U.S. Senator Schumer blasts Republican Denial of Human-caused Climate Crisis

By David Kowalski

U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) delivered an important speech on the Senate floor (Feb. 14), standing up for the reality of a climate change crisis, its human causation, and the need for Congress to act to address the existential threat to the planet, our children, grandchildren and all of us right now. 

Schumer issued a challenge to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Republican colleagues, most all of whom deny the reality of human-caused climate change. Schumer said:

"I challenge leader McConnell to say that our climate change crisis is real, that it is caused by humans, and that congress needs to act. 

That is what two-thirds of the American people agree with, two-thirds.

I would say to our Republican colleagues this is no game. It is no joke. Climate change is deadly serious. And the time for all of us to treat it that way is now before it is too late."

Schumer's speech was a response to McConnell's plan to bring the Democrats' non-binding 'Green New Deal' resolution up for a vote so that he and Republican Senators could vote against it.

Schumer said: 

"I hope the American people are paying attention because they need to see what's going on here. The American people need to see that this is all there is to the Republican plan to deal with climate change. This is all they can muster. A political stunt, not designed to make progress, not designed to move the ball forward." 

"So when the Republican leader says he wants to bring the 'Green New Deal' up for a vote, I say go for it. Bring it on!"

Schumer concluded, "Let's see if anything is changed since 2015 when only five brave Republicans were able to vote yes on a resolution saying climate change is real and caused by humans."

The full Senate session was taped by C-span. I made a Video clip of Schumer’s climate speech. To view the Video clip on the C-span website, click here.

Below is the Transcript of U.S. Senator Schumer's Climate Speech:

The CLIMATE KIDS are Coming! Young People Fighting for Their Future

The Climate Kids are Coming
With a Green New Deal and Student Strikes for Climate, will young people save us yet?

 By Mark Hertsgaard | January 28, 2019 | The Nation

If you don’t know who Swedish teenager Greta Thunberg is, you can think of her as an international climate-change counterpart to Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Like the rock-star congresswoman from New York, Thunberg is a charismatic young woman whose social-media savvy, moral clarity, and fearless speaking truth to power have inspired throngs of admirers to take to the streets for a better world and call out the politicians and CEOs who are standing in the way.

Ocasio-Cortez, 29, is known for championing the #GreenNewDeal and schooling right-wing haters on Twitter. Thunberg, 16, is known for launching the #SchoolStrike4Climate movement—tens of thousands of high-school students worldwide are skipping school on Fridays until their governments treat the climate crisis as an emergency—and for torching billionaires and heads of state at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

Demolishing the convenient notion that we are all to blame for climate change, Thunberg told a Davos panel that included president Trump’s former chief economics adviser Gary Cohn, “Some people, some companies, some decision makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they have been sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money.” She paused before a final thrust of the knife: “I think many of you here today belong to that group of people.”

Call them the Climate Kids. Like Ocasio-Cortez and Thunberg themselves, the grassroots activist movements they have roused are comprised almost exclusively of teenagers and twenty-somethings. These are not your father’s environmentalists: supplicant, “realistic,” and accepting of failure. These young people are angry about the increasingly dire climate future awaiting them and clear-eyed about who’s to blame and how to fix it. And they seem to have the bad guys worried.

Continue reading at The Nation

---

Below is a repost of my article posted at Re-ENERGIZE Buffalo (Dec.16, 2018) along with an UPDATE:

Young Activist Condemns World's Inaction on Climate Change at U.N. Summit

Greta Thunberg, a 15 year-old high school student from Sweden, realized at a young age the difference in what climate experts were saying needed to be done and the actions that were being taken in society.

She decided to take matters into her own hands.

With focus and poise beyond her years, Greta spoke truth to power in an audience of adults including U.N. officials and world government representatives at the recent Climate Summit (COP 24) in Poland. She cited inaction on climate change as a burden that adults are leaving on their children:

You say you love your children above all else, and yet you're stealing their future in front of their very eyes. Until you start focusing on what needs to be done, rather than its what is politically possible, there is no hope. 

