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Green Guru Helped Sway Campbell

California's Governator sent motivator to BC.

By Tom Barrett, 5 Mar 2007, TheTyee.ca

Terry Tamminen

Top advisor to Schwarzenegger

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When Premier Gordon Campbell called on Arnold Schwarzenegger for help in terminating B.C.'s greenhouse gas emissions, the Governator sent him Terry Tamminen.

Tamminen is California Gov. Schwarzenegger's environmental advisor, a former head of the California Environmental Protection Agency, former state cabinet secretary and a man who has called petroleum "the enemy" and has likened Big Oil to the tobacco industry.

His resume reads like a Hollywood character -- or maybe several characters: actor, sheep rancher, ship's captain, swimming pool cleaner, Florida condo salesman, environmental activist, author of books on pool maintenance, Shakespeare and America's addiction to oil.

Late last year, back when Campbell's new-found environmental enthusiasm was still a well-kept secret, the premier called Schwarzenegger for advice on how to tackle climate change.

Schwarzenegger had recently been re-elected, in large part for his role in bringing about the toughest emissions reductions standards in North America.

Arnold volunteered to send Campbell his friend and advisor, Tamminen.

Accompanied by two senior California government officials, Tamminen flew to B.C. in January, had lunch with Campbell and talked about climate change with the premier's staff.

In an interview with The Tyee, Tamminen said that his message to Campbell and his staff was simple:

Set targets.

Be aggressive.

Know that there will be plenty of technical and political support from Schwarzenegger and his people.

Campbell 'certainly gets it'

Since stepping down as Schwarzenegger's cabinet secretary, a job that made him chief liaison between the governor and the major California state agencies, Tamminen has been doing what he calls "Johnny Appleseeding" -- travelling around North America spreading strategies for cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

While there are no one-size-fits-all prescriptions, jurisdictions can learn from each other, he said.

Tamminen is an enthusiastic supporter of Campbell's throne speech pledge to fight global warming.

"In the throne speech, I'd say your premier has knocked it out of the ballpark," he said. "He certainly gets it. He understands the level of work that needs to be done and the creativity and collaboration."

Oil, gas and pointed fingers

Despite his strong opposition to the products and tactics of the oil companies, Tamminen refuses to criticize the new B.C. energy plan's pledge to support the development of the oil and gas industry and to push for an end to the moratorium on offshore drilling.

Asked if those policies are consistent with rolling back greenhouse gas emissions, Tamminen replied:

"I think that question is more appropriate for the premier. I and certainly Gov. Schwarzenegger and the rest of us are there to sort of provide advice and help for achieving those greenhouse gas reductions.

"Obviously, California also has an oil and gas industry, so we're hardly in a position to point a finger. We have strongly opposed efforts by our federal government to extend drilling offshore...

"But obviously we have to respect what other people do, their economies and the way they approach environmental issues."

Tamminen has written that if it were up to him, he would spend $20 billion a year to "replace every diesel mass-transit and school bus in the [U.S.] that emits more pollution than the cleanest engines on the market today. Then tackle the oldest, dirtiest trucks and locomotives."

He would replace these vehicles with ones running on the cleanest fuels available.

Is he recommending a similar strategy for B.C.?

"I can't prescribe specific strategies or expenditures," he said. "You guys know where your money comes from. But I think you do have to stop and say, 'Where are the cheapest tonnes [of emissions] if we were to just sort of start buying up tonnes and getting them off the road?'"

Practical, fast solutions

Dirty buses would be a "great place to start," he said, because removing them from the road would not only cut greenhouse gases, but would also remove harmful particulates from the air, while stimulating an alternative fuel industry.

"You guys have some great bus makers up there and I'm sure there's potential for that if there's a pot of money," he said. "But there may be other things.

"There may be incentives to industries to more rapidly convert over to different fuels and become more energy efficient. Maybe it's a program to put a compact fluorescent [light bulb] in everybody's home.

"There was an article in the L.A. Times here the other day that shows that a typical 100-watt incandescent bulb costs about $10 a year to operate when you factor in all the costs. A compact fluorescent costs about $3.50 a year.

"And in fact, Wal-Mart, which is not exactly the most progressive retailer in the United States, they calculated that if all 100 million of their customers purchased just one compact fluorescent each, that their customers would collectively save $3 billion a year."

Some other thoughts from the Governator's Johnny Appleseed:

On the argument that cutting greenhouse gases will destroy the economy:

"That's just totally untrue.

"If you look at example after example of large companies that have reduced their greenhouse gases...in just about every case you would save energy...

"That puts money in people's pockets. So it's exactly the opposite.

"And it creates local jobs. If you're putting a wind farm in British Columbia to provide electricity, that's a local job.

"If you're putting a solar panel on a roof, that's a local job.

"If you're making your own business more energy efficient by changing your lighting fixtures, those are local jobs.

