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For anyone who heats their home with oil or owns a car, the spike in gas prices caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been felt deeply and for some, is causing them to re-think a reliance on fossil fuel.
That’s true for Deb Markowitz, the Massachusetts state director at The Nature Conservatory, the largest nonprofit environmental organization in the United States. She said Morning EditionParis Alston and Jeremy Siegel reported that Paris Alston’s home fuel oil bill was $850 for a 200 gallon tank. Markowitz isn’t sure it will push Americans toward renewable energy and electric vehicles in the long term, but it’s a powerful incentive to remember the alternatives available to gas.
“I just think about people who don’t have that money in the bank — so many people in our area, don’t even have $400 in their savings account to help with this sticker shock,” She spoke.
Through her work with The Nature Conservatory she is leading efforts for the United States to reconsider its approach to energy. She noted that renewable energy accounts for about 22% of electricity in the country, while in Massachusetts it’s around 25%.
“A crisis like this is a reminder that there are better alternatives out there, both for national security, our energy security, but also for climate change,” she said.
Many people are now looking into electric cars to avoid gas price spikes due to geopolitical factors. Car dealerships told GBH News they anticipate an increase in demand because of the recent crisis, but consumers could face a lack of inventory with supply chain issues hampering electric vehicles’ availability.
That’s why, Markowitz said, it’s helpful to keep an eye on the big picture solutions — “policy, investments and actionable science” — rather than on just immediate reactions like buying an electric car.
“That’s not alone going to solve the problem,” she said. “It also requires policy changes because, you know, somebody who’s low income, who lives in an apartment, can’t get an electric vehicle if there’s nowhere at the apartment to charge it.”
There are hints that the future may be brighter because of the recent rise in gas prices. Markowitz claimed that there was an increase in people using public transportation and buying fuel-efficient cars. However, she claimed that this was only a temporary boost.
“When we looked back a year later, things kind of went back to their normal levels,” she said.
“A crisis like this is a reminder that there are better alternatives out there, both for national security, our energy security, but also for climate change.”
Deb Markowitz is the Massachusetts state director of The Nature ConservancyMarkowitz is focused on the long-term. A Recent UN report from leading climate scientists painted a dire picture and found that climate change is “a threat to human well-being and planetary health.” She also noted a report from NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which forecasted that by 2050, sea levels along U.S. coastlines will be about a foot higher than they were in 2000.
“For Boston, for Massachusetts, for the Northeast — that is serious,” she said, noting that Massachusetts could see 16 inches of sea level rise compared to 2000. “So, climate change for us in Massachusetts is urgent.”
As an optimist, Markowitz said she wouldn’t continue to do her work if she didn’t have hope that society can come together to solve this problem, especially in a time of crisis.
“The private sector matters. Government matters. Investments matter,” she said. “I do believe… this will open the door for more conversations about how we need to have systems change in order to really advance the climate agenda overall.”
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