Watch a short video of Greta's powerful and moving speech at the U.N. Climate Summit below:

On Hope: 
Elsewhere, in a TEDx Talk, Greta said, "Yes, we do need hope, of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere."

School Strike for the Climate:
The U.N. Summit speech was not Greta’s first climate action. Earlier this year, Greta demanded that her government in Sweden undertake a radical response to climate change. She protested for more than a month in Stockholm, sitting on the steps of the parliament building, every day during school hours for three weeks. She has returned to school for four days a week; she now spends her Fridays on the steps of parliament.  Read more about Greta and what makes her special in The New Yorker


UPDATE: Greta was invited to speak at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Here is part of Greta's message to Davos before leaving by train from Stockholm to Switzerland:

“Some people say that the climate crisis is something that we all have created. But that is just another convenient lie because if everyone is guilty then no one is to blame. And someone is to blame.

Some people, some companies, and some decision-makers in particular have known exactly what priceless values they are sacrificing to continue making unimaginable amounts of money.

I want to challenge those companies and those decision makers into real and bold climate action. To set their economic goals aside and to safeguard the future living conditions for humankind.”

Watch the video below and Listen to this articulate young human being:

 ~     ~     ~

Greta's Speech at the World Economic Forum

Greta’s bottom line:
“I want you to act as you would in a crisis. I want you to act as if our house is on fire. Because it is.”
Watch a short video of Greta’s speech and read the full text of her speech at The Guardian

School Strikes over Climate Change continue to Snowball:
Greta Thunberg, whose solo protest outside Sweden’s parliament has snowballed across the globe, will join a strike by Swiss school children in the Davos ski resort on Friday — the final day of the World Economic Forum.  Read the report at Grist

Young Activist Condemns World's Inaction on Climate Change at U.N. Summit

Greta Thunberg, a 15 year-old high school student from Sweden, realized at a young age the difference in what climate experts were saying needed to be done and the actions that were being taken in society.

She decided to take matters into her own hands.

With focus and poise beyond her years, Greta spoke truth to power in an audience of adults including U.N. officials and world government representatives at the recent Climate Summit (COP 24) in Poland. She cited inaction on climate change as a burden that adults are leaving on their children:

You say you love your children above all else, and yet you're stealing their future in front of their very eyes. Until you start focusing on what needs to be done, rather than its what is politically possible, there is no hope. 

Watch a short video of Greta's powerful and moving speech at the U.N. Climate Summit below:

On Hope: 
Elsewhere, in a TEDx Talk, Greta said, "Yes, we do need hope, of course we do. But the one thing we need more than hope is action. Once we start to act, hope is everywhere."

School Strike for the Climate:
The U.N. Summit speech was not Greta’s first climate action. Earlier this year, Greta demanded that her government in Sweden undertake a radical response to climate change. She protested for more than a month in Stockholm, sitting on the steps of the parliament building, every day during school hours for three weeks. She has returned to school for four days a week; she now spends her Fridays on the steps of parliament.  Read more about Greta and what makes her special in The New Yorker

CLIMATE CHANGE - Who will Protect the People of the U.S.?

Ocasio-Cortez and progressive Dems' Green New Deal gains traction as Trump shrugs off dire warnings from climate scientists
While President Trump attributes his climate change skepticism to his “very high levels of intelligence,” a growing legion of lawmakers and young activists are taking heed of dire warnings being issued by experts and scientists about the catastrophic consequences of inaction.
 
Progressives, led by New York City’s own Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, are joining forces behind an ambitious plan to wean the U.S. off fossil fuels, boost renewable energy jobs and build a “smart” power grid.
 
The major push to make climate change a priority when Congress convenes in January got off to a high-profile start weeks ago when Ocasio-Cortez applauded young activists from the environmental advocacy group Sunrise Movement protesting at soon-to-be-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s office on Capitol Hill.  

