03/24/08 Climate Change

Climate Change. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. I saw a cartoon the other day that showed vacationers in Florida standing in snow and bemoaning the global warming talk in the press. You do hear what tend to be conflicting stories about polar ice melting at alarming rates and yet we had one of the worst winters in recent memory. Elin Miller, Regional Administrator for EPA Region 10 believes it's important to debate the issue. MILLER: From my standpoint, I think we're beyond whether it is or isn't. I think it's hard for anyone to refute the climate change is happening. I think where the debate is and it's very healthy to have that debate, is how much when its effects and more importantly what are we going to do about it. Miller says that we need to step up to the plate. MILLER: What are things that we can do as individuals, even communities to look at climate change and there's some opportunities. For example there's a program that EPA has had in place for a while, it's called Energy Star and it's been a very successful program and in fact in 2006 alone Energy Star saved consumers and businesses $14-billion dollars in utility bill savings. She goes on to talk about another program. MILLER: We also have another program and these by the way are all found on the EPA website, our climate leaders program which reaches all 50 states. It's basically a business oriented program. Large corporations are part of it, small corporations are part of it and what it is is where a business basically does its own inventory for CO2 emissions and looks at ways it can reduce those emissions, many of them once again energy saving which when we're talking about the price of oil and gas today is going to save money. Utilizing the various energy saving programs available to businesses and individuals says Miller is really good for the bottom line. MILLER: So when we look at things that can be done, I look at opportunities where it's good for a businesses bottom line, it's good for a homeowner's pocketbook and by the way it goes a long way to help the environment. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.