Mike Tidwell interview with Bill Moyers

On August 17th, Mike Tidwell appeared on PBS’s Bill Moyers Journal to revisit the Hurricane Katrina disaster and discuss how global warming is turning every coastal city into the next New Orleans. Here’s an excerpt of the interview:

What gives me optimism in the face of this overwhelming challenge, and, you know, Katrina really is a curtain-raiser. If you want to know what Miami’s going to look like 100 years from now, go to New Orleans today. Below sea level, behind levees, battered by huge storms– if we don’t stop global warming. This climate crisis is here now. The Great Lakes are dropping in water levels. Texas has got too much rain. The Carolinas too little. Hurricanes are getting more intense– it’s here now. It’s not a maybe, kinda sorta, maybe thing in the future that computer modeling says is coming. It’s already deeply here. So, the fact that it’s here, that this giant climate system with all the momentum built in it toward warming, it’s already unpacking its bags. What could possibly give us the optimism and hope that we can now respond at this late stage, strongly and fiercely enough to hold it in check? And the thing that I come back to is, when we decide to change, we tend to change explosively. You know, Look at the great changes in World War II and all these things that have happened in the 20th Century. I believe that this issue of climate change and sustainable– sustainability, which also implies questions of human rights, and fairness. When this light bulb finally goes on, and it’s going on.

You know, I think Katrina opened the door, Al Gore walked through it. And the zeitgeist changed a lot more. But once we finally really get serious, we’re going to change really fast.

Click here to watch it yourself or watch it below:

 

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Is it time for an ethical reckoning at Nat'l Geographic?

Why Does National Geographic Report on the Dangers of Global Warming then Fill its Pockets with Ad Money from Oil Companies and SUV Makers?

The National Geographic Society says global warming is wrecking the Earth and that fossil fuels are to blame. The National Geographic Society also says one of its official goals as an organization is the protection of the Earth’s natural resources. So why does the National Geographic Society accept amazingly ambitious and slick multi-million dollar ads from oil companies and SUV makers? Is it time for an ethical reckoning at Old Yeller?

According to National Geographic magazine, climate change is already virtually out of control. The magazine’s June 2007 cover shows the Greenland ice sheet imploding with the headline: “The Big Thaw: Ice on the Run, Seas on the Rise.” The article, among many run by National Geographic in recent years, graphically illustrates the impacts of climate change: polar bears starving and drowning, ice vanishing worldwide, and the likelihood of 3 feet or more of sea-level rise by 2100, inundating places like Miami and lower Manhattan.

Yet the same magazine routinely runs major ads from oil companies and SUV makers. Indeed, the July 2007 issue, astonishingly, included an entire 9-minute DVD advertisement movie about the great work Shell Oil is doing in Indonesia to squeeze every last drop of oil from the ocean floor. The film is truly shocking. It paints Shell Oil in utterly heroic colors, never mentioning the words global warming and the fact that every drop of that extracted oil contributes to the climate catastrophe featured by National Geographic magazine just the month before. This Shell Oil DVD was delivered to nearly one million North American readers of the magazine this summer. Continue reading

Hotter than July

NOAA reports that July 2007 was the seventh hottest globally on land and sea since records were kept beginning in 1898. This at first does not seem like much news; however it is consistent with the IPCC-predicted

Inaction is Action: EPA drags on emissions waiver

In other words, EPA is blocking states from implementing meaningful standards for automobile emissions simply by refusing to process its mail. In “EPA gets push on emissions controls,” The Baltimore Sun reports that Maryland is held back from implementing the California emissions standards (developed by the California Air Resources Board, or CARB) that it voted to adopt last spring because EPA has not yet given its OK to California; these standards are heavily opposed by automakers. California is the only state that has the right to create these standards due to federal law, subject to EPA approval of a “California Waiver”. Other states are allowed to follow suit once the waiver is passed. EPA has said that it may make a decision by the end of the year- notably, California will have been waiting two years since it first enacted the legislation. EPA claims that it is processing over 60,000 comments and technical reports on the legislation. I read elsewhere that 50,000 of these comments are actually form cards from environmental groups that were filled out in support of the bill. Isn’t that ironic? I want to say that I heard this attributed to Barbara Boxer. Kudos to Maryland legislators:

“It’s very important that states be able to move forward, particularly until we can have an enforceable federal cap in place,” said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin, a Maryland Democrat who is one of the lawmakers backing legislation that would require the agency to issue a ruling by Sept. 30. “Unfortunately, inaction is action.”

“If we can find some ways to mitigate in small ways the things that we do in the aggregate, like burn carbon fuel, if we can limit that even just a little bit, it can have a salutary impact,” said state Sen. Brian E. Frosh, a Montgomery County Democrat who sponsored the legislation in Maryland. “The way that that works the best is to have national standards. And when you can’t have that … having states do it individually is the second best way.”

“If you look over the history of the automobile industry’s position on reductions in emissions, safety improvements, they’re always crying wolf,” Frosh said. “They always claim that the apocalypse is just around the corner. … The only way these guys make changes that are to the benefit of consumers and to the benefit of the environment is when EPA or the Congress tells them they’ve got to do it.”

