Solutions to global warming offer more livable city for all
by Jane Dale Owen, June 2006
As summer heat arrives and ozone levels rise in Texas, the first couple of weeks in June brought much discussion about global warming and other environmental concerns caused by rapid, unsustainable development in our cities and the use of fossil fuels.
Al Gore made Houston the first stop on his U.S. tour to promote his new movie and book “An Inconvenient Truth,” that present frightening information about earth changes and the fact that these changes are occurring faster than many thought. He also offered hope for slowing global warming if action is taken now.
On the last day of May, ExxonMobil shareholders and board of directors celebrated the highest profit ever recorded for a publicly held company at their annual meeting in Dallas. Outside the meeting, environmentalists and social justice advocates called on the company to “stop pumping junk science” and do its part to reduce carbon dioxide emissions and greenhouse gas.
The same week, the City of Houston hosted the “Environmental Summit: What will it take to make Houston a Model City.” Jim Blackburn, environmental attorney, showed a map pinpointing locations of toxic chemical plants, radioactive storage and refineries where flooding would release and wash all kinds of toxins toward the center of Houston if a hurricane follows a path from the gulf toward the city. A 20-foot storm surge could poison the whole city in one wave.
Air pollution has taken a backseat in most discussions, although it is still an eminent health threat for people living in the Houston-Galveston area.
You won’t hear much rhetoric from those who are likely to be most negatively affected by climate change and toxic air. The disadvantaged do not have a voice in these matters. Many are working two or three jobs, some can’t read and they don’t have a computer. They don’t have time to protest, and they can’t buy a voice. And yet low-income people and people of color all over the world bear the heaviest burden of toxins. They are the ones who have refineries and chemical plants as neighbors. They live near the freeways and have landfills and toxic waste dumps in their backyards. They also are the least likely to escape major catastrophes as seen in New Orleans after Katrina.
We are living in a time when it is more important than ever to take care of each other and the planet. We have the technology and we still have the natural resources to create more livable cities with green space that make what we call home less stressful and more enjoyable for all people.
Having more green space reduces use of fossil fuels and carbon dioxide emissions by cooling the city and enticing people of all economic levels to walk and ride bikes.
Developing more mass transit rather than building more roads preserves green space and decreases use of fossil fuels and toxic, earth-heating emissions. Mass transit that is well-planned and comprehensive enough to meet community needs gives access to all people.
Gulf Coast Institute and Houston-Galveston Area Council are offering plans that take Houston in this direction, toward a brighter tomorrow. Houston can be a model city for a healthy, livable environment if we take the urgent steps needed to change current development and transportation habits and move toward more sustainable ways of living. These changes may seem inconvenient to some of us, but the choices we make now have never been more critical for the health of the planet and for the future of all the children of the world.
Owen, a Houstonian, is president of Citizens League for Environmental Action Now (CLEAN). She is granddaughter of Robert Lee Blaffer, co-founder of Humble Oil, and the only nonscientist board member of the Federation of American Scientists.
