Climate Files 34 / Send Obama to Copenhagen with Climate Plan
Climate Action Day for 350 ppm
President Obama gave an energy speech at MIT in Massachusetts on October 23rd, which you will hear in this episode. He announced some interesting things that MIT students are working on in terms of new energy. He also said the US is in a peaceful competition to develop clean technologies, and he championed US leadership on clean energy, as international deadlines for climate change mitigation loom.
In this episode, you will also hear Australian scientist Tim Flannery plead with Americans to pass climate legislation, and then hear Lisa Jackson explain how the EPA is back in action. Flannery’s interview is from DemocracyNow.
Everyone is expecting Obama to show up in Copenhagen for the major climate summit in December. He needs some convincing to get there, however. Help send Obama to Copenhagen and call the White House. The White House number is (202) 456-1414. The latest news is that he isn’t going and we need to convince him to go to Copenhagen with a Climate plan, if not legislation, in hand.
Now, I’m not a big supporter of the cap and trade bill (Kerry-Boxer, or CEJAPA) because most analysts says it won’t do enough to stop or even slow down climate change enough to make a difference. But some experts and analysts say it will do just that. It’s hard to know who to believe. But it will be a first step on the road to a climate deal in Copenhagen, or COP15, which is a two week meeting on climate change in December.
Also check out the October 24 International Day of Climate Action, sponsored by 350.org. 350 ppm is the goal in Copenhagan.
Also on Friday, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, released the text of the Chairman’s Mark of the CEJAPA bill (S. 1733). That’s from the EPW news release from late Friday (Oct. 23rd) night. (The full text of the Chairman’s Mark was here but is currently unavailable — check back later.) The main difference between this text and the draft of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act released late last month is that it “specifies distribution of emissions allowances” (details here). Also, the EPA released its analysis of Boxer’s bill. (click here).
The PDA statement for a carbon price is here. The Stop Global Warming/Environmental Issues Organizing Team has been sifting through different legislative proposals in the House and Senate since late last year and they have decided to support direct carbon pricing, with revenue recycling as the best method for reducing carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere. Read the statement here. Music at end: Eve of Destruction rewritten and performed by New Millenium.
Related article: Mr. Obama, be tough on climate change.
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Climate Files 33 / The 4C Experiment
Tipping Points
The Four Degrees C experiment has begun. We might reach a four degree rise in temps by 2070, or even earlier. That was unheard of and thought to be impossible, until recently. Anything over 4 degrees will probably lead to tipping points and runaway climate change.
The finding was announced at a conference that took place from September 28th through the 30th, called 4 Degrees and Beyond. (Website here). This episode covers the Oxford conference on this scenario, with the best scientists of the UK discussing our chances of adaptation and survival.
The conference is the first to consider the global consequences of climate change beyond 2°C. Usually it’s not something scientists dare to discuss. The scientists you will hear in this episode are Prof John Schellnhuber (see his slides here), Dr Richard Betts (slides here), and Dr. Myles Allen (see slides here). Allen talked about a new approach to seeing the CO2 problem, as a cumulative effect, with no hard numbers and dates as deadlines. The slides contain maps, graphs, and lots of supporting material for their talk, and the highlights of their talk. This conference was attended by over 130 scientists and climate specialists, and featured over 35 speakers, so there is a lot from the conference website you can listen to and read.
Other news covered included information on what to expect with a 2-6C degree temperature rise from Mark Lynas. A controversial e-mail message buried by the Bush administration because of its conclusions on global warming surfaced Tuesday, nearly two years after it was first sent to the White House and never opened. You can download the original letter here. Senator Boxer said the Obama team might make a “climate pledge“ in Copenhagen. Norway pledged 40% emissions cuts. The Kashmir glaciers in India are shrinking at an ‘alarming’ speed. And “CLIMATE CHANGE: Four Degrees of Devastation” is here.
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Music: Afrocelt Soundsystem, and the Tck Tck song, Beds are Burning, and video can be downloaded here.
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Podcast Alley
This is my podcast alley announcement for Podcast Alley.
(ignore, for my use only, and temporary)
My Podcast Alley feed! {pca-8b8bd448b7a2aa970a20e2030fff997a}
Climate Files 32 / Great Big Green Jobs Victory
This episode contains a recording from the Green for All conference call from October 5th. It was all about green jobs and there are some good solid ideas in this recording. We definitely need jobs in the United States. In September the U.S. lost over 230,000 jobs. Unemployment continues to grow and where ever you might be in the world, you probably don’t have a great economy either.
Green for All is a national organization working to build an inclusive green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. Green For All’s mission according to their website is dedicated to improving the lives of all Americans through a clean energy economy. We work in collaboration with the business, government, labor, and grassroots communities to create and implement programs that increase quality jobs and opportunities in green industry – all while holding the most vulnerable people at the center of our agenda.
Green jobs are blue collar jobs, or that’s what the Senate bill allows for, but those aren’t jobs everyone wants or can do. That’s only one of the many problems with the Senate’s CEJAPA bill. It’s good there is money provided for a new green economy but we need much more devoted to that purpose.
Speakers during the call were Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Green For All; Jason Walsh, policy director at Green for All; Mark Ayers, AFL-CIO Building and Construction Trades Department; Madeline Janis, Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy and Jessy Tolkan, Energy Action Coalition.
Not talking about the seriousness of climate change would be impossible, so at the end there is a discussion of the implications of green jobs, a weak Senate bill that doesn’t really address climate change, and a recent article by Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. His article is titled, A Timely Reminder of the Real Limits to Growth. The implication is that capitalism just won’t be the sustainable economy of the future because it can’t be.
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Music: “Who Knows” by Marion Black, and “Post Millennium Extinction Blues” by Living Things
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Climate Files 31 / Off to the Climate Races
The Senate climate bill has arrived! It’s called CEJAPA, an awful name. That stands for Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act. Let’s call it the Climate Bill or the Kerry-Boxer bill. It leaves a lot to be desired, because it’s still full of coal, and gas, and it’s also not even a cap and trade bill. They are leaving that up to the Finance Committee. Are you confused yet? I explain everything, with some help, in this episode. Basically, the bill isn’t finished, and they left it that way on purpose.
Some of the help in explaining it comes from USCAN and their great consolidation of environmental groups’ statements on this bill. USCAN’s site about the bill is here, and as for the climate bill itself, that is here in full (pdf). If you don’t want to read all 821 pages of it, see the summary here (pdf).
Also, the EPA Introduced New Rules to Regulate Greenhouse Gas Emissions already! They aren’t wasting time. Read about it here. The EPA also said all 79 pending MTR coal mining permits would lead to water pollution and need further review. I like this EPA!
The frightening news continues: A six-foot/two-meter sea level rise is inevitable no matter what we do. Still, it could be worse.
‘Runaway’ melt is occurring on the Antarctica, and Greenland ice sheets. Experts find more ‘pervasive, enduring’ thinning than previously realized.
That community I tell you about is here and that 2012 movie clip is here at Fancast. Not even climate change could be as bad as that disaster — or could it?
If you are interested in the Bangkok climate change talks on-demand webcasts, they are here.
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Music: The Cult, Rain, and at the end, Santogold, Lights Out
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