Prince George's County's Climate Action Plan (CAP)

 “Prince George's County's Climate Action Plan (CAP) is a roadmap for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and building resilience to climate change impacts. The plan, developed by the Prince George's County Climate Action Commission, sets a goal to reduce carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, compared to 2005 levels, and to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.”

To stop or reverse Climate Change our county and state have a role to play.

How PGC Residences Can Reduce Their Greenhouse Gas Emissions. To stop Climate change, the world will have to stop putting large amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

(1)  An increase in greenhouse gases has accelerated climate change, leading to higher temperatures, urban heat, severe storms, and increased flooding.

(2)  By decreasing our Greenhouse Gas Emissions, we can help mitigate climate change.

(3)   Inform households how to reduce their Carbon footprint.

1.     Our county and state should focus on energy resilience. They should encourage electricity utilities to fortify electric power lines, gas lines, and power plants.

2.     Our county and state should encourage everyone to obtain whole-house backup generators.

3.     Our county and state should encourage gas station and apartment building owners to obtain backup generators.

For society, I have concluded that the only way to ensure there is enough energy to achieve energy resilience is to electrify the country and shift away from fossil fuels.

To achieve this goal, the government will have to create incentives for the population to abandon gas and other polluting fuels. The only incentives that will work are cheaper prices for electricity and government subsidies to encourage citizens to replace their gas water heaters, gas furnaces, or gas cooking stoves with more energy-efficient electric ones. Due to politics and low public support, this is unlikely to happen soon. I remember President Lyndon B. Johnson saying Everyone wants to go to heaven, but no one wants to die to get there.” Our society is unwilling to pay the costs or make the necessary changes to stop or reverse climate change.

In his book, Bill Gates commented that the only way to get the population to shift from fossil fuels to green energy is to make green energy much cheaper than fossil fuels. To accomplish this, every state would have to build massive solar farms and wind turbines; in addition, they would have to construct large numbers of transmission lines all over the country. There would have to be nuclear power or some other sources of power to use when the wind is not blowing or the sun is not shining, destroying large tracts of undeveloped land.

There would have to be a tax on fossil fuels and incentives for big oil to transition to renewable energy. Due to politics and low public support, this is unlikely to happen until there is a massive climate change event that causes the death of millions of people. Most Americans do not accept this as a solution. A transition to renewable energy and the adoption of alternative energy sources will require the destruction of large tracts of undeveloped land. The public is not interested in solutions that would increase the price of energy and require them to change their lifestyle.

“In Greek mythology, Cassandra was a Trojan priestess dedicated to the god Apollo and fated by him to utter accurate prophecies but never to be believed. In modern usage, her name is employed as a rhetorical device to indicate a person whose accurate prophecies, generally of impending disaster, are not believed.”

I see today's conservationists and environmentalists as modern-day Cassandra’s, speaking the truth about climate change and the existential harm it will cause to the planet. The sad reality is that most of the population either does not listen to or refuses to believe the warnings about climate change.

There is a term “Critical mass: the size or number that something needs to reach before a particular change or development can happen.” If enough people believe in climate change and discuss it, and the climate becomes harsher, more people will believe in climate change and join in doing something while there is still time.