ONGOING - 2050: Degrees of Change - original podcast that explores how our world and lives will adapt to climate change within a few decades. On Google Podcast MAY 12, 2020 Fossil Fuel Bailouts Are Class War. This Is How We Fight Back -Basav Sen April 11, 2020 COVID-19 ‘Shock Doctrine’ has Begun; We need a collective response to the coronavirus crisis to bring out the best of humanity April 9, 2020 If We Want Climate Policy that Works, Listen to Women March 25, 2020 Breaking: Rights of Nature Law Forces Pennsylvania to Revoke Industry Permit - Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection enforces local Grant Township law in revoking permit for dangerous frack waste injection well March 23, 2020 Climate change is just as real as COVID-19. Now’s the last, best chance for our government to treat it that way - Editorial in LA Times March 13, 2020 At 'Shock Doctrine Press Conference,' Trump Bails Out Oil Industry, Not US Families, as Coronavirus Crisis Intensifies March 4, 2020 Grand Jury Refuses Felonies for Greenpeace Activists and Others Charged in Houston Oil Industry Protest February 26, 2020 A Baltimore County cul-de-sac is no more after flood-weary residents made a decision many communities face February 17, 2020 Climate change is coming for the Tidal Basin in Washington, D.C. February 9, 2020 OMG! The Right to Protest is Under Attack with HB-4615 February 3, 2020 Climate scientists are not priests or prophets - Assessing climate policy requires much more than science January 31, 2020 Sanders Introduces Bills to Ban Fracking, Require National Cleanup Effort of Drinking Water September 2, 2019 Chasing The Methane Dragon That Lurks In The Deep Sea - how frozen gas deposits might respond in a rapidly warming world September 1, 2019 Pope urges politicians to take 'drastic measures' on climate change August 29, 2019 Even Big Oil doesn’t like the EPA’s methane rollback August 14, 2019 Gov Hogan appoints solar siting workgroup August 8, 2019 Climate Change Threatens the World’s Food Supply, UN Warns July 23, 2019 Tradepoint Atlantic chosen as Maryland’s first staging area for offshore wind energy - Baltimore Sun re Sparrows Point jobs July 8, 2019 AOC, Bernie Sanders to Introduce Resolution Calling 'Existential Threat' of the Climate Crisis an 'Emergency' July 4, 2019 How Trees Could Save the Planet (detailed study here and article here) July 2, 2019 Comparing America's grid operators on clean energy progress: PJM is headed for a climate disaster - toward using fracked gas July 1, 2019 - Conservation Groups Launch New Legal Challenges to Keystone XL Pipeline Approval and here June 25, 2019 World Headed For ‘Climate Apartheid,’ UN Expert Warns June 24, 2019 United Church of Christ (UCC) General Synod first Christian body to endorse Green New Deal (resolution text) June 23, 2019 Impeachable offense: Ignoring climate change June 21, 2019 Proposal to revive shuttered Baltimore County power plant stirs questions about climate change May 30, 2019 Burning the Gas ‘Bridge Fuel’ Myth: Why Gas Is Not Clean, Cheap, or Necessary Report Summary Full Report May 16, 2019 Inside the Long War to Protect Plastic April 17, 2019 24 Magazine Covers About Climate Change - Washington Post Magazine April 1, 2019 NAACP Reveals Tactics Fossil Fuel Industry Uses to Manipulate Communities of Color (download NAACP .pdf "Fossil Fueled Foolery. An Illustrated Primer on the Top 10 Manipulation Tactics of the Fossil Fuel Industry" March 18, 2019 Maryland should put power in the hands of communities - local opinion from By Marc Elrich and Lorig Charkoudian March 11, 2019 Howard's plastic bag fee isn't a regressive tax op-ed by Alisa Niefeld March 3, 2019 The climate change lawsuit that could stop the U.S. government from supporting fossil fuels March 3, 2019 Climate change: What 10 presidents have known - 60 Minutes on the Juliana v. United States lawsuit February 26, 2019 Howard County, MD - We Are Still In February 22, 2019 The Inevitable Death of Natural Gas as a ‘Bridge Fuel’ February 13, 2019 The Battle Lines Have Been Drawn on the Green New Deal by Naomi Klein February 12, 2019 - This Scary Map Shows How Climate Change will Transform Your City February 2, 2019 RE: Appalachian Storage Hub - One problem with petro storage hub everyone is missing January 25, 2019 Maryland sea level to increase dramatically, report says January 18, 2019 Climate Advocates Underestimate Power of Fossil Fueled Misinformation Campaigns, Say Top Researchers January 12, 2019 Warning: A ‘Shrinking