Bill McKibben: We’re Hot as Hell and We’re Not Going to Take It Any More
By Bill McKibben
Cross-posted from CommonDreams.org:
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/08/04-1
Published on Wednesday, August 4, 2010 by TomDispatch.com
Three Steps to Establish a Politics of Global Warming
Try to fit these facts together:
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the planet has just come through the warmest decade, the warmest 12 months, the warmest six months, and the warmest [...]
Dr. James Hansen’s Report from Norway, of Interest to Canadians
Dr. James Hansen’s experience in Norway, including a letter to the Prime Minister and the government response, have been posted to Dr. Hansen’s website. He condemns the Norwegian government for supporting Statoil’s development of the Canadian Tar Sands.
Present Targets for CO2 Emission Cuts Will Not Prevent a 4C Global Temperature Rise
The world is heading for an average temperature rise of nearly 4C (7F), according to analysis of national pledges from around the globe. Such a rise would bring a high risk of major extinctions, threats to food supplies and the near-total collapse of the huge Greenland ice sheet.
Long Term Effects of Global Warming Will Be Far Worse than Gulf of Mexico Catastrophe
Although the BP oil spill seriously threatens those who live along the Gulf of Mexico, U.S. intransigence on climate change threatens the entire world; a fact that is causing rising anger around the world. Yet the U.S. Congress continues to resist action on climate change on the basis that it will harm some U.S. economic interests, while ignoring our duties, responsibilities, and obligations to others to reduce U.S. greenhouse gas emissions to the U.S. fair share of safe global releases. For this reason, while the BP oil spill can be rightfully be understood as a disaster, U.S. Congressional inaction on climate change must be understood as a huge moral failure leading to an even greater disaster.
Two Articles on Dangers of Tar Sands Expansion
Friends of the Earth reports the successful development of the controversial oil sands in Canada has prompted oil companies to invest in similar operations elswhere, including Russia, Venezuela, the Congo, and Madagascar.
But the dramatic impact of oil sands expansion should give the companies involved and their investors pause, cautions a new report commissioned by Ceres, a coalition of investors and environmental groups, and authored by the financial risk management group RiskMetrics
Limits to Growth for Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Fish Farms and Our Big Economy Crucial
Our individual and collective human effort seems to have a momentum, a predictable trajectory that tracks a compulsive course from less to more and from little to bigger. In the progression from deep to deeper and from some to many, our technology increases in sophistication, our problems rise in complexity and our risks multiply in tandem. So far we have been able to race just ahead of catastrophe. But this basic strategy is an invitation to eventual calamity, as the blowout in the Gulf of Mexico attests, as our mining pollution proves and as our fish farm problems confirm.
In the great scheme of things – should anyone feel confused about all that’s happening these days – we are presently engaged in the search for a fundamental sense of proportion and balance. This arduous process begins with global awareness. But it’s really about our inner growth and maturation, about our discovery of limits.
Moratorium on Offshore Drilling Across Top of North America Critically Important
It Could Happen Here: Canada should demand a moratorium on Arctic oil drilling until we’re certain it will be done safely – Article by Professor Michael Byers on the danger of drilling for oil in the fragile Arctic and how Canadian waters would be affected.
Imagine an Oil Rig Blowout in the Arctic. Oil Drilling There Must Be Prevented.
Two items:
Press Release from the World Wildlife Federation: All Drilling Must Be Halted in Arctic Pending Full Investigation of Gulf of Mexico Blowout; Despite calls for drilling “time-out,” Shell still set to begin exploratory drilling in Arctic on July 1 -
PARIS, May 5, 2010 (IPS) – The disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has given increased urgency to the fifth Global Oceans Conference taking place here at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).
Great News for Canadians Concerned for Global Warming
OTTAWA—Members of the Climate Action Network-Réseau Action Climat Canada are very pleased to celebrate historic progress in Canadian climate change policy today with the passing of the third reading vote on the Climate Change Accountability Act (Bill C-311).
“All three opposition parties must be congratulated for their support for the Climate Change Accountability Act,” said Dale Marshall of the David Suzuki Foundation. “This support reminds us that the majority of Members of Parliament, along with the majority of Canadians and provinces want stronger action on climate change. “
The Climate Change Accountability Act requires that the Canadian federal government implement regulations and policies to attain a long-term target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions to 80% below the 1990 level by 2050.
Dr. James Hansen’s Proposal: The People’s Climate Stewardship Act
The People’s Climate Stewardship Act proposed by Dr. James Hansen calls for a “simple, honest” carbon fee, collected from fossil-fuel companies upon the first sale at the mine, wellhead or port of entry.
The money collected via this fee would be distributed to the public as a monthly “dividend” or “green check.” Distributing all of the revenue equitably to households will ensure that families can afford the energy they need during the transition to a clean energy future, and it should help win public support for a rising carbon fee.
