â??We humans in our modern ways are creating a crisis.â?

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee held its second installment in the Great Decisions series on Jan. 30 when guest speaker California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi addressed what he called an impending climate crisis.

In the past few years, the movement to combat climate change has gained a lot of momentum. It is an issue that Garamendi said is at the front of our collective mind.

“We humans in our modern ways are creating a crisis,” Garamendi said.

Garamendi explained that the source of these environmental problems comes primarily from our energy consumption in our transportation systems, heating/cooling systems and manufacturing industries. He said that these are the areas where changes need to be made.

Garamendi stressed that an expansion in research on energy conservation, energy independence and alternative sources of energy is essential to combating climate change. He drew attention to the fact that national funding for energy research has gone down 50 percent in the last 25 years.

Wisconsin Lt. Gov. Barbara Lawton was originally scheduled to join Garamendi, but instead met with him earlier and returned to Madison for Gov. Jim Doyle“s State of the State address.

When speaking on the economic impact renewable energy could have, Garamendi said that there would be “a profound new economy available to America if we seize it.”

“If we are ahead of it we will create new jobs, new technologies and new opportunities in America,” Garamendi said. “If we fail to grasp it, those jobs will be someplace else, and we“ll just continue to slide.”

Research is underway in California in the area of biofuels, such as ethanol from corn, as well as solar power, wind power and other energy efficient technologies. Scientists have found that they can modify algae to create hydrogen rather than oxygen, which may prove useful in the near future.

California has implemented environmentally conscious legislation that has created incentive-driven market devices.

California is also looking to build a hydrogen highway network where rest stops will be converted into hydrogen fueling stations. Other incentives are being set in place to get more fuel-efficient vehicles on the road. California lawmakers are looking to reduce the carbon content in gasoline by 10 percent in a period of 13 years.

Garamendi concluded his speech with a reference to Al Gore“s philosophy from the film “An Inconvenient Truth.”

“You and I and the American public together with other human beings around this world have the responsibility to develop and to put in place the political will to make these changes,” he said.

The next Great Decisions lecture, titled “Protecting the World“s Children,” will be Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 7 p.m. in the Union Ballroom.

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