Window’ of Usable Groundwater — and the Oil and Gas Industry Isn't Helping January 4, 2019 Howard County lawmakers' agenda for 2019 session includes plastic bags, schools issues and Ellicott City January 1, 2019 - Ocasio-Cortez Rips Dem Leadership for Treating Planet-Saving Green New Deal as 'Controversial' December 31, 2018 The case for “conditional optimism” on climate change December 28, 2018 - How Maryland’s renewable energy law subsidizes Virginia’s dirty air December 25, 2018 Low-carbon 'net zero' buildings are starting to catch on in the U.S. December 20, 2019 Powerless - What it looks and sounds like when a gas driller overruns your land - ProPublica re West Virginia December 11, 2018 States can lead the way on climate change. Let’s get to work. OpEd by Governors Larry Hogan and Ralph Northam November 23, 2018 A Grave Climate Warning, Buried on Black Friday November 26, 2018 How Extreme Weather Is Shrinking the Planet by Bill McKibben November 13 2018 West Virginia’s Natural Gas Industry Keeps Pushing to Whittle Away Payments to Residents November 9, 2018 Storage will replace 3 California gas plants as PG&E nabs approval for world's largest batteries November 2, 2018 Supreme Court refuses to block young people’s climate lawsuit against U.S. government November 1, 2018 Climate change: Oceans 'soaking up more heat than estimated' October 31, 2018 EPA quietly telling states they can pollute more October 30, 2018 America is warming fast. See how your city’s weather will be different in just one generation October 2018 - Apocalypse 2040 - Hothouse Earth podcast October 13, 2018 There's still hope for climate change - Axios October 13, 2018 Top climate scientist blasts UK’s fracking plans as 'aping Trump’ October 12, 2018 Clean up climate change? It’s just good for business. October 11, 2018 Slaying the Climate Dragon: A fairy tale whose ending, still unwritten, is by no means guaranteed to be happy October 11, 2018 - Confronting Climate Change in a Deeply Unequal World October 2, 2018 The Trump administration knows the planet is going to boil. It doesn't care by Bill McKibben September 20, 2018 Climate Mobilization plea: Cities must declare emergency August 23, 2018 How to Beat a Pipeline by Michael Brune of the Sierra Club August 22, 2018 Trump's Clean Energy Plan Replacement a 'Death Sentence' for Thousands, Say Faith Leaders August 2018 Scientists calculated a 'point of no return' for dealing with climate change — and time is running out June 24, 2918 Some Rare Good Climate News: The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Weaker Than Ever - Bill McKibben June 11, 2018 Report: G20 countries set to invest over $1.6 trillion in ‘fossil gas,’ jeopardizing climate goals - Data explodes myth that gas is a bridge fuel May 29, 2018 Telling Exxon and Chevron to Stop Interfering with National Climate Talks - Corporate Accountability Climate Campaign May 28, 2018 Think Big Banks have Abandoned Coal? Think again. May 27, 2018 America's tree sitters risk lives on the front line May 21, 2018 FERC Takes a Step Backward on Environmental Impacts May 13 2018 We’re making hurricanes worse. We’re also not preparing for them - Washington Post Editorial Board May 11, 2018 Africa Uniting Forces to Go Carbon Free March 26, 2018 FERC May Stifle Public Voice on New Gas Pipelines March 21, 2018 Answers to Basic Climate Questions from California Judge March 13, 2018 The most authoritative study of its kind reveals how fracking is contaminating the air and water – and imperiling the health of millions of Americans - from Rolling Stone February 9, 2018 Trump signed a landmark bill that could create the next big technologies to fight climate change - carbon capture and nuclear February 21, 2018 Environmentalists lost big on LNG exports. Now what? August 7, 2017 The NY Times has reviewed an alarming draft report on climate change by federal scientists, who fear President Trump will suppress it August 1, 2017 California Goes All In -- 100% Renewable Energy By 2045 July 16, 2017 Catholic nuns in Pa. build a chapel to block the path of a gas pipeline planned for their property January 23, 2017 Discussion on new Al Gore Movie - An Inconvenient Sequel: Truth to Power November 13, 2016 The End of Ice by Bill McKibben Nov 9, 2011 (But as relevant today) Capitalism vs. the Climate By Naomi Klein
