Climate Change: I don't want to talk about it

Thu, 2015-06-04 10:00

epaulo13

A truly green economy requires alliances between labour and Indigenous people

Dozens of social movement organizers recently gathered in Toronto at a meeting convened by the This Changes Everything team to envision a new economy centered on climate justice. With relentless extractions of labour and land harming all life on earth, cross-sectoral alliances are necessary.

But a number of predictable tensions bubbled up at the gathering, some related to land defence and workers’ rights. How do we shift from a petro-economy to prevent catastrophic climate change while safeguarding workers whose livelihoods depend on the resource economy? Over the past few decades a green economy, which would ensure jobs and equity within a low-carbon economy, has been posited as a solution.

Extending from this and in the context of reconciliation, I want to envision emancipatory possibilities of solidarity between workers’ movements for self-management and Indigenous struggles for self-determination....

https://ricochet.media/en/463/a-truly-green-economy-requires-alliances-b...

Sat, 2015-06-06 21:37

#153

epaulo13

ABOUT THE NEXT SYSTEM PROJECT

The Next System Project is an ambitious multi-year initiative aimed at thinking boldly about what is required to deal with the systemic challenges the United States faces now and in coming decades. Responding to real hunger for a new way forward, and building on innovative thinking and practical experience with new economic institutions and approaches being developed in communities across the country and around the world, the goal is to put the central idea of system change, and that there can be a “next system,” on the map.

Working with a broad group of researchers, theorists and activists, we seek to launch a national debate on the nature of “the next system” using the best research, understanding and strategic thinking, on the one hand, and on-the-ground organizing and development experience, on the other, to refine and publicize comprehensive alternative political-economic system models that are different in fundamental ways from the failed systems of the past and capable of delivering superior social, economic and ecological outcomes.

By defining issues systemically, we believe we can begin to move the political conversation beyond current limits with the aim of catalyzing a substantive debate about the need for a radically different system and how we might go about its construction. Despite the scale of the difficulties, a cautious and paradoxical optimism is warranted. There are real alternatives. Arising from the unforgiving logic of dead ends, the steadily building array of promising new proposals and alternative institutions and experiments, together with an explosion of ideas and new activism, offer a powerful basis for hope.

http://thenextsystem.org/

Wed, 2015-06-10 19:51

#154

epaulo13

Port Commission Meeting Spirals Out of Control; Ends With Police Pushing People Out of the Building

This afternoon's public port commission meeting started with a peaceful die-in staged by Filipino climate activists on the steps of Port in Seattle headquarters. It ended with police officers aggressively pushing people—including one person with a cane who was looking for a disability ramp—out of the building.

After the die-in, a group of environmental activists filled most of the chairs in the port commission meeting room, holding signs and waiting for their turn to speak. A couple of people in the room commented loudly and cursed during staff briefings. In response, port commissioners adjourned the meeting before the public comment period.

Things quickly escalated from there. At least a dozen police officers—some port police, some from the Tukwila Police Department—filed into the room. One visibly upset activist took a seat at the dais before police came over and pushed one of her arms behind her back. Protesters and police argued loudly at the entrance to the room. Police ordered people to leave or face arrest....

http://www.thestranger.com/blogs/slog/2015/06/09/22360492/port-commissio...

Tue, 2015-06-16 15:57

#155

NorthReport

GREENHOUSE GAS-CAUSED WARMING FELT IN JUST MONTHS

http://news.agu.org/press-release/greenhouse-gas-caused-warming-felt-in-...

Tue, 2015-06-16 16:01

#156

NorthReport

GLOBAL WARMING EFFECTS AROUND THE WORLD

http://www.climatehotmap.org/

Wed, 2015-06-24 12:26

#157

mmphosis

What's Really Warming the World (bloomberg.com)

Sun, 2015-06-28 13:57

#158

mmphosis

Pope Francis: The 10 Climate Commandments (RAP NEWS 33) (youtube.com)

http://thejuicemedia.com/

Tue, 2015-06-30 10:51

#159

epaulo13

Power to the People: Toward Democratic Control of Electricity Generation

Globally, the energy system is failing to protect workers and communities. Airborne and water pollution levels are out of control, especially in Asia. Energy-related emissions continue to rise as more fossil-based power comes on line. Union leaders say the struggle for democratic control of electrical power generation is central to the struggle for a healthier, safer and fairer world. A major scale-up of publicly owned but democratically controlled renewable power is required. Public renewable power will make it possible to conserve energy, control and then reduce demand, and begin to make transport as well as electrical power less dependent on fossil fuels. A truly “just transition” for workers and communities will require re-asserting the public good over private greed.

