Most world leaders agree that we need to keep the earth’s eventual warming under two degrees Celsius. Above this level of warming (or maybe even over 1.5 degrees), we will dramatically change global patterns of storms and droughts, and sea levels will rise substantially.

Yet last month in Copenhagen, world leaders agreed to an accord which, if followed, would likely warm the earth by more than three degrees.

I attended the talks as the Hopenhagen Ambassador, charged with the task of collecting and sharing people’s messages of hope. While hope was in short supply, and while the final accord was flawed, I did see three major rays of hope in Copenhagen, and I believe that we can forge a better agreement in the future. Nonetheless, we face huge challenges, especially in how we communicate this issue.

The first ray of hope was the record-setting youth attendance at Copenhagen. At past climate conferences, the youth delegation was small. In Denmark, thousands of attendees were in their twenties, and youth organizations that didn’t exist a few years ago now claim tens of thousands of members. The organization 350.org, an NGO with impressive global reach, was run almost entirely by young people. I fed on this energy, and I wasn’t alone. When I asked the Archbishop Desmond Tutu what gave him hope, his eyes lit up and he said, “The number of people, especially young people, is fantastic”.

A second ray of hope came from city and regional governments around the world. The lack of a global agreement often masks the progress being made from the bottom up. For instance, even though the United States doesn’t have a federal climate policy yet, over half of the states have some type of climate policy. I saw Arnold Schwarzenegger speak passionately about California’s goal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2020. Other regional leaders made dramatic pledges. A favorite moment of mine came when the premier of Scotland offered a special bottle of 42 proof Scotch to any leader that agreed to join him in reducing carbon emission by 42 percent by 2020. “If you have watered down targets,” he said, “you will get watered down Scotch.”

The third ray of hope was that so many world leaders attended and spoke fluently about climate science and policy. When 140 heads of state arrived at the end of the final week of the conference, many details had still to be sorted out. While this fact spoke poorly of the negotiating process, it also forced world leaders to discuss details of climate science and policy. And based on reports from the negotiations, most heads of state understood the likely difference in sea level rise between 1.5 degrees and 2.0 degrees of warming, as well as the difference between 350, 450, and 550 ppm of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

If the leaders of the world understand what needs to be done, the world’s youth are mobilizing, and a number of regional and city governments are adopting the right policies, why did the Copenhagen Accord still fall short of what was needed? True, it is a huge success that the United States and China, who together combine to account for over 40 percent of global emissions, have finally agreed to reduce pollution. But their pledges to reduce pollution, like the rest of the world’s, are not sufficient. (You can see what countries adopted the accord and see their pledges here.)

I believe that it is not just world leaders who are at fault, but all of us. While many people of the world want action on climate change, they rate the issue as a low priority. In the United States, nearly half of voters don’t support restricting greenhouse gas pollution.

Perhaps one reason public opinion lags is that we are stuck in a “suffer or sacrifice” mindset. Most people think we have two options: we can endure catastrophic global warming, or we can make painful sacrifices to change the way we live. It’s easier to ignore the problem or not believe in it if neither option is palatable.

But these options are false. We must do away with the idea of “sacrifice” and replace it with “investment.” A good climate policy will cost us money, but that money is not lost–it is an investment in a prosperous and sustainable future.

Perhaps we need to paint a picture of this future. Perhaps we need to speak of a future where cars make no noise and produce no pollution because they run on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, and where electricity from solar power is so cheap and abundant that even the poorest in the world can afford it. Imagine buying energy from our neighbors instead of purchasing oil from distant lands. Imagine tropical forests and coral reefs expanding and growing instead of dying. Who wouldn’t want to invest in that future?

Only with major investment in research, development, and deployment of clean energy will we create such a world. The International Energy Association estimates that we need to invest $500 billion a year more than we already are in clean energy to keep the earth’s eventual warming under 2.0 degrees Celsius.

As I argued in a previous post, the most important people were not in Copenhagen. The most important people are your neighbors and the people who will listen to you about this issue. Tell them that there are rays of hope, but that we need their help. We need their support for a massive investment in clean energy.

The most powerful individuals on the planet have convened here to reach a deal. But based on the quality of the deal that emerged, I believe that the important people in the world are elsewhere.

Over the past week I’ve had the opportunity to meet or stand near more famous and/or powerful people than in the rest of my life combined. I shook hands with the crown prince of Denmark (and nervously talked about bicycling). I sat in on talks by Arnold Schwarzenegger and Al Gore, and at an event of The Climate Group I saw the governors of Wisconsin and Washington, the premiers of Ontario, Quebec, South Australia, the First Minister of Scotland, and the Prince of Monaco. I attended a number of these events with Bradley Whitford, a U.S. actor (on the West Wing) who is Hopenhagen’s celebrity promoter. Bradley and I chatted with the governor of Wisconsin as if he just happened to be some guy in the row ahead of us.

 

At Hub Culture, a social club, governors of two states of Brazil wandered by, and I just missed meeting the President of the Congo. Last night I had to wait an extra five minutes to enter my hotel because the Prime Minister of New Zealand was checking in. Later that night at dinner I sat next to an Obama adviser.

