Kansas City News Blog

Kansas Lt. Governor Mark Parkinson

When Governor Kathleen Sebelius tapped Lieutenant Governor Mark Parkinson to co-chair the Kansas Energy Council in 2007, it signaled her attention to pressing issues like renewable power and global warming. Now, with Sebelius heading to Washington after standing defiantly against the construction of new coal-fired power plants, many environmentalists in the Sunflower State are hoping Parkinson will step into his predecessors eco-friendly shoes.

So when Parkinson addressed "National Policy and Climate Change" in a speech at the University of Kansas yesterday, the room was packed with students and researchers anxious to hear the Lieutenant's take on the pressing global crisis.

His opinions left many incredulous at his optimism for a pain-free silver bullet.

Parkinson started out strong. Unlike other Kansas politicians, who don't believe coal-fired power plants cause any worrisome pollution (see Senate President Stephen Morris or House Speaker Melvin Neufeld), Parkinson gets the issue. He explained that reputable scientists have determined the global community must reduce carbon levels in the atmosphere below 350 parts per million if we want any hope of maintaining life as we know it. Right now, we're at 390 ppm, he said, and that already scary number is growing by 2 ppm every year.

"Scientists have said we have to lower our current levels by 80 percent by 2050," he said. "Now, just think about that for a minute."

But, if you think elected leaders, like Parkinson, are going to make that happen, apparently you need to think again.

"Politicians cannot solve the problem," Parkinson pronounced.

The trouble is that billions of people in the developing world still live without electricity, Parkinson explained. By 2050 the global demand for the juice that lights and heats our homes will double, he continued. Renewable power is making strides in Kansas but intermittent sources like solar and wind aren't as cheap and reliable as fossil fuels. "It is supremely naïve to believe the developing world will pick the 40 percent solution when a 100-percent solution is out there," he said.

The solution, according to Parkinson, isn't international treaties like the Kyoto Protocol or economic mandates like Europe's cap-and-trade carbon market, either. "We know political solutions have empirically failed," Parkinson said.

The only solution: science. Science has the potential to make clean coal a reality, figure out a way to dispose of nuclear waste safely or discover means to store the electricity from wind and solar power, Parkinson suggested. "Another possibility is that someone comes up with a breakthrough we haven't even considered; some form of non-emitting energy or a way to manipulate the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, which is kind of a scary thought, but something we might get to," he said.

To get there, the national attention shouldn't focus on passing a bill that calls for an 80 percent reduction in carbon emissions by 2050 -- an option ironically being hashed out in Washington, D.C., even as he spoke -- but pouring huge amounts of money into energy-related research and development. The good news, he said, is the Obama administration has started to release the financial floodgates. "Without a scientific breakthrough, we can't solve the problem," he said. "And we can't have a breakthrough without R&D money."

When Parkinson opened the floor for questions, there was plenty of skepticism. What about conservation, several audience members asked. Parkinson downplayed such frugality and energy retrofitting as a drop in the bucket of the larger crisis. What about using political policy, like gas or carbon taxes, to compel the market and the American consumer to reduce our dependence on dirty fossil fuels. Parkinson just reiterated that we're paying way too much attention to political options.

What about pushing citizens to shift their collective behavior in a less-consumptive, more sustainable direction? one young man asked the Lieutenant Governor towards the end of the session.

"I don't think Americans will do that," Parkinson responded, somewhat abruptly.

"But we're not going to invent our way out of the problem," the audience member pressed.

"The only way to get out of this problem is to invent our way out of it," Parkinson maintained.

At one point, Parkinson asked who, among the students in the room, was pursuing a science-related degree. About half the audience members raised their hands.

No pressure, Jayhawks. But, according to Parkinson, you're our only hope.