A new Trade Unions for Energy Democracy (TUED) working paper titled Power to the People: Toward Democratic Control of Electricity Generation shows how “another energy is possible, and absolutely necessary.” It succinctly explains the failure of profit-driven approaches to either emissions reductions or controlling energy demand. The TUED paper, published by the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung–New York Office, examines energy democracy in order to help unions get a better grasp of what is happening now and what could happen in the future. It discusses the main “fronts” on which the struggle for democratic control of power generation is currently expressing itself: cooperatives in the renewable energy sector and their potential contribution to energy democracy, as well as recent attempts to reclaim electrical power generation at the municipal level. The 4-part paper also examines the historical experience of the “public works” approach to energy transition during the New Deal in the United States and, in particular, the Rural Electrification Administration—a model of state-cooperative interaction and partnership replicated successfully in numerous countries during the post-World War II period. It proposes that a “Renewable Energy Administration” is needed today....

http://unionsforenergydemocracy.org/power-to-the-people-toward-democrati...

Sun, 2015-07-12 04:40

#160

Doug Woodard

Fossil fuel industry must 'implode' to avoid climate disaster, says top scientist:

http://gu.com/p/4ah3h/sbl

Sun, 2015-07-12 13:33

#161

NDPP

Naomi Klein: A Radical Vatican?

http://readersupportednews.org/opinion2/277-75/31226-a-radical-vatican

"...If transformation is as contagious as it seems to be here - well we might just stand a chance of tackling climate change."

Wed, 2015-07-15 05:27

#162

Doug Woodard

Warming 'worst case' must be considered say experts:

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33507462

Fri, 2015-07-17 08:03

#163

Doug Woodard

Warming of oceans due to climate change unstoppable, say US scientists:

http://gu.com/p/4am98/sbl

But that's assuming constant atmospheric CO2 levels, so we need to reduce them. On way is to move carbon from the atmosphere to soil organic matter, increasing soil fertility in the process. Another is to regrow forests.

Russian scientist Sergei Zubov proposes that re-establishing large mammals (musk-ox, bison, horses and others and their attendent predators) in north temperate and arctic ecosystems will change vegetation and cause soil organic matter to increase while decreasing absorption of sunlight due to changed vegetation patterns (grass and forobs rather than trees and shrubs). See

http://www.pleistocenepark.ru/en

and

http://www.pleistocenepark.ru/files/WILD_FIELD_MANIFESTO_ENGLISH_VERSION...

Sun, 2015-07-19 06:39

#164

Doug Woodard

Oceans slowed global temperature rise, until now: Heat trapped below the surface will begin moving up kicking off a warming cycle -

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/07/150716160652.htm

Sun, 2015-08-02 08:18

#165

Doug Woodard

Fossil fuel burning will damage economy:

http://www.economistinsights.com/sites/default/files/The%20cost%20of%20i...

Tue, 2015-08-04 04:33

#166

Doug Woodard

G20 countries pay over $1000 per citizen in fossil fuel subsidies says IMF:

http://gu.com/p/4b6cc/sbl

Thu, 2015-08-06 14:36

#167

mmphosis

Quote:
The question no one’s asking

Include climate change in the leaders' debates!! (secure.avaaz.org)

Fri, 2015-08-07 02:58

#168

Doug Woodard

Climate change nightmares are already here:

http://commondreams.org/news/2015/08/05/point-no-return-climate-change-n...

Thu, 2015-08-13 02:45

#169

Doug Woodard

2015 global temperatures are in line with climate model predictions:

http://gu.com/p/4bdfb/sbl

Sat, 2015-08-15 10:10

#170

Doug Woodard

How long can oceans continue to absorb Earth's excess heat?

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/how_long_can_oceans_continue_to_absorb_eart...

Sat, 2015-08-15 10:16

#171

Doug Woodard

How British Columbia gained by putting a price on carbon:

http://e360.yale.edu/feature/how_british_columbia_gained_by_putting_a_pr...