A damning federal government report about the economic and societal impacts of climate change released last week, which Trump openly dismissed, has only emboldened believers steeling for a showdown with mainline Democrats and added weight to their calls for a so-called “Green New Deal.”
NY Daily News - 12.02.2018: To read more, click here



VIDEO:  Solving Our Climate Crisis - A National Town Hall
U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders, Rep.-elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, environmental author & 350.org founder Bill McKibben, CNN commentator Van Jones, Union of Concerned Scientists Dr. Brenda Ekwurzel and climate activists
Now This - 12.03.2018: To view the video, click here

FOSSIL FREE FAST - THE CLIMATE RESISTANCE: Live-streamed January 31 at 8PM

 On January 31st, the day after Trump’s first State of the Union, Climate movement leaders and Community organizers will gather in Washington D.C. to share our plan to win at ‘Fossil Free Fast: The Climate Resistance.’

The event will feature: Senator Bernie Sanders, 350.org co-founder Bill McKibben, Rev. Lennox Yearwood from Hip Hop Caucus, Jacqueline Patterson from the NAACP, and many other exciting speakers and performances.

This event has ended, but you may watch a video recording of the event at C-Span - Click Here

This inspiring event will be live-streamed at 8:00 PM ET -- and thousands across the country will watch with their friends and family. Will you join them?


Watch a short Video: Click Here


Sign up for a watch party near you -- or if there isn’t one happening yet, sign up to host one!  

Go to: https://actionnetwork.org/event_campaigns/fossil-free-fast/


Watch TONIGHT, Wednesday 1/31 at 8 PM:
Livestream Link

For more information, see the following article at Common Dreams:

Fossil Free Fast: A Climate Resistance Game Plan for 2018 
With the transition to 100% renewable energy, we have perhaps a once in a lifetime opportunity to rebuild our economy in a more just and equitable way.

The Climate Resistance Strategy for 2018:
- stop all new fossil fuel projects
- a fast and just transition to 100% renewable energy for all
- continuing and expanding the fossil fuel divestment movement

Read more at Common Dreams  

 

Economic Inequality: Beware Plutocrats, the Pitchforks are Coming! TED Talk by a fellow Plutocrat

"Beware, fellow plutocrats, the pitchforks are coming"

TED Talk by Nick Hanauer 

Nick Hanauer is a rich guy, an unrepentant capitalist — and he has something to say to his fellow plutocrats: Wake up! Growing inequality is about to push our societies into conditions resembling pre-revolutionary France. 

 

 Hear his argument about why a dramatic increase in minimum wage could grow the middle class, deliver economic prosperity ... and prevent a revolution.  

 

TED - Ideas Worth Spreading

Link to the Transcript is HERE.

Program: Fracked Gas is a Climate Problem, Not a Solution - And Corporate Rate Increases could Impact You

Climate Change Roundup: Social Injustice, Refugee Crisis, Energy Solutions and Economic Impacts

Pope urges closer cooperation to tackle climate change 

(Vatican Radio) Pope Francis on Friday greeted participants at an international meeting of the Foundation for Sustainable Development which is focused on environmental justice and climate change. Noting the grave threats that our environment is facing today, the Pope stressed that the poor are always those who suffer most from the consequences of climate change.

The issue of climate change is a question of justice and solidarity, Pope Francis said, which affects the dignity of individuals, communities and nations. Science and technology, he continued, have placed in our hands unprecedented power: it is our duty to humanity, and in particular towards the poor and the future generations, to use it for the common good.
Read more Here.

Climate-forced migrations and prospect of refugee crises concern experts

President Barack Obama, speaking this month to an international conference in Alaska about the impact of climate change in the Arctic, cited longstanding concerns that climate change may create more refugees to underscore his call for international action at a diplomatic climate conference in Paris later this year.

If the climate-change “trend lines” charted by scientists continue, “there’s not going to be a nation on this earth that’s not impacted negatively,” Obama said. “People will suffer. Economies will suffer. Entire nations will find themselves under severe, severe problems. More drought; more floods; rising sea levels; greater migration; more refugees; more scarcity; more conflict.

