The Congressional Budget Office director testified on Capitol Hill yesterday about the economic impacts of clean energy & climate legislation. Elmendorf warned the economy might not grow quite as fast with global warming pollution limits, then admitted his estimates “do not include any benefits of averting climate change.”

Elmendorf’s testimony led to scare headlines in the Washington Post implying economic Armageddon. But what does a “.25 to .75 percent reduction in GNP” really look like, especially over decades of still-robust economic growth? Check out this graphic from EDF:

And again: Even that leaves out the cost of inaction — the financial consequences of severe storms on our cities, impacts to the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat.

If we fail to curb our global warming pollution, how much will the costs add up, and how fast? NRDC puts the initial figure at $271 billion, not at some point generations in the future, but in 2025 — just 16 years from now.

Severe weather is already becoming the norm, not the exception. Just last month in Georgia, nearly 22 inches of rain in one week shut down major highways and bridges, killed 10 people, and forced hundreds to evacuate. In Atlanta, repairs to sewer treatment plants will take weeks. Estimates of property losses now range from $250 million to $1 billion.

Floods and severe storms are among the most costly kind of weather and climate disaster in the United States, together costing the country more than $115 billion in direct damages from 1960-2005. And that figure doesn’t count the costs of hurricanes – from 1998 to 2005, the 12 hurricanes to hit the U.S. caused 2321 deaths and $241 billion in damage (2007 dollars).

And now you know … the rest of the story. (Sorry, had to say it!)

As a founding member of BICEP (Businesses for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy), being a board member of the Chamber just didn’t quite work for Nike. After all, the Chamber says global warming is a good thing … because we’ll have fewer cold days. Try telling that to cold-water fisherman in Montana or a skier in New Hampshire.

The Chamber isn’t working for a lot of companies, including three utilities, PG&E, PNM Resources and Exelon who have said “see ya” to the Chamber in the last few weeks. And on Monday, Apple headed for the door as well, telling the Chamber it would prefer the group take a more “constructive role” in addressing the climate crisis.

This week, nearly 200 business leaders are on Capitol Hill to tell Senators that passing climate and energy legislation is good for business. Included in the group is John Rowe, chairman and CEO of Exelon. He sees the passage of climate and energy legislation as the ticket to a faster investment stream that will create more jobs in a low-carbon economy.

Also this week, 28 companies, including Johnson & Johnson, GE, Weyerhauser, United Technologies, and Duke Energy, are launching their own advertising campaign to support climate and energy legislation that caps the carbon pollution that causes global warming. The ad campaign’s headline says it all: America’s Energy and Environmental Future is in Our Hands.

Two-thirds of likely voters between the ages of 18-29 say they will vote for Senators who take action on climate and clean energy legislation like that passed in the House of Representatives in June. And they see clean energy investment as the key to job creation – with 68% saying that “investing in renewable energy that creates jobs” should be an important priority for elected officials.

They get it. Their future is inextricably linked to the action – or inaction – of the U.S. Congress on climate and energy legislation. It’s this generation that will face extreme water shortages, impacts to food supplies, more frequent and devastating storms, the decline of wildlife, and a climate much different than the one I’ve been lucky enough to enjoy.

As the U.S. Global Change Research report notes, “Tipping points have already been reached and have lead to widespread changes… Future climate change and its impacts depend on choices made today.” America’s youth have a lot at stake and they mean business – they’re ready to hold lawmakers accountable. We should all follow their lead.

• Top half of the page: Fed Sees Heightened Joblessness Drawing Out Recovery
• Bottom half of the page: Asian Nations Could Outpace U.S. in Developing Clean Energy

Hello… is anyone on Capitol Hill paying attention?

According to the Post, South Korea is planning to invest two percent of its Gross National Product every year for the next five years in renewables. India is planning on installing 20 gigawatts of solar power by 2020, three times as much as the entire world installed last year. And China now provides a $3-a-watt subsidy upfront for solar projects. According to Brian Fan of Cleantech Group, that’s “the most generous subsidy in the world” for solar power.

So the next time you hear an opponent of energy and climate legislation say, “Well what about China and India?” You can say, “Well what about us?” America is at risk of falling far behind these “clean tech tigers.”

I just keep shaking my head as I type these words! When will the naysayers walk up and realize that we need to start making the kinds of choices other countries are making to build a clean energy industry? When will they wake up and realize we have to pass meaningful climate and energy legislation now? Or we will take a pass on nearly two million new jobs in America?

Thirty years ago! Stewart tells us that the speech was “extremely popular” and the White House was “flooded with calls.”

