GETTING THAT GREEN

“Any climate politics so closely identified with the global elite in 2018 is dead on arrival.” -- Kate Aranoff, The Intercept

This past Thursday was quite the ride for those of us following climate change policy here in St. Pete, just three days into the new year.  Mayor Rick Kriseman and the Office of Sustainability & Resiliency held a number of events, the first of which had a secret guest and special announcement regarding the city’s Integrated Sustainability Action Plan (or ISAP).  The guest would turn out to be Michael Bloomberg, mega-billionaire financier, former Mayor of New York, and UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Climate Action.  With a current net worth of about $44 billion and at least six homes around the planet, this man is an authority on the low-impact lifestyles that we all need to adopt.

He announced that St. Petersburg was the twentieth winner of the Bloomberg American Cities Climate Challenge.  Having explained their climate change intentions, the contest winners (five more cities remain to be announced) will receive a support package and technical assistance to help implement them, including a Bloomberg Philanthropy team member to facilitate development of plans, training for local leadership and citizen engagement support to help get people on board.  Supposedly this two-year acceleration program to help meet or beat target carbon cuts is valued at over $2 million. It’s not clear how much of that amount will be a flat cash donation to help implement the ISAP, though there is a reference in the documents to “rapid response grants.” Kriseman refused to comment on what exactly that unknown amount of money might be spent on, but the press release from the foundation suggests the city intends to scale up energy efficiency and renewable energy financing models, as well as the residential solar co-op plan.

(Announcement coverage from St Pete TV)

We might be willing to welcome the injection of resources and funds (especially as it constitutes a crude form of resource transfer from a wealthy source) and the stated goals of accelerating drawdown plans.  But getting this from Bloomberg, the 11th richest person in the world (“I put the money in the foundation and they take it out”) may indicate significant limitations in thinking for participating cities. Bloomberg’s business class is not going to accept a message against the underlying problem of economic growth, or even strongly against unfettered markets, and what he tellingly called “the grassroots” (meaning not regular activists but city governments) will keep that in mind when writing future grant applications and drawing up plans.  Consider the way Bloomberg utterly dodged a question from a Florida Phoenix reporter about whether he supported the idea of a Green New Deal Committee, a current popular demand that would bar politicians who don’t see a problem with accepting fossilised money.  Instead of answering yes or no, Bloomberg fluttered on about not getting this done “overnight” (the Sunrise Movement that is primarily pushing the idea is demanding complete decarbonisation within ten years, but go ahead and conflate those two timelines), about Trump, about the glorious national conversion from coal to fracked gas, as if he's never heard of methane emissions, or just doesn’t give a damn.

It’s also worth bearing in mind that just a few months ago, this “climate philanthropist” accused protesters blockading a pro-corporate Global Climate Action Summit in San Francisco of being hypocritical fools working against their own interests.  Never mind that such summits still promote absurd ideas, like that market mechanisms can magically turn the threat of looming death for our planet into a bonanza for shareholders, or that the host Governor took millions of dollars in fossil fuel donations over his career.  How’s Bloomberg Philanthropy going to react when Extinction Rebellion US and other movements begin to forcefully point out that this wishy washy, business-as-usual approach is why we have been failing to solve this problem for decades?  That we need not the generosity of the upper class, but the restructuring of an economic system that serves them at our collective expense?  What are the odds of these arguments making headway in local government with a Bloomberg Philanthropy employee sitting at the table?

Later in the day came the ISAP pubic review & open house at city hall.  While there was no formal presentation or explanation of the action plan, residents were invited to browse documents and vote for priorities in a series of categories.  There appeared to be substantial support among those present for reducing all local emissions 20% by the end of next year, as well as for affordable housing policy and electric vehicle incentives.  The 20% reduction by 2020 (based on a 2016 baseline) is now apparently a firm commitment by city hall, designed presumably to coincide with the duration of the Climate Challenge program, and it is followed by a goal of a 40% reduction by 2025.  The final ISAP is not yet available to the public, but a recent draft and other documents are available at the city sustainability page.

Looking at these goals, we might consider a few things.  This is more than many governments in the US are proposing, to be sure, indicating an understanding of the need to make rapid cuts early in the timeline to lower overall total emissions.  Local government officials act within an environment of complex systems much larger than themselves, that like all of us they must navigate as best they can, with not even the likes of Michael Bloomberg able to have complete control over all outcomes.  But while there can be little doubt that there are people within official channels who genuinely care about climate breakdown, and who doubtless expended significant effort to get these plans put together, the simple, unbiased truth is that these cuts are still simply not deep enough given the need for the emergency measures that are now our only chance at survival.  

They are not in line with the recommendations of the October IPCC report, let alone the position of those commentators who suggest that the IPCC was not honest about the gravity of our situation.  The most recent publicly available version of the city roadmap (published in November) proposes an 80% cut by 2050, which, if it were to remain in the final draft, would indicate a catastrophic slowdown in efforts.  Honest city employees are no doubt aware of this, and would hopefully welcome the political capital to expand the plans drastically. It's up to those of us on the outside to help provide them with that political space, by laying out the stark and unpleasant reality.

Extinction Rebellion is calling for the declaration of an immediate state of emergency over the climate crisis from all levels of government, a society-wide mobilisation to bring emissions down to net zero by 2025, and a much more participatory democracy to make sure we all get a say in these defining times.  Extinction Rebellion Tampa Bay will be officially launching during a national day of action on Saturday January 26th.  We invite everyone who supports emergency climate action to join us that day at 10am in Williams Park.