Drought and its consequences are everywhere in the news these days. Scientists recently calculated that global warming has intensified California’s record-breaking drought, now in its fourth year, by as much as 20 percent. The Syrian civil war, which has displaced millions and fed into what is thought to be the largest mass migrations since World War II, was primed by warming-enhanced drought at home that crippled growers, researchers concluded in another study published this year. And drought inspired Russia, a major supplier to the Middle East, to stop all wheat exports.

And while it hasn’t received as much media attention in the U.S., droughts of similar intensities have been unfolding across Central America, Colombia and Brazil.

Read more Here.


VIDEO: "Dear World"
Pope Francis has called on people of all faiths to come together to take action on climate change and protect “our common home.”

NextGen Climate launched a national campaign calling on our leaders to stand with Pope Francis and embrace clean energy solutions that protect our common home and secure our children’s future. 

Will you stand with Francis? Will you embrace clean energy solutions? 

Candidates shouldn't wait to address climate change

What should we do about climate change? When Jake Tapper asked that question at the Republican debate Wednesday night, the candidates were united in their view that the economic costs of fighting climate change are much larger than the potential benefits.

Given that, and the voluminous scientific evidence indicating that global warming is a substantial threat, it's important to understand the extent to which climate change will affect the economy. 

The Stern review, an often cited, well-known study of the effects of climate change commissioned by the U.K. government, found that the impacts would be substantial:

...if we don't act, the overall costs and risks of climate change will be equivalent to losing at least 5% of global GDP each year, now and forever. If a wider range of risks and impacts is taken into account, the estimates of damage could rise to 20% of GDP or more.

In contrast, the costs of action - reducing greenhouse gas emissions to avoid the worst impacts of climate change -- can be limited to around 1% of global GDP each year. ...

The message was clear. We must act now to mitigate the effect of greenhouse gas emissions, or face dire consequences in coming decades.

Read the full article at CBS Money Watch. 

Live Cameras on Great Blue Herons and Pond at Cornell

Cornell University Lab of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York

The Great Blue Herons Have Returned!

 

Camera #1: To see live stream video of the Great Blue Herons and waterfowl at Cornell's Sapsucker Pond, Click Here.

Camera #2: To see the view from a different angle as well as the activities of feathered friends around the pond, Click Here.

HINTS: Keep BOTH cameras displayed on your screen at the same time. A human will sometimes pan the second camera over the pond to see herons fishing, collecting nest material or just hanging out nearby.

  Also, turn up the Sound Volume on your computer. There's a party going on in the background! 

Status Updates:
April 1: A heron was spotted at Sapsucker Pond.

April 7: Herons have arrived... 3 of them!
 
About Great Blue Herons: They usually lay 2-6 eggs and share incubation duties for 25-30 days. Incubation begins with the first egg, and the young hatch asynchronously (not at the same time) over 2-5 days. After hatching, it'll take 7-8 weeks before they fly from the nest for the first time.

Originally posted here on April 7, 2015 and will be updated later with other activities.

To choose a different bird camera, Click Here.

Global Climate Change: 2014 Officially the Hottest Year on Record

Excerpts from a report at TheGuardian.com

The numbers are in. The year 2014 – after shattering temperature records that had stood for hundreds of years across virtually all of Europe, and roasting parts of South America, China and Russia – was the hottest on record, with global temperatures 1.24F (0.69C) higher than the 20th-century average, U.S. government scientists said on Friday.

In North America, California saw its hottest year, with annual average temperatures 4.1F (2.3C) higher than 20th century average, and scant relief for a punishing drought. Surprisingly, Alaska showed record warm temperatures as well. But for the remainder of North America, it was the opposite story [see Global Map and color Key, below].

 

The world was the hottest it has been since systematic records began in 1880, especially on the oceans, which the agency confirmed were the driver of 2014’s temperature rise.

The scientists said 2014 was the 38th consecutive year of above-average temperatures. That means nobody born since 1976 has experienced a colder-than-average year.

“Any one year being a record warm one is not in itself particularly significant, but this is one in a series of record warm years that are driven by the continuing underlying long-term global warming,” said Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute of Space Studies.

Thirteen of the 15 hottest years have occurred since 2000.

