Climate Change: The Hard Numerical Reality, and What We Can Do About It
In this FORA.tv presentation given earlier this year at the Long Now Foundation, Griffith examines the numerical reality of the fight against climate change. Drawing from a personal assessment of his own energy needs, Griffith argues that we not only need to switch to alternative energies, we also need to drastically reduce their consumption in order to prevent a global catastrophe. In this clip, Griffith lays out in hard numbers the need for a massive increase in “green” energy, and proposes how it can be achieved.
One Canadian Mother Calls for Action on Climate Bill
Even though many Canadians lobbied the Environment Committee on the urgency of addressing Bill C-311, it was not expedited on the Committee’s schedule and was only first addressed on June 18th, at the final meeting before Parliament recessed for the summer – almost three months after it passed second reading. It will not be discussed in Committee again until Parliament resumes in the latter part of September. And some Committee members have indicated a preference for drawing out the bill’s process even longer, by debating the Climate Change Accountability Act over numerous sessions, something that was already done last year in the Environment Committee. It does not appear that our government officials have grasped the urgency of the climate crisis.
With so many ACES in the Waxman-Markey climate bill, have we been dealt a bad hand?
We need a strong, not just any, climate bill. We need to take what happened yesterday in the House and turn it into something that history will record as not so much the culmination of our many years of hard work but a breakthrough that opened the way for a flood of people power, a broad and deep clean energy revolution in the months and years ahead.
The Future of Carbon Pricing
George Heyman of the Sierra Club of BC says while the Campbell Government should be acknowledged for its leadership on the carbon tax, it must also do away with contradictory policies. “This Government also continues to promote oil and gas development, the transportation of dirty fuels across the north and down the coast that comes from Alberta and encourages the building of roads which encourages people to take more vehicles on the roads and emit more carbon.” Heyman adds the revenue from the carbon tax should go toward public transit and other green initiatives, instead of cuts to other taxes that make the policy revenue-neutral.
The View From Across the Potomac River
Even as it stands now, the Waxman-Markey bill will fall far short of action needed by the US Government to assure a strong and effective conclusion to the UN Copenhagen Climate Conference in December.
An Analysis of the Waxman-Markey Climate Bill
On May 21st, following months of work, the House Energy and Commerce Committee passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 (ACESA), a 932-page piece of climate legislation. There have been mixed reactions from environmental and climate groups, but most groups are in agreement that it needs to be strengthened going forward. For some groups the problems they see with the bill have led to their public withdrawal of support. These groups include Greenpeace USA, Public Citizen and Friends of the Earth. The Chesapeake Climate Action Network also does not support the bill in current form.
Inspirational Whimsy: The Great Flower Pot in the Sky
Here we are, after all this time of evolution in danger of “losing it,” of allowing the disruptive forces of runaway climate change to devastate our species and most of the living organisms that share our “pot.”
Let’s not let this happen. We’re becoming beautiful, and with all our faults, we’re worth saving. Let’s fight, let’s shout, let’s shake things to ensure our survival.
Endangerment Finding Could Give Obama the Tool He Needs to Control Climate Change
The Endangerment Finding could give Obama sweeping authority to decide how to reduce global warming pollution from power plants, vehicles, and other sources, how much, and how fast.
Peak Oil: A Dark Look Into Our Future
Blind Spot is a documentary that illustrates the current energy crisis that our way of life is facing. Whatever the measures of greed, wishful thinking, neglect or ignorance, we have put ourselves at a crossroad which offers two paths, both with dire consequences. If we continue to burn fossil fuels we will choke the life out of the planet and if we don’t our way of life will collapse.
True Climate Progress: Great Solutions for Communities, Large and Small
These goals for communities to achieve carbon neutralily are important to national and global well-being, in effect a responsibility of citizenship, and they leave enormous room for innovation and localization.
