His license plate reads WWS ERA, which stands for Mark Z. Jacobson’s predicted era of Wind, Water, and Solar energy. Dr. Jacobson, a professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford and director of its Atmosphere/Energy Program, spoke at the Praxis Peace Institute in Sonoma on January 4th—an event co-sponsored by Sonoma Clean Power. In 2011, with Mark Ruffalo and Josh Fox, he formed the Solutions Project, (http://thesolutionsproject.org), a political advocacy group, combining presentations of science, business, culture, and community to develop a 50-state renewable energy plan.
About 200 attendees heard Jacobson speak on “Transforming Counties, States, and Cities to 100% Clean, Renewable Energy for all Purposes.” Initially he painted a pretty grim picture of what could/would happen by 2050 if we continued BAU (Business as Usual). According to Jacobson, by then air pollution will cost the world’s economies $20-25 trillion/year in health care costs AND global warming will cost $25-30 trillion/year. That’s trillions folks. Some of the consequences of such climate change include mass famine, drought, severe flooding, plagues, poisoned oceans, record heat waves, and yes, wildfires. In addition, fossil fuels are a finite resource; increasing their use will inevitably mean shortages and rising prices.
The solution he offered is transforming the world’s entire energy to WWS, Wind, Water, Solar, in all sectors. Electrifying electrical, transportation, heating and cooling, and industry, and then making the electricity that fuels these sectors renewable is the solution.
New York, Massachusetts, and California all have bills in their legislatures to help move them to 100% renewable energy. Currently AB 1745, which would mandate the sale of zero emissions’ vehicles in California by 2040, needs to make it out of the Transportation Committee so it can be voted on. You can help by contacting your representative and others on this issue; also ask their support of SB100, which would mandate that California’s energy supply be renewable by 2046. For more information on how you can help, contact Center for Climate Protection’s Jock Gilchrist at 707-525-1665 X 123. His email is jock@climateprotection.org.
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