fact that many of those actions are also fundamental to addressing global warming is important, because it may provide the most effective model for a broader national effort. 

Top down solutions—even when well intentioned—can have the ill effect of taking decisions out of the hands of people who are likely to act in their best interests when given the opportunity. 

For example, right now, there is a push in Washington for thousands of miles of so-called “green” transmission lines that are supposed to link to potential sources of renewable energy in the interior of the country.  One problem with this plan is that, without comprehensive energy reform, there’s no reason to think these new lines will carry power from renewables rather than coal (see p. 3).  Another problem is that this plan would remove incentives to generate power near demand—although renewable energy resources are everywhere—thus moving decisions about how we get energy further from the people who use it.

As with a food system that lets us ignore out-of-sight factory farms, polluted streams and toxic inputs when we eat, our energy system encourages us to ignore consequences that seem beyond our control—destruction of Appalachian mountaintops, filthy grandfathered coal plants, melting glaciers and searing droughts.  In the same way that a local food system connects people to the fields, farmers and animals that provide their food, an energy system that includes more distributed generation—that is, power produced close to where we use it—can encourage people to invest in the cleanest and most sustainable options available.  Economically, these options will be able to compete once we stop subsidizing the massive transmission infrastructure required to deliver power from centralized facilities.  And, like the money we spend at local farms, the economic benefits of meeting our own energy needs will stay close to home—whether that means a solar company installing panels on a rooftop, contractors adding insulation to a house, offshore wind turbines near coastal cities or small, natural gas power plants.  Since few of us want even a state of the art power plant in our backyards, decentralizing our energy system can prompt us to use less, improve efficiency, manage peak demand and optimize the grid. 

Although national policies need to be reformed so they encourage and empower change throughout the country, we don’t need more centralized control.    We need a new paradigm for our energy, food, and environmental protection systems—one that reconnects actions and consequences, that lets people make choices and take responsibility.

Sincerely,

Chris Miller

Read more from the Fall 2010 Piedmont View