"So it's all essentially an economic stimulus that's the byproduct of all of this. It's almost as if solving global warming is the cherry on the sundae."

On getting big business to buy into reducing emissions:

"The first part is to see the economic benefits. If you look at British Petroleum and Shell, not to mention Dow and DuPont and IBM and lots of other very big companies that have made efforts to reduce their greenhouse gases, in every case they've found that it saves them money.

"So it's good for the bottom line.

"While oil and gas exploration may always have a certain amount of greenhouse gas emissions -- and certainly burning the stuff does -- there are a lot of processes -- refining and transportation and so forth -- where you can seriously decrease the emissions.

"And of course it's those energy industries that we're counting on to develop cleaner alternatives for the future. Even in my book [Lives Per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction] I talk about the fact that I'm not trying to put oil and auto companies out of business.

"I'm trying to civilize them.

"No matter whose science you believe, we all agree we're going to run out of the stuff sooner or later and/or it's just going to become increasingly expensive and difficult to get.

"So it's in the economic self-interest and self-survival interest of oil and auto companies to be planning and more aggressively implementing alternative fuels and vehicles to operate on them.

"So I think the advice that you'd want to give to those industries is, 'Help us reduce your emissions from your current operations and help us achieve future reductions by helping us develop renewable energy as fast as we can.'

"You then will be making the same money in the future, but you'll be doing it on a cleaner, renewable resource."

His message for British Columbians:

"I think I would just say I'm very impressed by your leadership and its focus on climate change and environmental issues.

"But it won't be solved by government alone. It really will take every one of us on either side of the border getting involved in these issues and doing our part to reduce our use of fossil fuel and enjoy a much cleaner future as a result."

Related Tyee stories:

[Tyee]

Tom Barrett is a contributing editor to The Tyee.

19 Comments:

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  • mopled

    5 years ago

    Here's an industry for us

    The Air Car runs on compressed air. Made of carbon fiber and aluminum.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QmqpGZv0YT4

    http://www.theaircar.com/media_news.html

  • Tractorman

    5 years ago

    A plan to save the

    A plan to save the environment without once referring to the brain-dead concept known as the Kyoto Accord.

    There is just an outside chance that the governator knows what he is doing and his sidekick also knows what HE is doing.

    Very refreshing.

    T-Man

  • Booker

    5 years ago

    Marketing

    Did anyone see the infomercial by Telus on Global News on Friday? Global did an interview with a Telus employee who now works at home. She claims that the best thing about working at home is that she reduces her carbon footprint by not driving to work, and Telus says that they want to try to have 50% of their workforce working at home at some point in the future. The real reason they want employees to work at home is that they will be able, eventually, to classify them as "contract" employees and to thus complete the de-unionization of the company. They also didn't mention the excess energy that would be used in having 5,000 people working in their homes using electricity and heat, etc....not much actual energy savings there.

  • raingirl

    5 years ago

    Wrong article?

    Quote:
    He certainly gets it. He understands the level of work that needs to be done and the creativity and collaboration.

    When I first read Tamminen's comment with respect to Campbell's new greening I couldn't help but think that I had clicked on the wrong Tyee article - Tricked and Exploited!

    Though Tamminen does seem to have a bit of the snake-oil salesman about him I wholeheartedly agree with his comment that

    Quote:
    No matter whose science you believe, we all agree we're going to run out of the stuff sooner or later and/or it's just going to become increasingly expensive and difficult to get.

    Something those who endlessly debate Kyoto vs. no Kyoto/CO2 emissions from SUVs vs. cows vs. water vapour/oil vs. natural gas vs. diesel, etc. just don't seem to grasp.

  • BC Mary

    5 years ago

    When David met Terry after Terry met Gordo

    So Gordo sent his California guru over to The Tyee for a special tete a tete, eh.

    And Arnold's environmental guru is really impressed by British Columbia's leadership.

    Now I feel so much better. Don't you?

  • mopled

    5 years ago

    I agree

    with all of you. I don't buy into the "we did it" hypothesis, but I know we've got to get off petroleum because it is killing us...from Fort Chipewyan to Iraq. I understand the next war in the Far East is shaping up as to who will exploit and where the boundary will be in the seabed off Thailand and Vietnam.

    I want an air car now, or at least before my 21 year old one dies. It only has 165,000km
    on it, so I can last for a while, but I look forward to the day when I can drive into my garage and fill'er up (first I have to empty the garage.)

    I think we have to push for air or electric vehicles and stop the Kyoto con.

  • lynn

    5 years ago

    An environmental mirage

    Quote:
    "In the throne speech, I'd say your premier has knocked it out of the ballpark," he said. "He certainly gets it. He understands the level of work that needs to be done and the creativity and collaboration......"I think I would just say I'm very impressed by your leadership and its focus on climate change and environmental issues."