Now 160 heads of state are here, concentrating the world’s leaders in this small city.

But I feel unimpressed. The most powerful of them, Barack Obama, just gave a speech that made my heart sink. I watched it from the press office of Global Observatory in downtown Copenhagen.

Obama pressured the world to accept a treaty that falls far short of what we need. If we follow the proposed agreement, the earth will likely warm by more than three degrees Celsius, eventually melting the ice caps and raising sea levels by tens of meters. The emissions targets of the United States are also embarrassingly low.

Part of me sadly applauds Obama’s pragmatism, as he’s trying to get a deal that is politically feasible in the United States, and once we have a deal, we can always improve it in the future. Congress is highly unlikely to accept a target larger than Obama is proposing, and Obama would be irresponsible to negotiate a deal that the Senate would not ratify. (In Kyoto twelve years ago, Gore signed a treaty that the Senate would never ratify.)

I’m not surprised that the U.S. Senate is holding us up. Public opinion is not sufficiently mobilized around this issue. How can we expect our leader to come to a meaningful agreement when half of Americans don’t support restricting greenhouse gas pollution?

Many experts believe if we make the modest investments, perhaps as little as one percent of the world’s economy, we will solve this challenge. I actually believe it will cost less, simply because I believe in the power of humans to innovate. But we need to make the investment.

If the challenge is public opinion, as I believe it is, the important people are not in Copenhagen. The important people are your friends and your friends’ friends. They are the people who have yet to embrace the idea that if we invest heavily in clean technology and disinvest from fossil fuels, we will all benefit. They are the people who you can influence.

At Hopenhagen we believe we can build public support if we speak to people’s dreams and not their fears. We need to paint a picture of a future that people can embrace. We must speak of a future where cars make no noise and produce no pollution because they run on batteries or hydrogen fuel cells, and where electricity from solar power is so cheap and abundant that even the poorest in the world can afford it. Imagine buying energy from our neighbors instead of purchasing oil from distant lands. Imagine tropical forests and coral reefs expanding and growing instead of dying. Who wouldn’t want to invest in that world?

Despite disappointment in the deal, I have seen much that inspires me in Copenhagen–Desmond Tutu expressing hope, the energy of the youth, and even the fact that so many world leaders are convening to address climate change. Apparently the agreement reached to combat deforestation is quite good. And for the very first time, the United States is making a pledge to reduce pollution, however small that reduction may be.

But whatever the outcome of this agreement, remember that the most important people are those you can talk to. If you can inspire them, then we will truly solve this challenge.

This morning I received a call from the Huffington Post letting me know I was chosen to be the Hopenhagen ambassador and citizen journalist. I was overjoyed, and felt incredibly thankful for the many friends who helped me in the contest. I also feel honored, as I know many of the other contestants were very deserving and would have done an excellent job in Copenhagen.

More information will be coming soon. If you have a question about Copenhagen that you want me to answer while I’m there (working as a “citizen journalist”) add a comment below and I will try to answer.

I entered the Huffington Post’s Hopenhagen.org ambassador contest about two weeks ago, and on Monday the winner will be announced. Some of the videos in the competition were very good, and a number of contestants would do an excellent job of representing Hopenhagen.

Yesterday, I found the video below. Jim Killingsworth entered the contest, but withdrew his video after a few days. I thought that was strange, as I liked his video. Then, yesterday, I learned that he had dropped out because he had decided to endorse me. I have never met Jim, and the fact that he saw my video and decided he should endorse me . . . well, I’m taken aback and honored. Thank you Jim. If I’m chosen, I’ll do my best.

Here is his video endorsement:

Also, a big thank you to the following websites / organizations that “endorsed” me. Even if I’m not chosen, I hope I can live up to this praise!

Ciudad Humana — Ride350 — 350.org — WattHead — Fairer Globalization — The Atkinson Diet — Ride for Climate — Bike to Brazil — Gregg Bleakney — The Alliance for Climate Education — It’s Getting Hot in Here — Roz Savage — Focus the Nation — The Lazy Environmentalist

During Climate Ride, I had the opportunity to bike with Roz Savage, an Englishwoman who rowed solo across the Atlantic. Wow. My journey looks like like a cakewalk by comparison. Roz was alone for over a hundred days and would row for twelve hours a day. I had one day where I didn’t see another person, and I rarely pedaled more than six hours.

She has written a book about this journey, and is using her ability to draw crowds to raise awareness of environmental issues. Now she is walking with a team from London to Brussels to draw attention to the upcoming climate negotiations. You can follow her walk on her website.

Here is the planed route:

I am now working part time with 350.org. I’ve been helping send out emails in six different languages to people all over the world to help coordinate the International Day of Action. (The other day I made an error and forgot to email all the people in the former Soviet republics. Oops! I promise I won’t forget again!)

350 stands for 350 parts per million carbon dioxide, which is likely the safe level of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Above this level, it is likely that the ice caps will melt. Here is a scientific paper arguing for this number, and a qualifying discussion on realclimate.org.

Very few economists or policy makers believe that 350 ppm is possible. Concentrations of CO2 are almost at 390 ppm and they are climbing. Most policy makers think that keeping concentrations under 450 will require herculean efforts.