Jan 5, 2016 Study Shows Public Says Climate Change is Real - Monmouth University Poll Dec 18, 2015 Maryland renters and low-income people will soon be able to buy solar power without panels Nov 28, 2015 Why a Climate Deal is the Best Hope for Peace October 27, 2015 New Report on Energy Justice in Maryland & Renewable Energy August 28, 2015 Proliferation of power plants in Pr. George’s worries residents August 19, 2015 The World's Hot Spot by Tom Friedman in The NYT August 8, 2015 Public Citizen on Pros and Cons of Obama Clean Power Plan August 5 2015 The Point of No Return: Climate Change Nightmares Are Already Here from Rolling Stone July 28, 2015 Clinton Climate Messaging Compared to Bernie Sander's July 23, 2015 James Hansen, Ice Melt, Sea Level Rise and Superstorms July 21, 2015 Drivers of the US CO2 emissions 1997–2013 - Refutes now old claim that rise of fracking and the replacement of "dirty" coal with clean-burning natural gas is responsible for decrease. July 7, 2015 When the End of Human Civilization Is Your Day Job June 24, 2015 Humanity's unhealthy future, editorial from Baltimore Sun June 10, 2015 Warming Alaska Could Release Bursts of Permafrost Greenhouse Gases Increasing Global Warming June 8, 2015 Josh Fox Kicked off Fox News over Fracking Report April 7, 2015 Hope for bipartisan action on energy March 10, 2015 Florida Officials Ban Use of term "Climate Change" February 17, 2015 Greening the Tea Party from the New Yorker Climate change no. Solar YES! January 17, 2015 Maryland Politics Trumps Science on Fracking - dcbureau.org January 17, 2015 Fracking Debate Intensifies in Western Maryland - Baltimore Sun January 15, 2015 Here’s what climate activists should do in 2015 leaders share with Grist January 14, 2015 White House press release: Administration Takes Steps Forward on Climate Action Plan by Announcing Actions to Cut Methane Emissions January 11, 2015 New York Times on Curtis Bay MD Incinerator January 5, 2015 The Sea Also Rises - Baltimore Magazine article about the Eastern Shore December 23, 2014 - Restored Forests Breathe Life Into Efforts Against Climate Change - NYT December 20, 2014 - Maryland PSC staff urges conditions on Exelon-Pepco merger December 12, 2014 - Md Sierra Club Opinion Piece in Balt Sun - SC Opposes Fracking Plan December 10, 2014 Congressman Mark Pocan Introduces Bill to Ban Fracking on Public Lands December 10, 2014 - League of Conservation Voters silent on Hillary's silence on Keystone XL - 350.org will confront December 9, 2014 - Chris Van Hollen to Serve as New Co-Chair of Bicameral Task Force on Climate Change - He takes over for retiring Henry Waxman. Novermber 23, 2014 Solar and Wind Energy Start to Win on Price vs. Conventional Fuels November 18. 2014 Fracking Approved in Largest National Forest in Eastern U.S. November 3, 2014 How to Save the Economy and Slow Climate Change at the Same Time October 17, 2014 Join Beyond Extreme Energy Actions in DC by Tim DeChristopher and Rev. Lennox Yearwood October 2014 - Public Perceptions of the Health Consequences of Global Warming from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication September 29, 2014 What Happens when a Ritual Works: The People’s Climate March September 1, 2014 Show leaders that people care about climate change, an oped in the Philly Inquirer Aug. 26, 2014 NYT report: Draft UN climate report says failure to act on runaway greenhouse gas emissions raise risk of “severe, pervasive and irreversible impacts” over the coming decades. Also: If society wants to limit the risks to future generations, it must find the discipline to leave the vast majority of these valuable fuels in the ground, the report said. August 2014 Read essays by scared scientists. July 29, 2014 Annapolis had the greatest increase in nuisance flooding in the nation, according to a NOAA study. Here's NOAA's announcement about the study. July 14, 2014 DC bans polystyrene foam food containers July 8, 2014 News in Solar Batteries June 30, 2014 US Military leads in Clean Vehicle Technology June 30, 2014 New York Towns Can Ban Fracking, State’s Top Court Rules from Bloomberg News & Earth Justice Page June 21, 2014 The Coming Climate Crash - Hank Paulson Jr. in the NYT arguing for a carbon tax June 2, 2014 Gina McCarthy announces new EPA Power Plant Carbon Rules - C-SPAN video - 30 min May 19, 2014 Can The New Populism Save The Climate? May 2014 PopulistMajority.org - Energy and Climate - statistics on public opinions on issues May 2014 Debate: “Are there any circumstances under which conservatives should support a tax on carbon emissions?” - excerpt was shown on Years of Living Dangerously May 6, 2014 National Climate Assessment Released - PDF