Today's The Day

Someone said a long time ago that, "today is the first day of the rest of your life." For those of us who have been hoping for movement in Congress on climate change, we're in the midst of realizing the true meaning of that aphorism.

Senator's Kerry and Lieberman introduced their bill this week and voices on the left and right found it inadequate. The loud voices over at Fox called the bill a global power grab, while at least one the equally strident advocate voice on the other side is angry that the bill doesn't go far enough.

Today's the day.

We're here and consuming energy to support a lifestyle that we like, and around the world billions-- yes, billions -- of other people have the hope and are praying that they can have the life that we have here in the U.S. But those aspirations come with costs, and really no matter how much the climate skeptics want us to hop on their bandwagon, glaciers that have advanced and receded across our global landscape for a long time, are now retreating and not recharging at rates enough to sustain them because where the glaciers are, and where the rest of us are, is here on Earth and it's getting warmer.

Today's the day.

The Kerry-Lieberman (or is it Lieberman-Kerry?) bill tries to make a difference, but like most things out of Washington, the difference is on the margins when what we need is bold action. I have the blessed fortune to telecommute for work a couple of days each week. Actually, if not for out-dated ideas about personnel management, I don't have to be in the office much at all. All of us need to think about climate change and associated energy efficiency as essential, and how our usual way of thinking needs to change for our own greater good.

The green jobs pablum that comes out of Washington and state capitals also needs to be bolder. The so-called cash-for-caulkers program will make homes more efficient and put some people to work, but the long-term effect of it will be small. A "GI-Bill", Marshall Plan, full-court press or some other catch phrase is needed to make a real difference here.

Dealing with climate change by making better energy source choices (wind and solar, and having the guts to build the transmission delivery capacity from generating location to end user) today and realizing that the choices are investments in the future and not just current accounting entries for today, is critical.

Carefully debating the Lieberman-Kerry bill -- without the sound-byte hyperbole, or a jaundiced eye on the next election -- also is necessary. The bill's far from perfect, but today it's a place to start.

Today's the day.

(Photo Credit: First photo: Reardon, USGS, 2001; Second Photo, Stebinger, Glacier National Park Archives, 1914