An Overview of 2011 Climate Change: A Little Good, but Mostly Bad

I’ll start with the good news, but I must warn you there isn’t very much of it.  Here’s what we’ve got: 2011 was cooler than 2010, renewable energy has finally surpassed fossil fuel in regards to power plant investment, and… oh wait, that’s it. Unfortunately, the down sides far outweigh the good as our climate continues to spiral out of control.

So on with the bad news: even though 2011 was better than 2010, it was still the 10^th warmest year on record; even though renewable power plant investment surpassed that of fossil fuels, there is still far more fossil fuels being produced; even though the United Nations has entered into climate change discussions, no significant agreements have been reached or changes made; and even though President Obama said he would halt the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline construction until more environmental analysis, he signed legislation which used the pipeline as a bargaining chip anyway. Ouch.

The conclusion many people have drawn in the past is becoming more and more evident: everyone sees the impacts of climate change and most people realize it is a bad thing, but are unwilling to take the lead on efforts to stop it. Not just in the United States with President Obama feebly holding the reigns, but also at the worldwide level with the entire United Nations struggling to come up with any sort of agreement. Yes the Kyoto Protocol was unattainable, but at least it was something put into writing that forced many countries to break into a sprint toward the effort to slow climate change.

Individual people are also to blame though! Homeowners, building owners, private and public corporations, and even simple residential tenants without any assets could be making a huge difference if they simple gained the knowledge. Turn off lights and computers, drive your cars less, install energy management systems, purchase more efficient appliances, watch less TV, install renewables like solar or wind, etc. etc. etc. We all know the solutions; yet continue to wait on the upper echelons of society to make the big changes.

So happy New Year and I hope 2012 brings health, happiness and the inspiration of leadership to everyone… including myself.