“We expect that heat records will continue to get broken – not everywhere and not every year – but increasingly, and that does not bode well for a civilization that is continuing to add greenhouse gases to the atmosphere at an increasing rate.” “Nineteen eighty-eight was also a record warm year at the time. Now it doesn’t even rank in the top 20,” Schmidt said.

The last record cold year was more than a century ago in 1911.

“We can safely say it’s probably the warmest year in 1,700 and 2,000 years, and I think it’s probably safe to say 5,000 years,” said Don Wuebbles, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Illinois who has worked on a number of IPCC reports. “You have a continuous upward trend over the last century and that is telling us something. We have a clear signal that our climate changing, and when you look at the evidence it’s because of human activities.”

“The evidence is so strong I don’t know why we are arguing any more,” Wuebbles said. “It’s just crazy.”

The odds of that temperature shift occurring because of natural climate variability were less than one in 27 million, according to the Climate Central research group.

“The data from NASA and NOAA is the latest scientific evidence that climate change is real, and we must act now to protect our families and future generations,” said Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat and climate champion. “Deniers must stop ignoring these alarms if we are to avoid the worst impacts of climate change.”

Campaign groups said the milestone ought to spur new efforts to fight climate change. “The Obama administration must back international efforts to achieve zero carbon emissions by 2050,” said Shaye Wolf, the climate science director with the Center for Biological Diversity. “We need a global agreement that keeps most dirty fossil fuels in the ground and provides ample support for developing nations to leapfrog into clean energy economies.”

On the current emissions trajectory, the world will attain average warming of 7.2F or 9F [4C or 5C] by 2100, which climate scientists say would be catastrophic.

Read the full report at TheGuardian.com


VIDEO: Watch 135 Years of Global Warming in 30 Seconds.  This NASA video animation depicts how temperatures around the globe have warmed over the years from 1880 to 2014.

 

Bill Moyers: Breaking Big Money’s Grip on Elections

What the Mainstream Media Won’t Let Bernie Sanders Talk About

By Moyers&Company

In the video clip below, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I - Vt.) tells Bill Moyers that he believes “one of the Supreme Court’s worst decisions ever” — Citizens United — has allowed Big Money to “deflect attention from the real issues” facing voters.

Sanders goes on to talk about the challenge of getting corporate media to cover the real issues. Watch the video (3 minutes):

To watch Bill Moyers' full interview of Sen. Bernie Sanders and to access the transcript, Click Here.

~   ~   ~

Adam Zyglis on 'Big Money' and Elections in The Buffalo News

Community to Rally and Speak Out Against Fracking

On Saturday, October 18, 11am, we'll rally at Bidwell Park in Buffalo to tell Governor Cuomo that he mustn't frack with our future! Instead, Cuomo should invest in renewable energy in New York State.

Along with the rally will be a community speak-out that welcomes the public to pick up the microphone and say a few words, or recite poetry or spoken word about the dangers of fracking (please prepare a 5-minute speech or performance.)

Additionally, there will be:
- Music from The Nickel City String Band, Alex Mead, Dave Harter, and fun from the Buffalo Joywalkers and Linda Abrams
- Expert speakers discussing the growing connection between fracking and our health
- Pick up a lawn sign, sign the petition to ban fracking, and find out what we're up to in your community

We need you with us to stand together to send a clear message to Governor Cuomo: we demand a future powered by clean, renewable energy, not one that depends on dirty, polluting fossil fuels.

Join and Invite your Friends on Facebook: Click Here

Global Frackdown Video: Click Here

Sponsors include Sierra Club Niagara Group, PUSH Buffalo, NYPIRG at Buffalo State, Food & Water Watch, New Yorkers Against Fracking, Citizen's Campaign for the Environment - Buffalo, Western NY Drilling Defense, and Protecting Our Water Rights (POWR).

Images of the Massive PEOPLES CLIMATE MARCH in NY City

LARGEST Climate March in History! 

400,000 march in NY City - Events held in over 150 countries

“We said it would take everyone to change everything — 

and Everyone showed up!”