Download site with regional reports April 7, 2014 Call Climate Change What it is: Violence Guardian post by Rebecca Solnit March 30, 2014 Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability - IPCC Working Group II Final Draft Report March 30, 2014 March 28, 2014 Can Europe wean itself from Russian natural gas? March 27, 2014 Export Stupidity by Richard Heinberg March 21, 2014 The Hip-Hop Caucus, and and members of the Congressional Black Caucus, announced a college tour designed to get young African-Americans on board in the fight against climate change. http://climate.hiphopcaucus.org/ February 2, 2014 Shipping fracked gas to Asia only boosts coal and dooms the climate January 22, 2014 At Davos, push for clean energy as climate weapon January 21, 2014 200 More Ideas for the President's Climate Plan - Improvements to this plan January 21, 2014 "A Big Fracking Lie" by Bill McKibben and Mike Tidwell in Politico January 20, 2014 Heather Mizeur wins backing of Sierra Club in Maryland’s Democratic primary for governor January 19, 2014 Energy Company Eyeing Gas Basin that Runs Under Southern Maryland January 16, 2014 - Ben Cardin, Fellow Senators Vow Action on Climate Change January 15, 2014 Researchers find nearly 6,000 natural gas leaks in District’s aging pipe system - A new study "said that while pipeline safety has improved in recent years, incidents involving natural gas transmission systems in the United States cause an average of 17 fatalities and $133 million in damage every year." January 9, 2014 - The EPA to require S. Calif. offshore fracking reports January 9, 2014 - 700 Major US Companies Call for Climate Action October 12, 2013 - Fracking Leases sold in Va. part of Taylorsville Basin (extends from east of Frederick to Annapolis) November, 2013 Public Opinion on Global Warming in Maryland 2013 November 15, 2013 Governor Brown Releases California Fracking Regulations November 14, 2013 World Bank on Mobilizing Climate Finance at the UN Framework Convention - Warsaw Climate Change Conference - November 2013 October 17, 2013 World Health Organization Finds Air Pollution Causes Cancer October 10, 2013 Set the Right Price on Carbon and Investors will Come from the World Bank - Their consensus: Current levels of public and private finance won’t even begin to do the job. September 30, 2013 A vice-president at the World Bank speaks out on the new IPCC report and what climate change means increasing world poverty September 27, 2013 - U.N. Climate Panel Endorses Ceiling on Global Emissions August 28, 2013 Fracking contracts can leave landowners high and dry - by the Washington Post Editorial Board Aug 27, 2013 - op ed in Balt Sun - Beat Baltimore brownouts with solar. Maryland should require solar on all housing. August 26, 2013 - Hold the water: Some firms fracking without it. A story from dry Texas. August 23, 2013 As air pollution from fracking rises, EPA to set rules August 19, 2013 Petition demanding bi-partisan action on climate change now from Senators Whitehouse, Merkly, Udall, Coons, and Menendez. August 6, 2013 NOAA released Bulletin of the American Meteological Society study : State of the Climate 2012 - Report download from BAMS ; slides on report; NOAA site August 3, 2013 Washington Post Sunday Magazine has a cover story on http://blog.skytruth.org/ a website on the extent of fracking wells across the country. August 2, 2013 A Republican Case for Climate Action - Call for a carbon tax from heads of EPA in Republican administrations July 31, 2013 US auctions 1st offshore wind energy leases in 2 areas off New England coast to RI firm. The Dept of Interior reports the areas leased are expected to be able to support more than 4,000 megawatts (MW) of wind generation – enough electricity to power an estimated 1.4 million homes. July 18, 2013: Mike Tidwell explains why he's walking 100 miles, from Camp David to DC, in the Walk for our Grandchildren. July 14. 