    Sorry, I can't hear you, you'll have to speak a liitle louder, what with the relentless buzz of chainsaws merrily stripping away our hillsides... and a seemingly unending cavalcade of logging trucks roaring down our country roads day after day.

    The Green Guru reminds me of those image stylists they have for celebrities who show them how to mimic style and grace in order to create the illusion of individuality when they have none of their own.

    In Gordo's case, it's about creating an environmental "image" replete with the illusions of both an environmental conscience and an environmental concern where clearly his devastating environmental policies prove otherwise.

  • DJT

    5 years ago

    Couldn't agree more, Lynn

    You took the words right out of my mouth, Lynn. What is truly nauseating is the phoniness of all of this. I doubt Campbell cares any more about the environment than he does about First Nations. The man does absolutely nothing that does not have an ulterior motive. All of this BS is about feathering nests and chasing polls plain and simple. The only thing sadder is that the average citizen actually buys it. The rags that pass for newspapers in this city certainly don't help either and would make Joseph Goebbels proud. Unbelievable.

  • DavidN

    5 years ago

    power

    An air car runs on electrical power. Are we prepared to have more coal burning facilities and dam more rivers for that power? Take something like a fuel cell so you can get more juice than it takes to haul a latte down Robson. Not back, but all the way down. Without H produced using fission or fussion we are flooding valleys or burning coal. The air car idea sells vehicles to those that feel OK about the pollution happening elsewhere, but not out of their particular automobile, unless you want to do 60 k or so in which case they burn petrol anyway. We could have fission producing electricity to pump up the tanks, but I personally want a car that can haul people and stuff up a mountain. In snow and gravel. Face it, we will not go backwards on the need for power, we are humans. Hydrogen. CO2 free production and bags of oomph. The air car may work in a congested urban scheme if mandated, but who really wants it?

  • DavidN

    5 years ago

    DJT

    You can always tell a wittless hate monger is around when the Nazi insult appears. Your moronic comment could be made by any moron with any party affiliation, about any politician from any party. It is the kind of half-witted hate-speak that dominates our polarized political landscape in BC and basically everywhere else. It takes intellectual dullards to spread that sort of crap around. Too bad for the string. That tendency for hate or a lack of anger management turns what could be useful people into hate propogandists. This is that kind of site? You are one of them?
    Gobbels? Why compare Gordo to a socialist anyway? Are you daft? Never mind answering that.

  • mopled

    5 years ago

    I didn't say you had to drive an

    air car. I said I want one. As to the electricity to run the compressor, I could have a solar/wind thingy on my house feeding into the grid. It could be done, but I don't think it will happen because a scam is being run on us. It is really about another stream of money from a "carbon" tax.

  • lynn

    5 years ago

    Et Tu?

    DavidN,

    Are you equating National Socialism (Nazism), Goebbels party of choice, with socialism? Because you oh-so-conveniently above left out the word "national" before socialism, a smear against socialists everywhere.

    Using your own words back at you, it's "the kind of half-witted hate-speak that dominates our polarized political landscape in BC and basically everywhere else. It takes intellectual dullards to spread that kind of crap around."

    And just for accuracy's sake, DJT wasn't comparing Campbell to Goebbels, he was talking about the proliferation of propaganda that is now passing for news.

  • The brain

    5 years ago

    Same old bait and switch

    Its nothing but spin, pure and simple. Campbell says one thing and quietly does another. Reporters look the other way, editors tell them to, and the yes men get out the wonderful news of how Campbell is Green as grass and great for the environment.

    This is the same guy who slashed spending in the ministry of the environment by a mere 24% in his second year of his first term. Yup, the forest industry doesn't need regulation... and the spending never did come back. Instead, the cuts kept coming.

    Mining industry? Same thing. Deregulate. Its the Republican way. Got a forest? Cut it down. Lets make $$$. Got oil? Metals? Fish? Drill it. Mine it. Kill it. Lets make $$$. Got crown corps? Sell them for big fat directorships. We don't need big government, we don't need regulations. Lets make $$$.

    And while were at it, lets tell everyone were Greener than grass and how much did Campbell spend on measures against CO2 gases this year? What was his big contribution to the fight against global warming? 40 million. 40 million bucks worth of dead trees, ink and TV propaganda to get all the yes men/women to nod their heads at how great Campbell is for our environment.

    I keep wondering when the hypocracy will stop... when people will wake up to where it will all end. I believe its called destruction, self or otherwise and were all too busy making $$$ or working for the man to see the hypocracy of a two faced man who talks out of both sides of his mouth along with the rest of the greedy, blind, deaf and therefore dumb, fat, slow noisy eating yes men/women at the trough.

    Its a veritable pig sty any way you look at it. Same old bait and switch and it works... as long as we can make money. Ummm, yummy money! The fish will come back. Lets make money! The trees will grow back. Lets make lots of money!! Global warming? The suns just putting out more light is all. Lets make lots of money!!! Same old bait and switch.

