February 18th, 2010

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

When the Copenhagen Climate Conference ended in mid-December, it was widely decried by climate activists as embarrassingly inconclusive, at best, and a failure at worst (you can’t get much worse than that).

And yet, there were plenty of voices, including that of President Obama, urging everyone to hold tight and pointing out that alliances had been formed and the world’s major polluters had stepped up, however tentatively. They had issued hard numbers, a percentages by which they would try to rollback greenhouse gas emissions.

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December 17th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Personally, I’ve taken a low carbon emissions position on Copenhagen, watching the action from my desk here in the U.S.

You may be too. If so, I wanted to offer cool Internet tool you can use to assess how policy and science intersect. (Earlier I mentioned a Copenhagen Target Converter by SandbagClimateGame.org — where you can adjust emissions targets against various years so they can be better compared.)

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December 17th, 2009

Green Right Now Reports

Greenpeace doesn’t want American citizens to forget who’s stalling progress on climate action, namely, entrenched industrial polluters.

Greenpeace at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Building (Photo: Robert Meyers)

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December 15th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler Green Right Now Aiming to help put the Copenhagen climate talks on a track toward success, 1 Sky has called for President Obama to tap fossil fuel subsidies to fund developing nations. “Outrageously, the U.S. spends more than $10 billion of taxpayer money per year on subsidies to fossil fuel companies. Meanwhile, [...]

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December 11th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Candlelight vigils have been held for a lot of causes. The cause for a series of vigils this weekend trumps almost anything in scope. Millions of climate activists are expected to light candles to advocate for the safety and preservation of the planet.

The candlelight vigils on Friday and Saturday evenings, will happen around the globe, as climate advocates send a somber signal to negotiators in Copenhagen to make a “real deal” by signing a fair and ambitious treaty to cut the greenhouse gas emissions that are triggering a climate disaster.

Organizers report that these events, some large and some small, many at iconic locations, and one in Copenhagen featuring Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu, are beginning now. Check out the pictures and details at TckTckTck.org, the alliance through which many groups are organizing events. Find a local vigil to join at 350.org.

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December 9th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

One of the most disheartening aspects of the Copenhagen climate talks, beyond the sheer weight of the topic, has been how politicians and handicappers have lowered expectations for the U.S..

Take, for example, the notion that President Obama cannot even sign a binding agreement in the absence of a Congressional mandate or climate bill to back him up, and that he must have a supportive Senate because they’ll be needed to ratify any climate treaty. (And clearly they’re not supportive, having failed so far to pass a strong climate bill, let alone a weak one.)

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December 7th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Student groups and environmental activists are not happy about the U.S. presenting what they see as weak emissions targets for consideration at the Copenhagen Climate Conference.

A "die in" by students from around the world. (Photo: Its Getting Hot in Here.)

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December 7th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler

While environmental activists raise banners and bullhorns demanding action on climate change, the movement to quell climate change has quieter advocates in all corners of society.

Some of these advocates have big names Americans will surely recognize: Addidas, Coca-Cola Company, L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Johnson and Johnson, Chevron Ltd., Alcoa Alumnio, Ericsson, Nike Inc., General Electric, Levi Strauss, KPMG International, Gap Inc., Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, Starbucks and Yahoo! Inc..

These are not companies that one normally associates with strong environmentalism, and some have carbon footprints that scare the bejesus out of environmental groups. (Though a closer look would reveal that many also have significant green initiatives underway. Fairmont has built green hotels. General Electric is invested in green energy.)

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December 3rd, 2009

By Barbara Kessler Green Right Now Next week, thousands of people are heading to Copenhagen, many of them world leaders, to try to figure out how to keep the human race from smoking itself out of a home. Sadly, a Harris Poll has found that only 28 percent of Americans (of 2,303 polled in November) [...]

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December 3rd, 2009

By Harriet Blake

Two prominent environmental groups have proposed a direct approach to controlling carbon emissions that doesn’t require a new climate law, or even a cap-and-trade agreement.

The strategy is simple: Use the U.S. Clean Air Act.

On Wednesday, the Center for Biological Diversity and 350.org petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to set national limits for carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas pollution under the Clean Air Act.

The petition asks that greenhouse gases that are classified as “criteria” air pollutants, as well as atmospheric CO2, be capped at 350 parts per million (ppm) which is the level that many scientists now believe is required to avert the worst impacts of global warming.

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September 25th, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

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.

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