2013 - EPA to Allow Consumptoin of Toxic Fracking Wastewater by Wildlife and Livestock - story from Nation of Change July 10, 2013 - "Stopping the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Global Revolt Against Corporate Domination", Truthout article by By Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese (see this page for info on link to fracking) July 4, 2013 WBAL needs to tell the truth about climate change: Meteorologist's denials of man-made global warming do a disservice to the public by Noel Levy in the Baltimore Sun July 1, 2013 United Church of Christ to become first U.S. denomination to move toward divestment from fossil fuel companies June 28, 2013 Methane in Pennsylvania Groundwater May Originate in Fracked Gas Wells - Scientific American article on new Duke Univ. study Are Our Emotions Preventing Us From Taking Action on Climate Change? - From 1/2/13 but an excellent response to Obama climate leadership, this article discusses guilt and apathy which can result from overemphasis on individual action. The public can be energized to take action but a "society-wide mobilization must start with our government." June 27, 2013 Paul Krugman's NYT op ed "Invest, Divest and Prosper" - President's climate plans increases jobs! June 25, 2013 Obama's speech on climate change, and the plan. Here's ClimateHoward's blog post on the highs and (very low) lows of the speech. June 19, 2013 Obama Preparing Big Effort to Curb Climate Change - NYT June 8, 2013 - Tell Lawmakers: Level the Playing Field for Renewable Energy Investing from Green America May 27, 2013 - Lines in the Sand - re Tars Sands by Elizabeth Kolbert May 26, 2013 - Going to Jail for Justice - Bill Moyers interview of Tim DeChristopher who inspired tar sands arrestees and the entire climate movement. May 23, 2013: We are out of time on climate change, says Eugene Robinson in an op-ed in the W.Post.. May 23, 2013: Amphibians are vanishing, according to a study by the U.S. Geological Survey. May 18, 2013: Without Water Revolution - Tom Friedman in the NYT states: "...about the “Jafaf,” or drought, one of the key drivers of the Syrian war. In an age of climate change, we’re likely to see many more such conflicts." May 17, 2013 A Black Mound of Canadian Oil Waste Is Rising Over Detroit - The New York Times reports Tar Sands waste is growing in U.S. and we are selling it so it can be burned overseas. May 14, 2013 For Insurers, No Doubts on Climate Change May 10, 2013: CO2 levels in the atmosphere reach 400 ppm, "a long-feared milestone," scientists reported. "reaching a concentration not seen on the earth for millions of years." According to Ralph Keeling, who runs the monitoring program: "It means we are quickly losing the possibility of keeping the climate below what people thought were possibly tolerable thresholds.” May 9 , 2013 - The Obama Administration's Natural Gas Policy Is Tragically Misguided - Waste that will haunt future generations - Chris Martensen on why Liquified Natural Gas exports are a bad idea April 2013 - New data from the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication . About six in ten Americans (58%) say “global warming is affecting weather in the United States.” See also this update to their long term study - Public support for Climate & Energy Policies, April 2013 April 30, 2013: Some daily readings at Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii are at 400 ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere. April 28, 2013 - Renewable Energy Wins in North Carolina Thanks to Key Republicans. They resisted a barrage of lobbying from the fossil fuel industry. Right wing Americans for Prosperity's response - Right wing Americans for Prosperity's response - “This was a horrible vote by Republicans, and they need to be held accountable,” April 23, 2013 Solar Energy: This Is What a Disruptive Technology Looks Like - about how solar is gaining April 12, 2013 The Mounting Economic Toll of Erratic Weather - from Kiplinger Magazine April 11, 2013 Bill McKibben writes in Rolling Stone about the powerful climate movement growing around the world. March 18, 2013 Storm Surge Risk Amplified By Climate Change, Study Finds - article from Huffington Post; also coverage here, from ThinkProgress.org. March 15, 2013 China's announcement of a carbon tax heralds need for worldwide conversation on pricing carbon www.brookings.edu/research/topics/carbon-tax March 13, 2013 What’s the best way to design a carbon tax? Lawmakers ask for suggestions - from Washington Post - great start to important dialog. See also Waxman, Whitehouse, Blumenauer, and Schatz Release Carbon Price Discussion Draft March 11, 2013 - Jeremy Grantham, large scale investor, opposes tar sands development on Charlie Rose. www.charlierose.com/view/interview/12812 March 8, 2013 More evidence of spike in global temps - Global temperatures are higher than they've been in 4,000 years, according to research published in the journal Science. The NYT has a report here. Read ClimateProgress report here. Feb 28, 2013 The Climate Reality Project launched "Reality Drop" to spread truth and counter climate change denial. Posting online to refute deniers explained here - and see the site - https://realitydrop.org/ Report on Amplifying Public Opinion: The Policy Impact of the U.S. Environmental Movement -