Two years earlier, President Carter had spoken to the nation about an energy plan he would soon propose to Congress. In that speech, he said:

We have been proud of our leadership in the world. Now we have a chance again to give the world a positive example … We have always wanted to give our children and grandchildren a world richer in possibilities than we’ve had. They are the ones we must provide for now. They are the ones who will suffer most if we don’t act.

Imagine … how different our world would be if we had acted then. Carter announced a goal of 20 percent of our electricity from solar power by 2000!

And so here we are, at another choice point for the country and our children’s future – indeed, “they are the ones who will suffer if we don’t act.” As Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) said so eloquently during the House debate on the American Clean Energy and Security (ACES) Act, “Our children will either be the benefactors of our stewardship, or the victims of our neglect.”

President Carter’s words are even more true today than 30 years ago when he said, “The people are looking for honest answers, not easy answers; clear leadership, not false claims and evasiveness and politics as usual.”

Joshua Green, in The Atlantic this month, makes the same connections back to President Carter’s vision. (The Atlantic ran a cover story in 1977 on the promise of renewables!) Green notes that in the mid-1980s, United States was “the overwhelming leader in clean technology, with more than 80 percent of the world’s wind capacity and 90 percent of solar.” Unfortunately, “the United States has fallen back dramatically since then, both in a moral and an economic sense … with the benefits of the developments that emerged in the 1980s mostly accrued to others.”

President Carter knew that our energy crisis had to be addressed – and today – when you add to his conclusion the overwhelming evidence about the climate crisis, this should only reinforce the call to develop a new energy policy in this country that creates true energy security, a more secure economy and a healthier planet.

It can also be the rallying cry the country needs to unite around a common purpose. As President Carter told us 30 years ago: “The solution of our energy crisis can also help us to conquer the crisis of the spirit in our country. It can rekindle our sense of unity, our confidence in the future, and give our nation and all of us individually a new sense of purpose.”

National Wildlife Federation President & CEO Larry Schweiger demonstrated that kind of leadership when he walked right into enemy territory and the Mike Pintek’s show on KDKA, the largest a.m. talk show program in the Pittsburgh PA market. (The National Wildlife Federation recently held its 73rd Annual Meeting in the city.)

Within 30 seconds of our arrival, Pintek announced that he was not going to talk politics or global warming. “Don’t want to talk about global warming because it’s a load of crap.” Nice …

Pintek introduced Larry and then asked about the top issue the National Wildlife Federation works on. Larry told him: to reform America’s energy policy. Well of course it didn’t take Pintek long to say, “Whaddya mean reform America’s energy policy?” and then, there we were, talking about global warming.

Despite Pintek’s insistence that we weren’t going to talk about global warming, he kept at it for about 30 minutes. Larry, calmly and clearly, kept refuting Pintek’s weak claims (not man-made, the sunspot theory, etc). Larry patiently explained what it means to keep polluting the atmosphere with carbon, what it means to do nothing in the face of this danger, what our responsibility must be to the next generation.

Watching from a corner seat, I have to confess I was squirming. Gritting my teeth. Here’s this guy Pintek, reciting from random pieces of paper strewn on his desk, what he considers the facts about global warming — implying he knows more than the president of the National Wildlife Federation who has read enough scientific-reviewed studies on global warming to fill Pintek’s studio from floor to ceiling.

Perhaps the most telling moment was when Larry suggested during a break that despite what Pintek believed, his audience deserved to hear the other side of the story. Not missing a beat, Pintek replied, “No. No. That’s not my responsibility. This is a talk show.”

Pintek kept insisting he wanted to talk about wildlife, and he decided to keep Larry on air longer to do just that. One question after another, whether it was about invasive species, wolves, eagles, endangered species, the Chesapeake Bay, the deer population in Pennyslvania, etc., Larry answered with the full authority of a man who has devoted his life to protecting nature.

This dramatic degradation and decline should concern all of us. Care about protecting communities from hurricanes? Wetlands are a vital buffer. Eat fish? Shrimp? It probably came from Louisiana — 30% of the nation's seafood comes from the state.

Care about waterfowl and migratory birds? More than four million waterfowl rely on these wetlands. That includes more than 100 species of migratory birds — among those, 17 are endangered species. It's an ecosystem in big trouble.

And yet Susan will tell you, "Don't lose hope! We can restore these critical wetlands."

The National Wildlife Federation is working with partners to restore the Bayou Bienvenue cypress swamp — a 31,000 acre area in St. Bernard Parish and eastern New Orleans. This cypress forest used to protect the community and natural resources from storms, and it can again. With global warming increasing sea level, restoration programs like these are more important than ever. 

Learn more at our Coastal Lousiana page!

Download Getting “Out” is “In” (pdf)