The monitoring device comes as legislation to deliver on some of Biden’s climate pledges has stalled in the evenly split Senate.
The Apple Fire north of Beaumont, California, July 31, 2020. (Brody Hessin, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons)
By Jessica Corbett
Common Dreams
A coalition of advocacy organizations demanding bold steps by the U.S. government to combat the climate emergency launched an online ticker Thursday that shows “the cost of inaction.”
The ticker, currently set at $50.5 billion and constantly climbing, comes as legislation to deliver on some of President Joe Biden’s climate pledges was passed last year by Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives but has since stalled in the evenly split Senate.
The Climate Action Campaign (CAC) and other groups behind the project rely on data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration detailing recent weather and climate disasters for which the overall damage costs hit or surpassed $1 billion.
As the CAC’s ticker webpage explains:
“Using the average cost of billion-dollar events to the United States in the last five years, it is estimated that we will continue to see nearly $150 billion worth of damage every year on average due to extreme weather unless Congress acts to pass $555 billion climate investments included in the Build Back Better framework to help communities better manage growing climate risks. These investments will provide much-needed action that helps communities reduce impacts of extreme weather events and delivers jobs, justice, and clean energy for Americans.
While it is impossible to predict the precise toll extreme weather fueled by climate change will exact on Americans in the coming year, $148.4 billion represents our best estimation based on current trends. Billion-dollar weather events occur sporadically throughout the year, many Americans are experiencing environmental trauma daily as they continue to recover from past damage while preparing for impending climate disasters. To represent this omnipresent threat of climate or weather disaster, we will represent the estimated annual cost on a per second basis—$4,705.73/second.”
In addition to the national estimate for 2022, the groups have made an interactive state map.
“In 2021, the United States experienced 20 billion-dollar plus disasters, the second-highest of all time,” CAC campaign director Margie Alt noted Thursday. “Every second the Senate delays action on bold climate investments, the cost of inaction only increases.”
Highlighting the House vote last year, Alt added that “climate can’t wait, our families’ health can’t wait, our communities can’t, and Congress must work with President Biden to deliver on urgent climate action.”
While CAC is made up of a dozen national groups as well as several other allies and partners, the cost of inaction effort is led by the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments, Change the Chamber*Lobby for Climate, Dream Corps Green for All, Earthjustice, Environment America, Michigan Clinicians for Climate Action, National Wildlife Federation, Poder Latinx, Sierra Club, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, and United Women in Faith.
According to Abigail Waldron, youth climate fellow at Change the Chamber*Lobby for Climate, “CAC’s Cost of Inaction Ticker is an effective way to show people and quickly make the case about the need to urgently act on climate.”
Bolstered by scientists’ warnings — including those from the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report — other campaigners from involved groups captured that urgency in statements Thursday.
The @IPCC_CH’s recent report confirms that we’re falling behind in making effective, widespread climate action. With @actonclimateUS’s ticker, we can see that every second we delay action, it’s costing us. We need Congress to #GetClimateDone! https://t.co/SahKWARHMf
— Andrew Postal (@adpostal90) May 5, 2022
“As our leaders fail to act with the urgency science requires, the climate crisis is endangering families and communities across the country,” warned Liz Perera, Sierra Club’s senior director of climate policy and federal relationships.
“With bold investments in climate action and clean energy,” she said, “we can build a better future for every single one of us, cutting dangerous pollution and costs while creating good-paying jobs for millions.”
Noting that the climate emergency disproportionately impacts communities of color, Yadira Sanchez, executive director of Poder Latinx, declared that “with the cost of inaction continuing to climb, we need bold solutions and investments in climate, clean energy, and environmental justice. Our leaders must work together to get climate done now.”
Jessica Corbett is a staff writer for Common Dreams.
This article is from Common Dreams.
Help Us Beat the Censors!
Donate to Consortium News‘
2022 Spring Fund Drive
Donate securely by credit card or check by clicking the red button:
What “action” is being demanded “to combat the climate emergency” – which is a symptom – by this “coalition of advocacy organizations”?
Why do they fail to speak up about the roots cause? Which is carbon dioxide is emitted by machines made by humans, and that engineers – NOT POLITICIANS or “advocacy organizations” make machines, which need raw material inputs, produced by mining and refining activities all powered by high energy density fossil fuels.
Electricity powered machines can’t do this work because batteries are 5 or 10 times heavier (i.e. less energy dense) than diesel (per unit of work done by machines), and can’t be recharged at remote locations. Batteries are already close to the maximum energy density the laws of physics allows already, and electricity can’t provide process heat for cement, fertilizers, and much metal production.
This means : (so-called) renewable energy electricity generation machines can’t be built with electricity powered machines.
And since fossil fuels are running out anyway – peak oil – the laws of thermodynamics dictate the “action” being demanded must be massive de-growth back pre-fossil age populations and average wealth & health of the 1850’s.
Or does this “coalition” think the laws of physics don’t apply whilst bleating about “the cost [£$] of inaction” as if engineers are capable of building magic machines ?
Notice how “Global Warming” has morphed into “Climate Change”. I guess this covers every contingency, in case they need to revisit the ‘global cooling’/’next ice age’ panic of the ’70s.
The world price of solar panels have declined rapidly over the years to the point that solar is now about the cheapest way to generate electric power when the sun shines. It appears that solar will be even cheaper out in the future. Unfortunately, here in the US, we have hefty trade restrictions on solar panels that is slowing down the solarization of the US. Japan and the EU do not seem to be engaging in such economic stupidity.