Eddie Bautista, Exec. Director of the NY City Environmental Justice Alliance.

President Obama gives a nod to the climate marchers in his speech at the UN Climate Summit on Sept. 23 (see below).

NY City - Sept. 21, 2014

[Click image to enlarge]

VIDEO: Aerial View of the Massive Climate March 

 

The March was held two days before the 

UN Climate Summit in NY City - Sept. 23, 2014

President Obama's quote (above) in the context of his UN speech:

"So the climate is changing faster than our efforts to address it.  The alarm bells keep ringing.  Our citizens keep marching.  We cannot pretend we do not hear them.  We have to answer the call.  We know what we have to do to avoid irreparable harm.  We have to cut carbon pollution in our own countries to prevent the worst effects of climate change.  We have to adapt to the impacts that, unfortunately, we can no longer avoid.  And we have to work together as a global community to tackle this global threat before it is too late. 

We cannot condemn our children, and their children, to a future that is beyond their capacity to repair.  Not when we have the means -- the technological innovation and the scientific imagination -- to begin the work of repairing it right now.

 As one of America’s governors has said, “We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and the last generation that can do something about it.”  So today, I’m here personally, as the leader of the world’s largest economy and its second largest emitter, to say that we have begun to do something about it."

France was one of the 150 Countries that participated in the Peoples Climate March:

Putting the Freeze on Global Warming

By Moyers & Company .

The Archbishop of South Africa, Desmond Tutu, has called for an international “anti-apartheid-style boycott” against the fossil fuel industry in response to global warming. “People of conscience need to break their ties with corporations financing the injustice of climate change,” the Nobel Peace Prize laureate wrote in an essay earlier this month. Tutu’s call to action also urges a strategy of divestment, the selling off of stocks and other investments in the name of an urgent cause.

Bill Moyers talks with two leaders who helped inspire the new fossil fuel divestment movement that Tutu is encouraging. Ellen Dorsey is executive director of the Wallace Global Fund and a catalyst in the coalition of 17 foundations known as Divest-Invest Philanthropy. Thomas Van Dyck is Senior Vice President – Financial Advisor at RBC Wealth Management, and founder of As You Sow, a shareholder advocacy foundation.

They are urging foundations, faith groups, pension funds, municipalities and universities to sell their shares in polluting industries and reinvest in companies committed to climate change solutions.
Watch the video:

Read the transcript here.

Envronmental Health and Sustainability Expert to Speak at UB

Keynote Speaker: Annie Leonard

Moving Towards Zero Waste 

and 'The Story of Stuff'

• When: Tuesday, March 11th, 7:00 pm

• Where: Drama Theater, Center for the Arts, UB North Campus, Amherst

• Free and Open to the public

Annie Leonard is the founder of the Story of Stuff film series, several 20-minute videos that explain some of the world’s most significant environmental dilemmas using easy, down-to-earth language that gets the message across to people of all ages, backgrounds and education levels. She was named one of the “Five Most Important Environmental Movement Leaders” by the Washington Examiner in 2010.

Since her initial film’s launch in 2007 — which to date has generated more than 13 million online viewers — Leonard has leveraged it into an even more widely-viewed project (www.storyofstuff.com) and a 2010 book of the same title (made from 100 percent recycled and compostable materials, of course). She has become one of the nation’s foremost authorities on the topic of consumer behavior and its impact on the environment, appearing in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, the Huffington Post, Wired and Fast Company magazines, and on Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” among other major media outlets.

Check out Annie Leonard and her Story of Stuff on the Colbert Report.

Earlier videos from Annie Leonard posted at Re-ENERGIZE Buffalo:

• The Story of Solutions

• Sustainability and the Story of Stuff 

• E-Waste: The Story of Electronic Stuff 

• Green Solutions to Fix a Broken Economy 

Keystone XL Pipeline: Time to End the Fossil Fuel Addiction

President Obama needs to turn down the Keystone XL pipeline if America is ever going to break its dependency on fossil fuels. Here is Chris Hayes' view:

 

CLIMATE NEWS: Warming Video - Policy Battlefield - Polar Vortex - What's 350?