Perhaps that’s why I find the 350.org call to action so inspiring. People around the world are calling for an ambitious target. They aren’t saying “let’s do our best.” They’re saying “lets do what needs to be done.” They’re saying that we can do the nearly impossible. The question is, will we inspire our leaders to act?

Here are images of people around the world calling for an ambitious goal:

I recently remade the video for this website’s homepage. I’ve improved the audio and also had a designer edit the book’s cover photo. The working title is The Road to Tierra del Fuego: my 21,000-mile ride for the climate. Take a look:

In other news, I’m now in New York City after taking a direct flight from San Francisco to JFK. (Actually, I’m writing this on the plane itself, but I I’ll have to wait to post it when I reach the east coast.)

I spent the past few weeks fundraising for Climate Ride, and I was amazed by how these efforts went. I raised $2421 ($21 more than my goal!). Sixty individuals donated on-line, and then another 10 or so contributed at a party I held last week. Almost all of the fundraising was accomplished in the past two weeks. You can look at my Twitter feed to see how quickly the final $900 went. It became a bit of a game, as I posted my remaining fundraising on Facebook, on my gchat status, and on Twitter. People I hadn’t talked to in years saw my “fundraising left” amount slowly decrease and they chipped in $25 or $50. One friend donated $7.50 just because he wanted to see me change my gchat status. I ended up spending the majority of the day writing thank you notes to donors and then updating gchat, Facebook, and Twitter. The money will go to Focus the Nation, Clean Air – Cool Planet, and Rails-to-Trails Conservancy, as well as to Climate Ride’s direct outreach.

Thank you to those of you who contributed. I’ll be sending all of you emails from the road.

Now it’s time for the ride—five days of activism, exhaustion, and fun. I am helping run the Live Blog, www.climateridelive.org. Check out this site to see updates.

I know some people say it is hypocritical to fly across the country to then ride a bicycle for the climate. I will be responsible for perhaps 6,000 pounds of carbon dioxide because of my round trip flight, more carbon dioxide than the average world citizen pollutes in an entire year.

Partially through some of my own encouragement and negotiation, Clif Bar is going to offset the carbon footprint of all Climate Riders traveling to the event. These offsets definitely make me feel better about my trip. But even if the carbon was not offset, I believe the flight would still be worth it. We are going to solve climate change not because we stop using planes, but instead because we figure out how to make planes that don’t pollute. And to accomplish that end, we need our legislators to promote enormous investment in green technology. Next Thursday, the day after we arrive, I will physically go to the offices of my Senators in Washington and ask them to do everything they can to pass meaningful climate legislation.

Until then, I will bike.

Over the past two years, I’ve worked as an outreach coordinator for the Brita Climate Ride.

Last year, a hundred cyclists biked from New York City to Washington DC, raising money for Focus the Nation and Clean Air – Cool Planet. The ride ended with a rally by the steps of the Capitol building, and over half of the riders then visited their elected officials and lobbied for action on climate change. I spoke with aids to Senator Barbara Boxer, Senator Diane Feinstein, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee.

Climate Ride will be back this year this year, and so will I. I am fundraising for the ride, and you can donate here. Every little bit helps.

I was planning to name my book The Bicycle Diaries, but sadly, David Bryne has just published a book with that title, so I am searching for a new title. I had to add an “annotation” to the promotional video I just made for my book.

I’ve decided that a core theme of my book is the connections that I’m able to make with people living along the road. Through being vulnerable on a bike and traveling without a windshield, I was able to meet countless people and be invited into their houses. I stayed at well over a hundred different people’s homes during my two years of travel. A friend who read my book said that one of the main messages of the book was about the “basic goodness of humanity.”

On a larger level, I am saying how we are all connected–in this global age, what we do at one end of the world affects people at the far end of the Earth. Through my journey, I physically connected people by bicycling from one house to the next, and I made personal connections by sharing meals or homes.

I want a title that somehow emphasizes these connections and our shared humanity, but of course which does so poetically and subtlety. Maybe it will use the word “chain” to also reference a bicycle. Or “links.” Perhaps something about linking us to the far end of the earth, maybe using the island Tierra del Fuego in the title. Maybe something like “Links to del Fuego,” as I like the idea of linking us to the far end of the Earth, and my bike’s name was “del Fuego.”

The subtitle would still be “A 21,000-Mile Ride for the Climate.”

I’m probably violating some writing ethic by posting a request for book titles, but groups of people usually have better ideas than individuals. Send me an email at david AT rideforclimate DOT com, or post a comment! If you propose the winning title, you will get some type of prize, to be determined.

And here’s the video I talked about before:

Welcome to the new RideforClimate.com! I have recently combined the old “Ride for Climate The Americas” and “Ride for Climate USA” into this one site.

I have spent much of the past two years working on a book about my (and Bill’s) 21,000 miles journey. You can read the book’s introduction here, but I also recommend poking through the blog entries from the trips. Use the sidebar on the right to explore entries for the trip from California to Argentina and the ride from Massachusetts to California.

Check this blog for news on the book (title still to be determined) and other climate or bicycle related musings.
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