The Global Climate Crisis:

Colorado's Response to Climate Change

Bob Gregory; CEES 1L Volunteer

           On December 3, 2007, CEES and Xcel Energy presented a significant event celebrating Colorado’s commitment to solving environmental problems, entitled “The Global Climate Crisis: Colorado’s Response to Climate Change.” This event was spurred by the November 2007 announcement of Governor Ritter’s Colorado Climate Action Plan, which ambitiously set a goal of reducing Colorado’s greenhouse gas emissions to 20% below 2005 levels by 2020. The event aimed to introduce current local and global challenges created by climate change and to present a dialogue suggesting strategies to stave off its most adverse effects. The response to the event was so great that the Wittemyer Courtroom was bursting at the seams, requiring an overflow room where some attendees viewed the event via live simulcast.

           The collective reputation of the evening's four speakers, who represent a  significant cross-section of core decision-makers affecting energy policy in the state of Colorado, underpinned the audience's overwhelming interest. The lineup included keynote speaker Hal Harvey, Environment Program Director of the  Hewlett Foundation; Jim Martin, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health &  Environment; Tom Plant, Director of the Governor's Energy Office; and Frank Prager, Vice President of Environmental Affairs for Xcel Energy.

            CEES Director Dr. Lakshman Guruswamy began the evening's events by acknowledging the overwhelming attendance and highlighting CEES's contribution to Colorado's response to climate change. With typical humility, Guruswamy then paid  tribute to the efforts of Regent Cindy Carlisle and Colorado University Provost Phil DiStefano, who have been integral to the success of CEES and its transition from an academic initiative to a bona fide research center. 

Carlisle and DiStefano carried out the evening’s first order of business: to present CEES’ own Mariah Zebrowski with the First Annual Cindy Carlisle Award, recognizing a staff member for outstanding dedication and service to CEES. Mariah, a second-year dual degree student, is an indispensable asset to CEES, whose formidable responsibilities include Editor-in-Chief of this newsletter and making events like this one possible as Events Coordinator (for more information, please see Page 1). Guruswamy then introduced the honorable emcee of the evening, and another key figure in CEES' development, Dean of the University of Colorado Law School, David Getches (for more information, please see Page 2). Getches briefly  commented on the prescience of CEES's work, and then graciously introduced the keynote speaker for the evening, Hal Harvey.

Harvey, a Colorado native and Environment Program Director of the Hewlett Foundation, laid the informational framework for a dialogue regarding the challenges associated with climate change. He refreshingly began his remarks by conceding that most talks on the topic of climate change intend to "frighten the bejeezus out of you" in order to persuade you to change your individual behavior. Noting a missing component to such an approach, Harvey thoughtfully supplied a different  message, using a metaphor based on the Kuwait oil fire fourteen years ago. While showing some images from the Kuwait fire, Harvey indicated that an astonishing 6 million barrels of oil were burned per day, enough to be seen from space. But he reminded the audience that this is a mere fraction of the oil that the world burns every day, despite the fact that our fires are contained in cylinder walls of car engines, industrial furnaces, water heaters, and power plants.

Harvey then convincingly recommended thoughtful and realistic solutions to the problem.  His remarks were focused on big issues the U.S. must address to effectively  mitigate the effects of climate change. He cited six sectors that will most significantly  impact climate change: the electric power industry; industry itself; building; transportation; forestry; and agriculture. Harvey explained that the end goal is to create commercially  viable ideas that rapidly developing countries must quickly adopt to limit the global increase in temperature through the end of this century to a maximum of 2 degrees Celsius. 

Jim Martin, the Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment, took the podium next and discussed Governor Ritter's Colorado Climate Action Plan. The plan represents a monumental achievement for the Colorado state government and Governor Ritter, who, by initiating this plan, achieved more to confront environmental problems in his first eleven months in office than many governors accomplish during an entire term.                                                                                              

See Colorado’s Response, Page 6