Opinion: Alaskans can move on from fossil fuels and flatten the climate curve

Opinion: Alaskans can move on from fossil fuels and flatten the climate curve

  • By Kay Brown
  • Wednesday, May 20, 2020 1:30pm
  • Opinion

What we do in the decade ahead will determine whether we can avoid runaway climate change. Moving away from the production and use of fossil fuels could help flatten the climate curve.

As people all over the world have come together to practice social distancing and protect each other and our heroic health care workers from the ravages of the coronavirus, we’ve gained collective understanding of what it takes to unite in common cause to confront a global challenge.

As we begin to see hopeful signs that we are turning the corner on the pandemic, a broad coalition of public and private stakeholders is coming together and asking how we can get back on the path to economic prosperity by moving forward to a safer, cleaner environment rather than falling backward.

[Let’s flatten the curve of climate change]

If we fall backward and continue to burn fossil fuels, more and more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere. This concentration of carbon dioxide acts like a blanket that traps heat, disrupting ecological systems and the climate. As the average global temperature rises toward a 2-degree C increase, severe impacts are becoming increasingly evident.

It’s time to get serious about flattening the climate’s disastrous trajectory.

Alaska could be a larger part of the climate solution. One of the most impactful things we could do is to convince our state and federal leaders to find ways to move Alaska away from fossil fuel use and production.

A break with an old oil dependency seems challenging until it isn’t.

As our economy begins to recover from the pandemic, Alaskans have reasons to rethink our relationship with oil. The industry is in trouble. Low demand worldwide, an early price war between Russia and Saudi Arabia and near-full storage capacity caused prices for ANS crude to fall below zero (to negative -$2.68 per barrel) in mid-April. Subsequent prices have been in the $20-$30 per barrel range. With this low-price and low-demand situation, exploration and development are stalling just a few months after a number of international banks decided not to fund new drilling for oil in the Arctic.

The world has moved on. A safe, healthy and sustainable future for the planet means getting off fossil fuels and away from their harmful emissions.

We have growing agreement the climate crisis is upon us. Alaska’s Arctic is no longer the only “canary in the coal mine.” Because of observable and measurable impacts in the Arctic and around the world we’ve hit a tipping point of awareness — more people than ever agree we have an enormous problem and want action to save the planet from becoming uninhabitable.

If there is broad agreement on the problem and its urgency, how can we unite to take collective action to help reduce the imminent risks and economic disruptions driven by climate change?

Will we leave the planet a better place for our children and generations to come? Can we articulate a compelling vision and path forward to counter the powerful amoral interests that continue to deflect, deny and discourage action?

As we envision and work on building a new economy, Alaska can adopt a two-pronged approach:

• Rapidly transition our local energy consumption toward safe, clean, renewable energy; and

• Leverage our local energy production away from high-emission fossil fuels.

Investments now in clean energy infrastructure could provide jobs and help speed the economic recovery from the pandemic.

As a former Director of Oil and Gas for the State of Alaska and a former State Representative, I’ve worked to achieve responsible oil and gas development for the benefit of Alaskans. But global conditions have changed, and the climate crisis is a paramount motivator. We now must do whatever we can, collectively and individually, to contribute to climate solutions.

• Kay Brown is Arctic Policy Director for Pacific Environment. She is a former Director of Oil and Gas for the State of Alaska and a former State Representative from Anchorage. Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.Columns, My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire. Have something to say? Here’s how to submit a My Turn or letter.

More in Opinion

Web
Have something to say?

Here’s how to add your voice to the conversation.

(Juneau Empire File)
Letter: Attorney general’s letter to libraries are an abuse of office

Earlier this month Treg Taylor, Alaska’s attorney general, published a letter to… Continue reading

An aging outhouse overlooks Tenakee Inlet. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
My Turn: Murkowski’s bill will dramatically change map of public land in Southeast Alaska

There has been very little reporting on federal legislation that would greatly… Continue reading

(Photo courtesy of the City and Borough of Juneau)
Opinion: Choosing a seat at the table

To advocates for limiting cruise ship tourism and combatting climate change, partnering… Continue reading

A photo of Juneau featured on the front cover of this year’s annual “Economic Indicators and Outlook” by the Juneau Economic Development Council. (Juneau Economic Development Council)
Opinion: Troubling trends deserve Assembly attention

The economic indicators report published last month by the Juneau Economic Development… Continue reading

Passengers return to the Norwegian Sun on Oct. 25, the final day of this year’s cruise ship season in Juneau. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File)
My Turn: “Partnering” with cruise ship industry isn’t in Juneau’s interests

Regarding Jim Powell’s lecture at the Evening at Egan event on Friday,… Continue reading

Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., questions Navy Adm. Lisa Franchetti during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Sept. 14 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Opinion: Music to the ears of America’s adversaries

Two weeks ago, U.S. Sen. Dan Sullivan made a commendable effort to… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire File)
Letter: Thankful to see the construction by local Native organiztions

Sitting in my living room listening to nails pounding into the old… Continue reading

Fog drifts through the trees in the Tongass National Forest on Monday, Dec. 9, 2019. (Michael Penn | Juneau Empire File)
My Turn: A response to ‘There are no Landless Natives in Southeast Alaska’

Where to begin? Rebecca Knight’s — at best implicitly xenophobic and factually… Continue reading

Alaska Permanent Fund Corp. board members, staff and advisors meet Oct. 30 at the corporation’s headquarters in Juneau to discuss a proposal to raise the fund’s rate of return by making riskier investments. The idea stalled when advisors suggested the strategy and timing are ill-advised. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire File).
My Turn: Need for accounting and legislative oversight of the Permanent Fund

The governor or Legislature or both need to conduct an audit format… Continue reading

(Juneau Empire File)
Opinion: Imagine the cost of health and happiness if set by prescription drug companies

I’ve been reading more about prescription drug prices lately: How they are… Continue reading