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Hansen: Declaration of Stewardship

Jim Hansen has clearly determined that the time to stay silent has long past. That urgency demands urgent voices. That he must — and other scientists — should speak out forcefully.

Hansen is not just speaking forcefully, he is also speaking eloquently. This past week, at a Re-Energize America event, Hansen gave a speech that spoke to the risks of Global Warming and discussed his draft Declaration of Stewardship for the Earth and all Creation to be asked of every candidate (at all levels).

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Coal Keeps on Killing…

If you don’t mind, I would like to take a second to say a couple words on coal…

What is there to like about coal as a major source of power in Virginia? That it is cheap? I don’t buy that. I am not about to pull out the spread-sheets, slide-rulers, and protractors — but just a quick (and unscientific) look at the big picture when it comes to coal can give you pretty good insight into the real cost of coal.

Coal is a primary killer of our climate. Coal now accounts for nearly half of Virginia’s energy consumed, a statistic that is disturbing at best considering the impacts that coal is widely acknowledged to be having on our climate. Global warming is impacting our Virginia’s coast lines, ecosystems, and economies today — continuing to use coal is committing ourselves to an uncertain future at best; a global catastrophe at worst.

Coal is killing residents of Virginia. Pollutants emitted from coal fired power generators in the region greatly increase incidences of cancer and asthma among all that are unlucky enough to breath in the toxic air. Coal is a major contributor to those “code red” smog days, particularly in the DC metropolitan area where coal power plants send 180,000 people to the hospital every year. The elderly, children and people with pre-existing health issues are particularly vulnerable and likely to be the affected.

Coal is killing coal miners. 400 coal miners die annually from black lung. 47 Coal miners died from mine related accidents in 2006 alone — an 80% increase from the previous year! The current and tragic plight of the six miners trapped in Utah is unfortunately not unique. CCAN wishes for their safe return and will work tirelessly to help ensure that one day we live a world where coal is no longer needed to sustain energy or employment needs.

So where am I going with all this? Add it up. Coal kills our climate which will impact our coastal economies through increased insurance costs, loss of land, and disaster relief aide. Coal kills regular people and coal miners alike and puts hundreds of thousands in the hospital cost individuals and tax payers a substantial sum. These unaccounted for consequences of coal cost us millions if not billions annually and that is unacceptable.

Solar panels don’t cause cancer. Wind power doesn’t raise our sea levels. Clean energy saves lives and money, both today and tomorrow.

Quit ruining the rich people's views!

Daily Show’s Jason Jones took on the Cape Wind debate on the Wednesday, 8/8, show. An offshore wind farm is being proposed in Nantucket Sound, which would provide energy for 75% of the region. The project is facing opposition from the Kennedy family and other wealthy coastal homeowners, partly because their houses (including the “Kennedy Compound”) would be in sight of the turbines.

The wind farm is unique not only because it would replace a bunker oil and natural gas power plant, but also because it would be the first wind farm of its size in the US. For more about the controversy, go to Wikipedia’s very good page, here.

To view this great video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEaOkhWOZ1A

Global Warming deniers follow tobacco industry tactics

The current issue of Newsweek has an excellent article that follows the myths and motives of the Global Warming deniers. I urge you to read it as it demonstrates how the argument against accepting the reality of Global Warming is created by the people who have the most to gain from ignoring it. Most interesting to me is the following quote:

“They patterned what they did after the tobacco industry,” says former senator Tim Wirth, who spearheaded environmental issues as an under secretary of State in the Clinton administration. “Both figured, sow enough doubt, call the science uncertain and in dispute. That’s had a huge impact on both the public and Congress.”

cross-posted at www.local-warming.blogspot.com

House passes energy bill, Bush set to veto

The Washington Post published an article yesterday reporting that the House passed an epic energy bill on Saturday that includes a 15% renewable energy standard. The bill passed 241 to 172 and also includes:

  • more energy efficiency in appliances, buildings and power grids, which proponents of the bill say would reduce carbon dioxide emissions and electricity use

  • more energy efficiency measures in the Capitol building

  • grants for studies to promote ethanol pipelines

  • installation of pumps for 85 percent ethanol fuel at gas stations

  • production of cellulosic ethanol.

According to the Post:

The House last night also passed, 221 to 189, a companion tax package, totaling nearly $16 billion, that targets the oil and gas industry. In a letter to Congress, however, the Bush administration said Friday that the two House measures would result in less domestic oil and gas production. The letter said President Bush‘s senior advisers would recommend that he veto the bills.

Here is what did not make it to the bills, which may occur later this year in a reconciliation of House and senate energy bills, or in a global warming bill:

  • other mandates for renewable energy

  • incentives for coal-to-liquid production (thank GOD- that stuff has twice the CO2 emissions of gasoline)

  • tougher vehicle fuel-economy standard (heavily opposed by UAW)

cross-posted at www.local-warming,blogspot.com