By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
One thing you can say about the politics of climate change — people are getting hotter about it.
As we approach the Copenhagen world conference (Dec. 6 – 18), those close to the negotiating progress are becoming more frustrated with the plodding pace of official change.
This week in Barcelona, where negotiators [...]
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Topic : climate-change Boycotting, sitting in, sleeping out — the quickening politics of climate changeNovember 6th, 2009Related Topics: · Activists/Authors, African nations, BarbaraKesslerBlog, boycotts, Climate Change, Copenhagen, protests, Republican senators, United Nations Climate Change Conference Climate expert James Hansen to join sleep outs in BostonNovember 5th, 2009Green Right Now Reports Dr. James Hansen, the NASA scientist known for sounding an early alarm about climate change, will join student protesters at a “sleep out” in Boston this weekend. The students, from Boston-area and other Massachusetts colleges, have been sleeping out on Boston Common and at various campuses to push the state to pass a law committing to clean energy. Their target goal: Have Massachusetts pledge to be using 100 percent clean energy by 2020. Related Topics: · Boston, clean energy, Climate Change, Dr. James Hansen, Massachusetts, sleep outs to protest Sea level rises would flood Philly…and NYC and DC and MiamiOctober 20th, 2009
[caption id="attachment_5930" align="alignright" width="157" caption="Greenland Ice Flow (Photo: NASA)"]
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By Barbara Kessler By now you’ve heard the dire predictions for how sea level rise would affect Miami. Basically this city, already imperiled by worsening hurricanes is in the bulls-eye for rising oceans too. But did you realize that a one meter sea level increase — now believed by many scientists to be a likely outcome of global warming by 2100 — would put Philadelphia underwater? Yes, the city of Brotherly Love would be among the large family of coastal cities potentially devastated by coastline changes. And not in the too-distance future either. According to glacier and ice shelf expert Dr. Gordon Hamilton, Philadelphia could experience troubles decades before that 2100 benchmark if storm surges pushed rising oceans inland. Related Topics: · Antarctica, Arctic ice, Asa Rennermalm, Clean Air Cool Planet, Climate Change, Gordon Hamilton, Greenland ice sheets melting, Hip Boot Tour, ice bergs, ice floes, rising ocean levels, sea levels Youth receive Brower Awards for environmental workOctober 19th, 2009By Harriet Blake Related Topics: · Adarsha Shivakumar, Alec Loorz, Brower Youth Awards, Climate Change, Diana Lopez, Earth Island Institute, Hai Vo, Nobel Peace Prize, Robin Bryan, Sierra Crain-Murdoch, teen climate activitists, The Climate Project, youth activism, youth environmentalists, youth movement Gloom sets in over CopenhagenSeptember 25th, 2009 By Barbara Kessler As if the dire predictions about the sad state of the planet aren’t enough, we’re now being treated to gloomy forecasts about whether our leaders have the will to do anything about it. At the Climate Summit at the United Nations in NYC observers had hoped for a breakthrough pledge or statement from either US President Barack Obama or China’s President Hu Jintao. But the event was long on rhetoric, short on serious commitment and left many advocates muttering their disappointment, mainly because the leaders of the two most polluting nations are still playing chess. Related Topics: · Barak Obama, BarbaraKesslerBlog, Climate Change, Climate Summit, Copenhagen Climate Conference, global warming, Hu Jintao, United Nations Think healthcare’s costly? Check out the co-pay for climate changeSeptember 10th, 2009 By Barbara Kessler Not convinced that climate change matters? The Union of Concerned Scientists has concluded that if Americans adopt that stance, they’ll be gambling not just with their lungs, but with their pocketbooks. The UCS surveyed 60 studies to better examine the anticipated financial toll of global warming if we fail to “dramatically curb emissions.” The nonprofit released the findings today in a report called “Climate Change in the United States: The Prohibitive Costs of Inaction”. It found that rising sea levels, intense hurricanes, flooding, impaired public health and strained energy and water resources would all add up to one monumental price tag. Related Topics: · clean energy, Climate Change, costs of global warming, floods, global warming, hurricanes, sea level rises, Union of Concerned Scientists Report says electricity providers feeling stress of climate changeAugust 21st, 2009From Green Right Now Reports Nearly all the world’s electric utilities now believe that climate change is threatening power outages, higher costs and changes in usage as