I want to relate one final anecdote from my trip to our Kansas reforestation project earlier this month (See
Kansas Iand
Kansas IIfor my earlier posts). Carbonfund.org's partnerships manager, Claire Douglass, and I were chatting with the owner of a local newspaper when we got talking about Kansas Governor Katherine Sebelius' recent decision to block the construction of a new coal power plant in the state.
The move was hailed by environmentalists as a brave decision with both symbolic and real benefits to the health of our country and our planet. (It also helped raise Sebelius' national profile to the point where she is now considered on the short list for Sen. Barack Obama's VP pick.)
The owner of the the newspaper - Jackie Taylor of the Linn County Times - had a different take. According to Taylor, both public opinion and her editorial board were solidly against the decisions. The utility, as it turns out, had decided to build the coal plant across the border in Oklahoma instead, thus depriving Kansas of much needed jobs and tax revenue while the environmental cost was simply moved a few miles down the road.
It was sobering to hear the effect of lost jobs and revenue in exchange for potentially zero environmental gain straight from someone on the ground. I remember muttering something to Taylor about the need for federal legislation to prevent utilities from simply switching states. But I found that sometimes the arguments that sound good in D.C. fall a bit flat when communicated elsewhere.
In any case, I still think Sebelius made the right call. Even if the coal plant moves forward in Oklahoma, her decision made a huge impact on opinion nationwide, not to mention galvanizing other state leaders into greater action. Plus: Carbonfund.org has a solution to lost jobs and revenue (you guessed it - more carbon offset projects like the one we were there to celebrate).
Carbonfund.org makes it easy and affordable for any individual or business to reduce their carbon footprint to zero. www.carbonfund.org
The move was hailed by environmentalists as a brave decision with both symbolic and real benefits to the health of our country and our planet. (It also helped raise Sebelius' national profile to the point where she is now considered on the short list for Sen. Barack Obama's VP pick.)
It was sobering to hear the effect of lost jobs and revenue in exchange for potentially zero environmental gain straight from someone on the ground. I remember muttering something to Taylor about the need for federal legislation to prevent utilities from simply switching states. But I found that sometimes the arguments that sound good in D.C. fall a bit flat when communicated elsewhere.
In any case, I still think Sebelius made the right call. Even if the coal plant moves forward in Oklahoma, her decision made a huge impact on opinion nationwide, not to mention galvanizing other state leaders into greater action. Plus: Carbonfund.org has a solution to lost jobs and revenue (you guessed it - more carbon offset projects like the one we were there to celebrate).