Not new but timely because of Forward on Climate vision of the start of a real "movement". Summary. Full Report. Audio interview on study. Feb 22, 2013 - Md., D.C. utilities pay paper mills burning ‘black liquor’ for alternative fuel credits - Not a good thing. Mike
Tidwell of CCAN comments
Feb 22, 2013
Fracking in Md.: Let’s look before we leap - www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/fracking-in-md-lets-look-before-we-leap/2013/02/22/dd080b68-7c78-11e2-a044-676856536b40_story.html
Feb 21, 2013 Keystone Pipeline: Bad for Business and the Economy, Business Leaders Say and here.http://asbcouncil.org/press-release/keystone-xl-pipeline-bad-business-and-economy-business-leaders-say
Feb 17, 2013 ForwardOnClimate.org estimates nearly 50,000 attended the largest climate rally ever! See:
Feb. 15, 2013 "Sanders and Boxer introduce ‘fee and dividend’ climate bill; greens tickled pink" - article in Grist.org on The Climate Protection Act of 2013
Gas prices were up in 2012 while Big Oil made billions in profits. Industry spend those billions lobbying to preserve tax breaks and repurchasing stock for shareholders instead of investing in technology or alternative enegy;
Farmland conversion for biofuels leads to deforestation Here's an unintended consequences of the push for biofuels in the United States: Farmers are converting the United States’ prairie lands to farms at rates comparable with deforestation levels in Brazil, Malaysia and Indonesia – rates not seen here since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s. This contributes to climate change because grassland holds carbon in the soil better than cropland.Tall grasses are also the breeding grounds for ducks and other birds. Read articles here and here
Feb 21, 2013 Keystone Pipeline: Bad for Business and the Economy, Business Leaders Say www.reuters.com/ & http://asbcouncil.org
July 19, 2012
Bill McKibben does the math
Bill McKibben wrote an article in Rolling Stone that lays out our predicament. He discusses three numbers, their implications for our planet and civilization as we know it -- and the enemy we have to confront. For example: "The five biggest oil companies have made more than $1 trillion in profits since the millennium – there's simply too much money to be made on oil and gas and coal to go chasing after zephyrs and sunbeams. Much of that profit stems from a single historical accident: Alone among businesses, the fossil-fuel industry is allowed to dump its main waste, carbon dioxide, for free. Nobody else gets that break – if you own a restaurant, you have to pay someone to cart away your trash, since piling it in the street would breed rats. But the fossil-fuel industry is different, and for sound historical reasons: Until a quarter-century ago, almost no one knew that CO2 was dangerous. But now that we understand that carbon is heating the planet and acidifying the oceans, its price becomes the central issue."
7/6/12
Mike Tidwell says extreme fossil fuel extraction means more extreme weather
Mike Tidwell of Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) writes in an essay in the Baltimore Sun about climate extremes and the folly of using extreme techniques such as fracking to extract yet more fossil fuels. Check out the CCIHC blog as well.
5/10/2012
Activists urge end to subsidies for fossil fuels industries
Common Dreams reports that 350.org, Friends of the Earth and Taxpayers for Common Sense held a rally in DC to announce legislation introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) that would eliminate tax subsidies for fossil fuels industries. Several CCIHC members attended.
5/10/2012
James Hansen reasserts that extracting tar sands oil means "game over for the climate"
In an op-ed in the New York Times, NASA scientist James Hansen encouraged President Obama to deny Canada access to transport its tar sands oil to Gulf Coast refineries. He said it's also imperative that Obama offer incentives to keep fossil fuels in the ground. He said: "If we turn to these dirtiest of fuels, instead of finding ways to phase out our addiction to fossil fuels, there is no hope of keeping carbon concentrations below 500 p.p.m. — a level that would, as earth’s history shows, leave our children a climate system that is out of their control."