demand grows to power the world’s expanding cities, according to a new report from Acclimatise. Over ninety percent of the global electric utilities that report climate change activity to the Carbon Disclosure Project say they are at risk from changes in climate and water availability, which are already adding stress to the sector. However, fewer than a third say they are undertaking any financial or quantified evaluation to the impact of climate change on their business. Related Topics: · Carbon Disclosure Project, Climate Change, Electric utilities, IBM Human nature, moral imperatives and vegan shoesAugust 14th, 2009By Barbara Kessler Could all of our efforts to become green — our rehabbing of buildings, spurning of plastic bags and buying of new hybrids — turn out to be mere tinkerings in the tool shed as the whole grand project collapses around us? That seems to be the point up for consideration these days. That this whole Save-the-Earth thing might be bigger than a green fashion trend or an overhaul of the auto industry. It might require more drastic action than turning down our newly installed programmable thermostats. Recently, the New York Times ran a blog item about a study showing that having babies is one of the non-greenest things you can do, especially if you’re a Westerner and your baby is destined to be a giant among world consumers. This is sort of a “duh”. But the University of Oregon scientists quantified the impact, concluding that an American child would have seven times the impact of a Chinese-born kiddo. Related Topics: · Carbon footprint, Climate Change, consumerism, culture of stuff, Population, rainforest, shoes, stay-cations, University of Oregon, World Watch Institute California teen starts Kids vs. Global Warming groupAugust 11th, 2009By Harriet Blake Related Topics: · Al Gore, Alec Loorz, Alliance for Climate Education, Climate Change, Copenhagen, global warming, Inconvenient Truth, Kids vs. Global Warming, United Nations Climate Change Conference McKinsey & Company: Quick, get out the duct tape!August 6th, 2009 By Barbara Kessler Wherever you turn, someone, somewhere is talking about climate change. And that’s a good thing. But it’s not a happy conversation. Often, the discussion pivots on how much time we have left to reel in our carbon emissions — and among those who consider climate change a real threat (let’s say the majority of us), the realistic answer to that is, less than a decade. Give or take a month. (I’m kidding.) So we’ve got to make some real progress, fast. Here’s some good news, being highlighted by the WorldWatch Institute today. McKinsey & Company says the U.S. could reduce it’s “non-transportation” energy consumption by 23 percent by 2020. Related Topics: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, Climate Change, energy efficiency, energy savings, McKinsey and Company, Worldwatch Institute Poll finds that a majority of Americans support climate change regulationJune 25th, 2009From Green Right Now Reports: A majority of Americans – about 75 percent – support regulating greenhouse gases from power plants, cars and manufacturing that would reduce global warming, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. But only a bare majority – 52 percent – support a cap-and-trade approach to reducing greenhouse gas emissions and 42 percent oppose such a program, which is the type of approach taken in the Waxman-Markey climate legislation expected to be voted on in the US House of Representations, possibly Friday. Related Topics: · ABC News, Air Pollution, American Clean Energy and Security Act, cap-and-trade, Climate Change, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, poll, Washington Post, Waxman-Markey A Colorado vacation shows why environmentalism mattersJune 24th, 2009
By John DeFore The old-fashioned American road trip — packing the kids up and driving from one motor lodge to the next — may seem less than 100% wholesome these days, what with eco-conscious drivers becoming as sensitive to the amount of CO2 they’re generating as they are to cries of “are we there yet?” from the back seat. But getting out into the natural world remains one of the best ways to introduce children — and city-dwelling adults, for that matter — to the environment we all want to preserve. And a well planned road trip can provide vacationers with an array of views and experiences that’s stunning enough to make a phrase like “ecosystem diversity” suddenly sound like a tangible good worth fighting for instead of a dry academic concern. Related Topics: · Black Canyon of Gunnison, Climate Change, Climate Change in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado, Colorado State Parks, eco-travel, Estes Park, Garden of the Gods, Glenwood Canyon, Glenwood Springs, Gunnison, Mesa Verde, mild winters, pine beetle, Rocky Mountain National Park, Rocky Mountains, Trail Ridge Road |