VIDEO: Six Decades of a Warming Earth.

NASA's Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, which analyzes global surface temperatures on an ongoing basis, released an updated report on temperatures around the globe in 2013. The comparison shows how Earth continues to experience temperatures warmer than those measured several decades ago.

With the exception of 1998, the 10 warmest years in the 134-year record all have occurred since 2000. 2010 and 2005 rank as the warmest years on record. NASA scientists say 2013 tied with 2009 and 2006 for the seventh warmest year since 1880, continuing a long-term trend of rising global temperatures.

Scientists emphasize that weather patterns always will cause fluctuations in average temperatures from year to year, but the continued increases in greenhouse gas levels in Earth's atmosphere are driving a long-term rise in global temperatures. Each successive year will not necessarily be warmer than the year before, but with the current level of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists expect each successive decade to be warmer than the previous.
Read more at NASA.gov.

Climate to be 2014 Battlefield

Climate change and energy will be a major policy battleground in the 2014 midterms, advocates on both sides of the issue promise.

Republicans like Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) plan to go on the attack against President Obama’s  climate action plan, which they have dubbed a “war on coal.”

They’re backed by conservative groups like the American Energy Alliance, which is already airing campaign ads attacking Democrats such as Rep. Nick Rahall (W.Va.) for supporting a carbon tax.

Green activists led by Tom Steyer plan to return fire.

The billionaire former hedge fund manager, who has poured his money into environmental causes, said Thursday that his New Year’s resolution is to make climate change a voter concern in 2014.

“This election year, more than ever, we must hold our leaders responsible for the role they play in the fight against climate change,” he wrote on NextGen Climate’s  website, keystonetruth.com. 

Noise surrounding crude oil exports and offshore oil development from coastal states is already being made, and Landrieu may push policy that evens the playing ground for coastal states when it comes to collecting federal dollars tied to energy development.

A number of political players are promising involvement.

The Sierra Club plans to highlight differences between candidates on energy issues. The green group touts that in 2014 it will mobilize its 2.1 million members and supporters to continue the momentum it built in 2013 races in Virginia and Colorado, where candidates it backed won reelection.

“Americans widely support climate solutions like accelerating job-creating wind and solar energy growth, tackling dangerous carbon pollution from dirty power plants, securing strong standards to protect our air and water, and protecting our public lands from destructive drilling and mining — we will help ensure the contrasts between candidates on these issues are clear,” Sierra Club Director Michael Brune wrote in an email to The Hill.

Read the full article at The Hill

VIDEO: The Polar Vortex Explained in Two Minutes

President Obama's Science and Technology Advisor, Dr. John Holdren, explains the polar vortex in 2 minutes—and why climate change makes extreme weather more likely going forward. 

Dr. Holdren says, "If you've been hearing that extreme cold spells, like the one that we're having in the United States now, disproves global warming, don't believe it!"

Click Here to view the video.

350 - Education of a Climate Upstart with a 'Weird' Name

A trip to the United Nations' climate talks in Bali sounds like every young activist's dream. But when a group of recent Middlebury College graduates trekked there in 2007 to continue the environmental work they began in school, at least one found the scene more daunting than inspiring.

The aspiring young leaders had orchestrated rallies in all 50 states that year to push for slashing greenhouse gas emissions -- only to be greeted in Bali by "endless meetings about long-term targets, most of which weren't going well," one of them, Phil Aroneanu, recalled recently.

Just as Aroneanu began "falling a little into despair" at the task of slowing global carbon, the Middlebury friends got a new email from their friend and adviser Bill McKibben. Government climatologist James Hansen, he told the young greens, was setting 350 parts per million (ppm) as the atmosphere's CO2 safe zone in his newest research.

McKibben also suggested that since 350 ppm was about to become a very important climate number, why not rename their group after it? Jamie Henn, now the group's communications director, remembered his initial reaction when the email arrived during a moment of reflection on the beach: "That's totally weird."

