The
federal government will save money by shrinking its carbon footprint.
I can’t easily reduce my own footprint on the planet in some of
the ways that I’d like. Sure, I can walk and take the bus instead of driving
some of the time, and I can turn off the lights when I leave a room.
What about the big stuff?
I’m talking about retrofitting my home for efficiency,
installing solar panels, or buying a more efficient car. Those big changes will
really make a difference in greenhouse gas emissions — particularly if lots of
us take those steps together.
Unfortunately, many people like me don’t own our homes. And
plenty of homeowners can’t afford to go solar or buy a new car — even if those
things would save money in the long run.
But the federal government can. And President Barack Obama just announced that
it will.
Under a new executive order, Uncle Sam will cut its carbon emissions by 40 percent over the next 10 years while ramping up renewable energy. It will be the equivalent of taking 5.5 million cars off the road.
The plan calls for a variety of
changes: reducing energy use in government buildings, swapping out
less efficient vehicles for plug-in hybrids and all-electric models, and
obtaining more power from clean sources like wind and solar.
This won’t increase spending. In fact, these changes will save taxpayers
up to $18 billion in energy costs.
It’s not a perfect fix to our country’s contribution to the
climate crisis. The federal government, after all, isn’t the nation’s only
polluter.
The 26 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions Obama’s
executive order will curb by 2025 are just a drop in the
bucket compared to the 7 billion our country
releases into the atmosphere each year.
But it’s a start. And it’s moving us in the right direction.
With its 360,000 buildings and 650,000 vehicles, Washington can
make a much bigger impact in reducing emissions than a family with one home and
two cars, even if that family does everything right. And it’ll save tax dollars
to boot.
So that raises the question: Shouldn’t all state and local
governments follow Obama’s example?
Imagine a nation in which all government buildings — city halls,
public schools, post offices — are lit by natural lighting during the day and
surrounded by native plant landscaping that doesn’t require much maintenance or
water.
We’d see rooftop-solar energy powering most schools, and
government vehicles getting up to 60 miles per gallon — if they ran on gasoline
at all. We’d have a cleaner environment, and we’d free up taxpayer money for
better priorities than high utility and fuel bills.
What do we have to lose?
State and local governments and even large corporations should
follow the federal government’s example and plan now to slash their emissions
over the next decade.
Because they don’t have to choose between saving the planet and
saving money.
OtherWords
columnist Jill Richardson is the author of Recipe for America: Why Our
Food System Is Broken and What We Can Do to Fix It. OtherWords.org.