The Front Lines of Climate Change
This is a tragic video from Bangladesh, from Yale e360. Climate change is causing water to rise and people aren’t just losing their ability to support themselves; they are losing their very homes. Yet they are too poor to move, so what can be done? Governments will have to pay to relocate people in the near future, and in fact should be doing this now. I don’t know why these people have been abandoned by their government, but this is now their life. More about this video is below.
“Danish photographer and filmmaker Jonathan Bjerg Møller recently spent nine months in Bangladesh, chronicling the lives of people struggling to survive just a few feet above sea level. He traveled to the South Asian nation after hearing projections from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change about the millions of climate refugees that would be created this century by rising seas and more powerful storms. Møller wanted to put a human face on this issue, and decided there was no better place than Bangladesh, where 15 million of its 160 million people live less than three feet above sea level.
While he was in Bangladesh, Cyclone Aila struck, killing roughly 200 people and leaving thousands homeless. Møller proceeded to document the devastation from that 2009 storm, as well the impact of subsiding land and rising seas on other Bangladeshis, many of whom earn less than $1 a day. In this Yale Environment 360 report, we present two videos by Møller – “Aila’s Victims” and “Wahidul’s Story.”
A Bangladeshi man who is the subject of one of his videos, Wahidul, lives in the town of Kuziartek, which was once home to 40,000 people. Now, the island on which Kuziartek was located is underwater.”
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(If you can’t see the video, try subscribing or downloading it. It plays for me in iTunes.)
Climate Files 64 / Al Gore’s Call to Action
Al Gore fills us in on facts and strategy to help our lawmakers to accomplish something useful on climate change, for a change. We need to either change our legislators minds on global warming, or plan for the worst now. Unfortunately, we probably can’t adapt to the 4 or more degree temperature rise in global average temperature that seems inevitable. What is the U.S. doing about it? What they are doing is being done in secret to avoid advertising problems (This is how it is being described). Senator John Kerry and two other senators have shown industry leaders their 8-page draft bill on climate and energy. We don’t get to see it, but it has been discussed and this episode lets you in on what is known about it so far. Reportedly, it contains targets that are a bit lowered than the bill that passed in Congress, and more allowances for industry, energy, coal, natural gas and oil. From what I have read about it, it emphasizes jobs, but sounds like a planetary train-wreck on climate change.
The U.S. government is planning for adaptation and ‘resilience’ for the government — not necessarily for us. Yet they won’t act decisively to stop carbon emissions.
On March 16, 2010, the Task Force released an Interim Progress Report which outlines the Task Force’s progress to date and recommends key components to include in a national strategy on climate change adaptation.
The Interim Progress Report is available for 60 days of public comment. Submit comments here.
Al Gore spoke to supporters and the public in an open conference call on Monday, March 15th, in conjunction with Repower America. Senator Sherrod Brown also spoke. Hear Al Gore’s call to activist action in this episode, and find out what you can do to help push climate legislation in the U.S. along. One suggestion he had is to write letters to Senators. See more at Repower America. Write letters to your congressmen!
Finally, the last talk in this episode is an interview with Lester Brown, author of his newly revised book, Plan B 4.0. This is the premier Post Carbon Exchange interview, and they plan a series of these in the future. You can check out his book and read more at the Post Carbon Institute.
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Climate Files 63 / Steven Chu at Stanford
US Secretary of Energy Steven Chu spoke at Stanford University the 2nd week of March about clean energy , climate change science, innovation and education. It’s a science and solutions oriented talk so it’s valuable for everyone.
Secretary Chu met with students before the talk for a student round table discussion on energy. The event was followed in the evening by a panel called “Educating the Energy Generation,” focused on how the U.S. can build a competitive clean energy workforce as quickly as possible. See here for an article about Secretary Chu’s visit to Stanford, “The Biggest Speaker of the Year,” and why his perspective is important. On the DoE website, Chu asks,
What are the steps we must take as a nation to create new, clean energy jobs and ensure America’s long-term competitiveness? What are the consequences for our climate of inaction? How can science and technology offer us new and better choices - and how can America’s young people make a difference?
I recently returned to Stanford University, where I spent many years as a professor, to discuss these and many other issues with a great group of students. I’d like to invite you to watch a replay of my speech here, and then share your thoughts afterward on my personal Facebook page (www.facebook.com/stevenchu) to continue the conversation.
During the speech he said something to take notice of: “Humans are altering the destiny of the planet. . . . [but] it’s not too late.”
To watch a video of this event, see the Department of Energy homepage
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Music in the podcast:
1) Step it Up — The Gallerists
2) Lost in Detroit – Rolfe Kent
(more…)
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Climate Files 62 / EPA Priorities
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Discusses 2010 EPA Priorities
On March 8, 2010, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson spoke to the National Press Club on progress made by the agency in 2009 and priorities for 2010. She discussed actions on climate change, America’s waters and EPA’s efforts to expand the conversation on environmentalism.
She was asked why the EPA doesn’t stop surface mining (mountaintop removal) and she basically said because the EPA regulates pollution and water quality; the EPA does not and cannot regulate mining. That is a political excuse. They are the Environmental Protection Agency — it’s their job to protect the environment. Mountaintop removal is one of the most environmentally destructive practices in the U.S. and they must have the authority to stop it. Apparently, this is the EPA’s way of stalling a decision on mountaintop removal. Surface coal mining is especially destructive, not just to our water but to the trees, the ecology of the area, and to the land itself. There is no way to put the top back on a hill or mountain once it has been removed, and no way to completely reinstate the wildlife and balance of the ecology of the area once it has been ruined.
Unfortunately today, in conjunction with this talk, the EPA approved a surface mining operation in Ohio. They imposed supposed stringent rules on the mining operation so that it doesn’t pollute the water, but nowhere are there requirements of a carbon fee or any way for this mining to take responsibility for how it adds to global warming. This is where the EPA has to change. The EPA’s responsibilities should include protecting the human race’s ability to live in its environment–which would necessarily render coal mining obsolete. Read about the EPA’s new permit below. To see the video of this talk, visit CSPAN.org.
Below is the press release released by the EPA today in its approval of the Ohio surface mining permit. This is a blow to the environment, and it’s hard to see how this is the EPA “protecting” the country’s land and water.
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