4/26/2012
W.Post editorial urges Obama to get "serious about climate change"The editorial comments on an interview in Rolling Stone in which the president said he thinks climate change will be a big issue in the campaign. The editorial concludes: Climate change is one of the great challenges of this century, and the country needs a big, realistic debate about policy to address the threat. We encourage Mr. Obama to follow through on his words, giving the issue — and truly serious ways to deal with it — the prominence they deserve in this year’s election. Poll shows Americans link weather extremes to climate change The NYT reports that a new poll shows 69 percent of respondents agree that climate change is affecting recent weather. Researchers at Yale and George Mason commissioned the poll. “Most people in the country are looking at everything that’s happened; it just seems to be one disaster after another after another,” said Anthony A. Leiserowitz ofYale University, one of the researchers who commissioned the new poll. “People are starting to connect the dots.” The end of the article includes a plug for 350.org's 5/5 event:
A group called 350.org is planning a worldwide series of rallies on May 5, under the slogan “Connect the Dots,” to draw attention to the links between climate change and extreme weather. (The group’s name is a reference to an ideal concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.) “My sense from around the country and the world is that people definitely understand that things are getting freaky,” said William E. McKibben, the founder of 350.org. “During that crazy heat wave in March, everyone in Chicago was out enjoying the weather, but in the back of their mind they were thinking, this is not right.”
Republican Meteorologist sends message to his party
Check out a blog by meterologist Paul Douglas, who says that acknowledging climate science "doesn't make you a liberal." (Not that there's anything wrong with that....) Here's one quote: "I’m going to tell you something that my Republican friends are loath to admit out loud: climate change is real. I am a moderate Republican, fiscally conservative; a fan of small government, accountability, self-empowerment, and sound science. I am not a climate scientist. I’m a meteorologist, and the weather maps I’m staring at are making me uncomfortable," and "This is not about 'insuring more fat government research grants.' I have yet to find a climate scientist in the '1 Percent', driving a midlife-crisis-red Ferrari into the lab." ....
Editorial in the w. post 3/24/12 Rising concern on climate change The W. Post, in an editorial 3/24/12, says: "Rising sea levels threaten to inundate low-lying roads in Louisiana, costing billions in port activity, The Post’s Juliet Eilperin reports. Northrop Grumman sees potential damage to billions in shoreline defense infrastructure, such as the imperiled drydock in Hampton Roads built to construct the next generation of aircraft carriers. Other factors are also at work in these examples of rapid coastline loss. But Louisiana and Virginia offer a picture of how further sea-level rise and higher storm surges — just one set of climate-related risks — could seriously disrupt human activity. America, meanwhile, is fixated on . . . paying an extra buck per gallon at the gas pump. A recent report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) underscores how myopic the country’s energy debate is — and, consequently, how delinquent the United States has been in leading the world. The organization calculated that the world is on course to increase its carbon emissions by 50 percent by 2050. ......" Tom Toles from the W. Post 3/16/12
Study says cleaner energy (natural gas) won't lower global temperature enough to avert disastrous climate change
Nathan Myhrvold, previously a proponent of geoengineering to solve the climate crisis, has published a paper with climate scientist Ken Caldeira saying that switching to natural gas won't reduce carbon enough to avoid severe warming by the end of the century. Grist.org reports on his paper.
“There is no quick fix to global warming,” Caldeira said. “Shifting from one energy system to another is hard work and a slow process. Plus, it takes several decades for the climate system to fully respond to reductions in emissions. If we expect to see substantial benefits in the second half of this century, we had better get started now.” Cladeira and Myhrvold say that rapid transition to clean energy will be needed, and low-carbon sources won't be enough to make a change: “If countries were to start right away and build really fast, so that they installed a trillion watts of gas-fired electricity generation steadily over the next 40 years,” Myhrvold said, “that would still add about half a degree Fahrenheit to the average surface temperature of the Earth in 2112—that’s within a tenth of a degree of the warming that coal-fired plants would produce by that year.” They say a "substantial benefit" to global temperatures will come only from conservation, solar, wind and nuclear energy. (although he doesn't look at other issues -- such as huge expense, radioactive waste -- involved with nuclear energy). |
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