NOT WAITING FOR TOMORROW

The apocalyptic movie “The Day After Tomorrow,” which opens this weekend, overplays and rapidly accelerates the consequences of climate change. The general public, however, may need some Hollywood hype to make them take global climate change seriously.

An ice age will not descend on New York City in a matter of days, as happens in the movie. However, more subtle changes are already occurring. More extreme weather, such as the drought that has plagued the West for years and the blizzards that shut down much of the East Coast in recent winters, has become routine. Polar ice caps are melting and global temperatures are rising at faster rates than scientists expect as part of a natural climate pattern. Their conclusion is that human activity, especially the burning of fossil fuels, is triggering the changes.

With these consequences in mind, Gov. John Baldacci didn’t need Hollywood hype to reduce the state’s emissions of harmful greenhouse gases or to make state government more energy efficient. It now buys 40 percent of its electricity from renewable sources and plans to increase that to 50 percent in coming years. The state is also using a 20 percent biodiesel blend, made from used cooking oil, to heat some building and fuel some vehicles. All large state buildings recently underwent energy audits and the state is now developing plans to reduce energy usage in these facilities by 25 percent.

There are now 34 hybrid vehicles in the state fleet and curbs have also been placed on state travel, with employees urged to use teleconferences and other means to conduct business. As a result of these steps, state government has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 4 percent in the last year. In addition, the state has saved more than $1 million by implementing these measures.

Another group that is working to avoid “The Day After Tomorrow” scenarios is Efficiency Maine, which is part of the Maine Public Utilities Commission. The program makes energy-efficient products more available and helps businesses make more efficient use of electricity. For example, the program enabled a St. Albans dairy farmer to install energy-efficient fans in his barn. He qualified for a $12,500 grant from Efficiency Maine and reduced his annual energy consumption by about 270,000 kilowatts, the equivalent of what is used in 43 homes in a year. Not only will the farmer save money on his electric bills, his cows will be kept more comfortable by the larger, quiet fans so they can produce more milk.

In its first year of operation, Efficiency Maine has awarded $261,000 in cash incentives to small business owners who have installed energy efficient electrical equipment. More than 3.5 million kilowatt-hours of electricity have been saved through this investment, saving participating companies about $420,000.

These efforts show that working to improve the environment can also help the financial bottom line.

As Gov. Baldacci said this week: “If the world’s scientists prove correct, global warming could be disastrous for Maine, particularly for our ski, forestry and agricultural industries, and for coastal property owners. The good news is that it won’t happen overnight, as depicted in the movie. But, we need to take the threat seriously and act today.”

In other words, we shouldn’t wait until the day after tomorrow to make changes that help the environment and the budget.