If you go

The Governor's Task Force on Global Warming will hold the first of two public meetings today simultaneously at several locations around the state. The closest for Racine County residents will be at Milwaukee Area Technical College, 700 W. State St., in room S120 of the Student Services Building from 4 to 7 p.m.

People who wish to make comments can register to do so when they attend, or they may register in advance through the task force Web site at http://dnr.wi.gov/environmentprotect/gtfgw

The same address provides an ability to send comments by e-mail.

Meeting minutes and background documents presented to the task force may be found at the same Web site.

Gov. Jim Doyle's Task Force on Global Warming has barely begun its work, but it's already time for citizens to put in a word or three.

Today, the task force will hold the first of two hearings to gather public input. The second will come later this year when there is a set of draft proposals on how to combat global warming.

"We wanted to get that input while the work groups are just beginning their process so they have a sense of people who are interested in those issues, what their ideas are," said Roy Thilly, CEO of Wisconsin Public Power and co-chairman of the task force.

Doyle created the task force by executive order in April and gave it a deadline of Dec. 31 to deliver its recommendations. He asked the task force to come up with practical solutions to global warming while also expanding the state's economy.

What it won't do is debate the science of whether global warming is real. The governor's order makes reference to the work of the International Panel on Climate Change, which has reviewed the science and concluded that warming is a real threat and is already happening, said Tia Nelson, who is executive secretary of the Board of Commissioners of Public Lands. She and Thilly are chairing the task force. The IPCC's work represents the consensus of some 2,000 scientists, she said, and it's hard to get that many scientists to agree on anything.

Options

A good deal of groundwork has been laid. The World Resources Institute, which has worked with other states on global warming, is advising the task force, and institute staff have provided the state with a list of potential actions. That, task force members said, helps a great deal because no one need start from zero.

Among the options, for example are the use of wood as a fuel, rated as having a medium cost and a medium impact on global warming. For the electric industry, increasing nuclear power generation is rated as having a high impact on warming and only a medium cost to implement.

All of these options, and whatever comes out of Monday's public hearings, will be worked over by a group of subcommittees, each focused on one part of the state's economy, such as forestry and agriculture, industry, land use, and transportation.

Other views

"I think the really positive point that really engaged us is there is a focus on solutions," said Scott Johnson, vice president of global environment and safety actions at SC Johnson. He joined the task force in July.

"There's always a shortage of good ideas," he said. Some solutions are apparent, "But what are the other things we can do as a state, and as an industry sector, and as a company? So I'm there to contribute ideas and get ideas in return."

Jeff Crawford is attorney general for the Forest County Potawatomi and is also a member of the task force. "The Potawatomi has a long history of protecting and defending the environment, and we see this task force as being a good opportunity to continue our cultural ethic."

"The trick will be to make sure that this is not another report that is filed and promptly begins to collect dust," Crawford said. He believes that the balance of industry and environmental groups on the task force will make the eventual recommendations practical and not

political.

Joyce Harms, spokeswoman for Clean Wisconsin, which has a representative on the task force, doesn't think the recommendations will be ignored. She sees parallels between global warming and recycling, which floated to the top of public consciousness in the early 1990s.

At that time, she said, there was news about coming shortages of landfill space, a barge full of garbage which couldn't find a port, and the sheer economics of dealing with so much trash. "And it was the kind of issue that John Q. Public could have an impact on every day just in what their actions were."

All of that produced enough momentum to keep the issue moving, she said, and the momentum which has built around global warming is enough to keep that issue moving. But is it enough to overcome legislative inertia?

"First of all," Harms said, "I'm not sure if the public would let that happen, which is why it's so important for the public to be involved."