    Hasn't anyone ever seen Rapa Nui? How much tech and dough can help a person to live on the equivalent of the surface of the moon... but it could never happen here. Not in our lifetimes. Lets make lots of money!!!

  • North of Hope

    5 years ago

    Non Sequitur

    In various newspapers today there was a cartoon that captured the modus operandi of Gordon Campbell. It also works for PM Harper.

    It is at http://www.uclick.com/client/spi/nq/

    It is titled "The Political Zoology Field Guide" It shows "The Meandering Panda (Lackus Convictionus)" This panda has a a face at its rear identical to its face on its head. The caption reads, "Identifying Characteristics: The markings on this unscrupulous beast make it difficult to tell which end you're dealing with and whether it's coming or going. This, coupled with a lack of principles, allows it to take any position that will gain the favor of any other group of political animals. It will devour everything the group has to offer, and move on to adopt the agenda of another group.
    Habitat: Everywhere
    Natural Enemy: Scrutiny

    I believe that campbell will use his "green" position to privitize BC Hydro and cost its ratepayers an enormous amount in increased fees.

  • skeptikool

    5 years ago

    Production should be fast tracked

    Mopled,

    Thank you , Mopled for the YouTube link in the first post of this thread.

    I think the Air Car shows far greater possibilities than hydrogen. Quite amazing, is that the motor for the compact vehicles shown may be held by one hand.

    The expressed fears of excessive demands on the grid are groundless, in my opinion. Increasing tidal and other environmentally benign methods of production to more than the trickle presently "permitted" could more than suffice.

    Production of this vehicle should be fast-tracked. I believe it would be so successful as to stand on its own, that is, require no public funding.

    The small video was excellent. It was my first contact with YouTube. I found it a miserable experience, attempting to register to add a comment - which still doesn't show.

    It seems very heavily into screening. Perhaps it's been burned.

  • zalm

    5 years ago

    It's about time somebody

    It's about time somebody important said what I've always thought. Kyoto wasn't a communist plot hatched up to destroy our way of life - it was a spur to become more innovative, flexible and businesslike about developing and promoting really good solutions to saving energy. Canadian inventiveness has gone the way of the Avro Arrow and it's time to bring it back.

    Unfortunately, that kind of thinking is lost on some. Any change is bad, especially if the "left" endorses it. Bah.

  • zalm

    5 years ago

    David N

    I don't know where you think hydrogen comes from for your fuel cells - it's either from electrolysis (see: electricity) or from either partial oxidation or reformation of hydrocarbons (same problem as with oil, we don't have enough, plus what remains must be carbon-sequestered in some cases)

    I approve of fuel cells, but the vast majority of trips made in the region are short hops to and from work or shopping, for which a big SUV capable of hauling ATVs is pointless. Commute with the air car, plan big hauls with the truck. ICBC will definitely have to help out here by licencing people, not vehicles,, so that you can transfer your insurance coverage to whichever vehicle you happen to be driving at the time.

    Unfortunately, you see a lot of people out there buying the biggest thing they can find for the fifty or so trips every year they make to haul stuff, and the rest of time, it's just a storage pit for fast-food wrappers and CD cases.

    Flexible thinking isn't limited to technology. New ways of accomplishing the same goals are needed. Unfortunately, with your need for "bags of oomph", I suspect in your case that your statement

    Quote:
    The air car may work in a congested urban scheme if mandated...

    will require exactly that from you - a mandate that you cannot drive your big behemoth in the city without a good reason.

    I suppose some government will legislate if necessary, but aren't we all in agreement that people make better choices without legislation? C'mon, prove us right. Give up the Hummer.

  • mopled

    5 years ago

    Forget about CO2

    http://www.prisonplanet.com/articles/march2007/090307warminghoax.htm

    Quote:
    - In the 1980's a strange alliance between Margaret Thatcher's right wing government and the environmental left was formed to promote the idea of man-made global warming. Thatcher's agenda was to force the country to adopt nuclear power because she trusted neither the oil-rich Middle Eastern powers nor her own country's rebellious coal mining unions, therefore a propaganda war against fossil fuels was initiated.

    - The documentary also highlights how elements of the scientific community exploit global warming hysteria in order to receive fast-track funding by simply tagging on a global warming aspect to their area of study. Scientists who attempt to obtain grants for research that could contradict the man-made explanation are shunned by the political establishment and further villified as akin to Holocaust deniers by the radical environmental left and elements of the media.

    There is no doubt we should get off petroleum, but for geo-political reasons rather than because it produces CO2.

  • mopled

    5 years ago

    Global Warming Swindle

    Here's the link to the video

    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=9005566792811497638

    and to an article on the scamming possibilities with carbon trading
    http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/49025/

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