JEFF GOODELL

This was supposed to be the transformative moment on global warming, the tipping point when America proved to the world that capitalism has a conscience, that we take the fate of the planet seriously. According to the script, Congress would pass a landmark bill committing the U.S. to deep cuts in carbon emissions. President Obama would then arrive in Copenhagen for the international climate summit, armed with the moral and political capital he needed to challenge the rest of the world to do the same. After all, wasn’t this the kind of bold move the Norwegians were anticipating when they awarded Obama the Nobel Peace Prize?

As we now know, it didn’t work out that way. Obama arrived in Copenhagen last month without any legislation committing the U.S. to reduce carbon pollution. Instead of reaching agreement on how to stop cooking the planet, the summit devolved into bickering over who bears the most blame for turning up the heat. The world once again missed an opportunity to avert disaster — and the delay is likely to have deadly consequences. In recent years, we have moved from talking about the possibility of climate change to watching it unfold before our eyes. The Arctic is melting, wildfires are turning into infernos, warm-weather insects are devouring forests, droughts are getting longer and more lethal. And the more we learn about climate change, the more it becomes apparent how enormous the risks are. Just a few years ago, researchers estimated that sea levels would likely rise 17 inches by 2100. Now they believe it could be three feet or more — a cataclysmic shift that would doom many of the world’s cities, including London and New Orleans, and create tens of millions of climate refugees.

Our collective response to the emerging catastrophe verges on suicidal. World leaders have been talking about tackling climate change for nearly 20 years now — yet carbon emissions keep going up and up. “We are in a race against time,” says Rep. Jay Inslee, a Democrat from Washington who has fought for sharp reductions in planet-warming pollution. “Mother Nature isn’t sitting around waiting for us to get our political act together.” In fact, our failure to confront global warming is more than simply political incompetence. Over the past year, the corporations and special interests most responsible for climate change waged an all-out war to prevent Congress from cracking down on carbon pollution in time for Copenhagen. The oil and coal industries deployed an unprecedented army of lobbyists, spent millions on misleading studies and engaged in outright deception to derail climate legislation. “It was the most aggressive and corrupt lobbying campaign I’ve ever seen,” says Paul Begala, a veteran Democratic consultant.

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Ten central Iowa cities are applying for up to $25 million in federal grant money to create jobs and bring more energy efficiency to homes, businesses and government buildings.

The money would supplement federal programs like Energy Star and contribute to efforts to curb climate change.

“Our region has an opportunity to be part of a program that would bring energy-efficiency improvements to thousands of local homeowners and businesses,” said John Konior, assistant city manager in Urbandale. He is overseeing the grant application.

“This would provide for major revitalization of neighborhoods and businesses; create new energy service, home improvement, construction and related service jobs; and provide a model that could be continued after the 36-month grant period.”

The cities involved are Altoona, Ankeny, Carlisle, Clive, Des Moines, Johnston, Urbandale, Waukee, West Des Moines and Windsor Heights.

The grant is administered by the U.S. Department of Energy under the economic stimulus passed early this year. Konior said the cities should hear back in late February or early March.

Local schools and colleges would train contractors, and private lenders would provide additional financing. Retrofitting homes can reduce energy use by up to 40 percent, according to a report from the White House Council on Environmental Quality.

President Barack Obama told business and labor leaders at a jobs summit last week that he strongly supports job-creation efforts that would bring more energy efficiency to homes and buildings. Obama said incentives like those used for “cash for clunkers” – the program intended to help people purchase more-fuel-efficient cars – could “get contractors working again and generate more private activity.”

Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie attended the jobs summit. He urged Obama to make more direct federal funding available to metropolitan areas and encourage private lending to add environmentally friendly, or “green,” jobs.

“We need to create value in our cities and programs geared toward energy efficiency to instill that value. It saves energy, it saves the environment, it improves public health and it creates new jobs,” he said. “We also need to sell the benefit and show the benefit to the private sector so there’s long-term, lasting benefit.”

Global leaders have gathered in Copenhagen, Denmark, for the two-week U.N. Climate Change Conference, which began Monday. The White House announced last month that Obama plans to offer to cut U.S. greenhouse-gas emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020.

Konior and other metro-area leaders say efforts to limit global warming need to happen at the local level.

“Wind farms are great, but the bigger payoff is energy efficiency,” said David Osterberg, director of the Iowa Policy Project, a nonprofit founded in 2001 that produces research on the Iowa economy and energy and environmental policy “Every bit of this will be lasting, because 36 months down the road your energy bill will still be lower and MidAmerican will still be using less coal. And with 10 cities participating, that will have a significant impact that can be measured. This is the smart part of the stimulus program. It provides jobs that moves us to a different kind of country.”

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