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What’s Hot in Climate Change, June 2017

Welcome back to What’s Hot in Climate Change!  We start out with concerning new research that shows the planet may cross the 1.5C threshold of warming within 15 years.  The 1.5C threshold is what the Paris Climate Talks identified as an important goal to hold global warming under.  One result of global warming is sea level rise.  A recent study of US population displacement shows us that sea level rise is not just a coastal problem, but a problem for those places where the people displaced from the coasts will end up. If all this concerns you, there are plenty of… Read More »What’s Hot in Climate Change, June 2017

Trump and Climate Change – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Since Trump was made President by the Electoral College there has been no shortage of prognostication over what his presidency will mean for the U.S. efforts to fight climate change.  Think Progress asks “Will Trump go down in history as the man who pulled the plug on a livable climate?”  While Vox definitively states that “Trump’s election marks the end of any serious hope of limiting climate change to 2 degrees.”  The doom and gloom may be overblown, although there are definitely many ways a Trump administration could hurt the world’s efforts to combat climate change.  This post will walk through the good,… Read More »Trump and Climate Change – the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

China Outshines U.S. On Climate Change

The big climate change news from the last few weeks is that China has finally released it’s CO2 mitigation plan. It’s fairly impressive, all things considered. I’d call it a good start, and even though it’s fairly ambitious; however, just like the U.S. plan — it falls far short of what will eventually be required. But let’s just be hopeful for the moment. Here’s a quick rundown of what China proposes… Cut the amount of greenhouse gas emitted per unit GDP to 60-65% of 2005 levels by 2030 Put a nationwide cap and trade program for carbon dioxide in place… Read More »China Outshines U.S. On Climate Change

what would Reagan do about climate change?

What would Reagan do??

Not that long ago, Republicans and Democrats agreed that climate change was an import issue.  My, how times have changed.  Nowadays Republican politicians and pundits are loath to even speak the words.  Why the big shift? Maybe big oil campaign donors told them to sing a new tune.  Or maybe shadowy billionaires, feeling a threat to their oligarchical rule, are financing the denialist propaganda. By whatever means, it seems like every conservative think tank puts out an endless stream of climate change denying propaganda, that gets amplified by Fox News, and then parroted by every right leaning person in the country; ultimately to… Read More »What would Reagan do??

Sweet and Sour Carbon for you America!

(This post I owe to my mom.  She gets emails from the organizations discussed below, and was kind enough to send them to me.  I have digested them into bite sized chunks for your amusement, my faithful readers.  Enjoy!)   The White House announced Wednesday that President Obama had engaged in top-secret negotiations with the Chinese about reducing carbon pollution.  President Obama was in China, November 10th to the 12th for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit. According to The White House Blog… “After 2020, the United States will reduce its net greenhouse gas emissions to 26-28% below 2005 levels by… Read More »Sweet and Sour Carbon for you America!