People would undoubtedly assume the name was 360, Henn thought at the time. But then the former classmates realized that the number's initial obscurity also illustrated its potential to pique curiosity among potential converts.

Read more at E&E Publishing 

Public Supports County Ban of Fracking and Drilling Waste

By David Kowalski  .

The Erie County Legislature is examining a proposed law to ban fracking on county-owned land, and to prohibit treating, disposal and road spreading of fracking and drilling wastes, which contain toxic and radioactive materials. 

About 75 people packed the Erie County Legislature Chambers for the final public hearing on the

                                             Photos / WNY Drilling Defense

proposed legislation.

Many of those in attendance signed up to speak and all who spoke were opposed to fracking and its waste. 

Erie County legislators said that throughout all of the meetings they've had about banning fracking on county land, no one has ever showed up to speak in favor of the fracking industry.

A box of petitions with 3,845 signatures of Erie County residents who support the proposed legislation was presented by Rita Yelda, organizer for New Yorkers Against Fracking and WNY Drilling Defense.

The Erie County Legislature will vote on the proposal on December 12th. Legislators Betty Jean Grant and Timothy Hogues cosponsored the legislation and said that they have five of the six votes needed for

County Legislators Betty Jean Grant and Timothy Hogues

it to pass.

"Nearly 15 counties across New York have stepped up to protect their residents against the dangers posed by fracking and fracking waste," Grant said. "Now it's Erie County's turn to take a stand and say that we will not allow fracking on our county land and we will now allow drilling waste to be stored or disposed of on county land."

Grant, however, noted that a ban would alleviate concerns over health issues related to fracking.
"This protects us from being exposed to the hundreds of dangerous chemicals used in the fracking process and from being exposed to the radioactive fracking waste," she said.

Below is a brief video (provided by WGRZ) that gives an overview of the proceedings:

If you are unable to view the video on your device, Click Here to view it at the WGRZ website.

Towards a Sustainable and Just Economy

By Annie Leonard .

The Story of Solutions explores how we can move our economy in a more sustainable and just direction, starting with orienting ourselves toward a new goal.

In the current 'Game of More', we're told to cheer a growing economy -- more roads, more malls, more Stuff ! -- even though our health indicators are worsening, income inequality is growing and polar icecaps are melting.

But what if we changed the point of the game? What if the goal of our economy wasn't more, but better -- better health, better jobs and a better chance to survive on the planet?

Shouldn't that be what winning means?

Earlier videos from Annie Leonard posted at Re-ENERGIZE Buffalo:

• Sustainability and the Story of Stuff
• E-Waste: The Story of Electronic Stuff
• Green Solutions to Fix a Broken Economy
  

  
  

Wendell Berry - Visionary, Author, Farmer, Activist

Introduction and Video from Moyers & Company.

 Wendell Berry, a quiet and humble man, has become an outspoken advocate for revolution. He urges immediate action as he mourns how America has turned its back on the land and rejected Jeffersonian principles of respect for the environment and sustainable agriculture. In a rare television interview (video, below), this visionary, author, and farmer discusses a sensible, but no-compromise plan to save the Earth.

Bill Moyers profiles Berry, a man of the land and one of America’s most influential writers. Berry's prolific career includes more than forty books of poetry, novels, short stories and essays. The interview was taped in Kentucky during a conference celebrating Wendell Berry’s life and ideas and marking the 35th anniversary of the publication of his landmark book, The Unsettling of America.

Berry lives and works on the Kentucky farm where his family has tilled the soil for 200 years. He’s a man of action as well as words. In 2011, he joined a four-day sit-in at the Kentucky governor’s office to protest mountaintop mining, a brutally destructive method of extracting coal.

Moyers explores Berry’s views on civil disobedience as well as his strong opposition to agribusiness and massive industrial farms. They also discuss Berry’s support for sustainable farming and the local food movement.

“My belief is that the world and our life in it are conditional gifts,” Berry tells Moyers. “We have the world to live in on the condition that we will take good care of it. And to take good care of it we have to know it. And to know it and to be willing to take care of it, we have to love it.”