Paris commitments. Will it survive? How is your state working — or not — to comply with the plan? What will the plan mean for is- sues like energy costs and employment in your area? Paris also raised the stakes for climate change in the 2016 elec- tion season, since the next occupants of the White House and Con- gress will have to actually carry out Obama’s commitments — or not. And while, in the presidential race, climate is baldly partisan — Democratic candidates have vowed to continue Obama’s poli- cies; Republicans have vowed to defeat them — there may be more interesting battles in your state’s Congressional and state legislature elections. That’s especially true for locales where climate impacts are already hitting hard, like drought-fatigued cropland in the Mid- west or flood-battered coastal communities. ● The local picture: In Paris, mayors were as potent a pres- ence as ministers and heads of state. Cities are the loci of some of the most interesting developments in clean energy, improved public transit, highways and buildings made more resilient to adverse weather, and other vital climate initiatives. How are elected officials in your coverage area pushing plans to mitigate and adapt to climate change? If they aren’t, why aren’t they? Other local institutions, like small businesses and universities, should face the same questions. For example, in “Dark Money,” Jane Mayer’s excellent new account of the Koch brothers’ political empire, I was surprised to learn that the University of Arizona, my alma mater, is one of the largest recipients of Koch funding. Be- cause the Kochs’ fortune is derived largely from fossil fuels and has been employed to impede action on climate change, that rela- tionship and others like it deserve more scrutiny. ● Clean energy: Paris confirmed that there’s a bright future ahead for clean energy technologies. Massive increases in renewable energy use were the most common strategy promised by countries around the world to reduce their carbon footprints [j.mp/CleanEn- ergyTech]. What will that mean for your area? Who are the new win- ners and losers in the rapidly changing energy sector? How are officials in your area helping or hindering that transition? In Nevada, for example, regulators recently changed electricity metering rules in a way that severely undercut rooftop solar’s cost advantage; as a result, several major solar companies jumped ship, taking hundreds of jobs with them [http://j.mp/SolarPowerLosing]. Battles like this are playing out across the country. ● Follow the money: No one expects the transition to a cleaner economy to be cheap. U.N. officials have called for global investment in energy efficiency and clean energy to reach $1 trillion per year [http://www.ceres.org/issues/clean-trillion ] from now to 2050, but today we’re at only one-third of that target [http://j.mp/In- vestorsWrestle]. Watch closely as the country’s biggest investors — think banks big and small, pension funds, state treasurers and the like — shift more of the money they manage (some of which may belong to you) into green projects. How will the U.N. manage the so-called Green Climate Fund, which aims to pour cash into green development projects?


Meanwhile, momentum is gathering at universities and else- where to divest invested holdings from fossil fuels. Will that move- ment continue to grow? What impact will it truly have? ● Look abroad: China and India both made commitments in Paris that could have significant ramifications for the global econ- omy. Will China be able to curb its coal addiction? How will Chi- nese solar and wind manufacturers compete in the global market with their American and European rivals? Will India succeed in de- livering energy access to millions of its poorest citizens without


Exhibits at the climate summit, like this giant clownfish mural at the Indonesia pavil- ion, reminded the 38,000 registered attendees that human beings weren’t the only stakeholder species with an interest in the outcome of the climate negotiations. Photo: © Gary Braasch / WorldViewofGlobalWarming.org


dramatically increasing its carbon footprint?


At the same time, climate change impacts like drought could prove a major threat to peace and stability in vulnerable regions of the world, especially the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa. And geopolitical tensions between Russia, the United States and other Arctic superpowers are heating up as polar ice melts and the race quickens to secure natural resources and shipping routes. How will the U.S. military respond? How will climate change impact diplo- macy, trade, human rights, global health and other vital interna- tional issues?


Of course, all these ideas were on the table before Paris, and may not relate directly to the agreement per se. But if nothing else, Paris was the final notice to politicians, CEOs and other public figures that denial of climate science and opposition to — or even passivity about — solutions is no longer a defensible position. I’ll drink to that.


Tim McDonnell is associate producer at Climate Desk, and


served in previous stints at Mother Jones and Sierra magazines. He is originally from Tucson. Photographer Gary Braasch is an environmental photojour- nalist based in Portland, Ore., who has extensively covered climate change at his website, www.worldviewofglobalwarming.org, for more than ten years. He previously reported for SEJournal in both pictures and words on the Copenhagen climate conference in the Spring 2010 issue.


7 SEJournal Spring 2016


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