Mon, 2015-08-17 07:10

#172

Doug Woodard

Rating media climate science stories:

http://gu.com/p/4bg6b/sbl

Fri, 2015-08-21 10:42

#173

epaulo13

Global Warming Worsens California Drought as July Becomes Hottest Month on Record

video

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released a report Thursday showing that July was Earth’s hottest month on record. Nine of the 10 hottest months since record keeping began in 1880 have occurred since 2005. Climatologists also expect 2015 to be the hottest year on record. This news comes as scientists from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory released a report that shows that global warming has worsened the California drought, now entering its fourth year. This new study is the first to estimate the extent to which rising temperatures are affecting the loss of moisture from plants and soil, and suggests that within a few decades continually increasing temperatures and resulting moisture losses will push California into a permanent drought by 2060. We discuss the report and the impact of the findings with the study’s lead author, Park Williams, a bioclimatologist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Fri, 2015-08-21 22:03

#174

Doug Woodard

Boreal forest being driven to tipping point by climate change, study finds:

http://www.cbc.ca/1.3198892

Sun, 2015-08-23 23:24

#175

epaulo13

CLIMATE CONVERGENCE MEETING

Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Grandview Calvary Baptist Church
1803 East 1st Ave. (near Commercial)
6:30-9:30pm.

quote:

We would like to warmly invite you to an organizing/strategy building meeting on Wednesday, September 2, 2015 at Grandview Calvary Baptist Church, 1803 East 1st Ave. (near Commercial) at 6:30-9:30pm.

Combined with that desire to collaborate, we understand the importance of the Front Line Land Defenders in British Columbia (unceded First Nations land). We want to form a wall of support, resistance and work in solidarity with their courageous efforts.

The Fall of 2015 is shaping up to be a pivotal time where HUGE decisions are being made that will affect all of us for generations. Creating a strategic movement will help us to be more effective in accomplishing what we all want - change! Many of us have been working very hard to stop Kinder Morgan, LNG, coal exports including TarSands production, and other fossil fuel extraction projects. Every day in this struggle, we are up against the underlying causes of the climate change crisis; colonialism, patriarchy and capitalism. The most vulnerable on the planet are paying the highest price and feeling the sad effects of a system that needs to be changed.

None of us can do this alone.

We want to facilitate a space for building a movement. We are calling on all allies to support First Nations and others to come together to formalize trusting relationships for mutual aid and build a radical movement that attracts concerned citizens, community and grassroots groups and organizations with a common vision of “system change”....

quote:

Hope to see you there!

In solidarity,

Climate Convergence Welcoming Committee

Ruth Walmsley (BROKE), Andrew Larigakis (350Vancouver.org), Karl Perrin (BROKE, Suzuki Elders), Audrey Siegl, Brad Hornick (System Change not Climate Change), Shirley Samples (We Love This Coast, SCNCC), Anjali Appadurai and others!

Wed, 2015-08-26 16:33

#176

epaulo13

Alberta water suspensions a sign of what’s to come: study

For the first time in recent memory, traditional hunting and gathering grounds upstream from Fort McKay on the Athabasca River have been cut off. The drought has decreased stream flows so dramatically that boats can no longer float in certain areas — and local hunters aren’t the only ones to take notice.

The Alberta Energy Regulator has suspended 73 temporary water diversion licences held by oil companies this year in Alberta. It’s the most since 2002. Of those suspensions, 80% were for firms that draw water from the Athabasca River.

Simon Donner, a professor of climatology at the University of British Columbia, thinks this is a sign of the years to come. He and his team recently published a report that examined stream flow levels on the Athabasca Water Basin.

“We’re looking at a potentially 40 per cent to 60 per cent increase in the frequency of these low flow events in the summer,” Donner explained. The study points directly at climate change, predicting that warmer winters in the coming century will reverse peak flow levels from summer to winter....

Tue, 2015-09-01 02:32

#177

mmphosis

Obama on Climate Change: Act Now or Condemn World to a Nightmare (nbcnews.com)

President Obama is visiting Alaska to talk climate: Here's what you need to know (greenpeace.org)

It's time for the president to stop talking about urgency, and stop approving extreme fossil fuel projects like Shell's Arctic drilling plans.

Tue, 2015-09-01 05:38

#178

Doug Woodard

Here's what happens when you try to replicate climate contrarian papers:

http://gu.com/p/4bm8z/sbl

Tue, 2015-09-01 05:40

#179

Doug Woodard

A useful paper on climate-relevant urban design -

Towards a liveable urban climate: lessons from Stuttgart, by Michael Hebbert and Brian Webb:

http://www.sed.manchester.ac.uk/architecture/research/csud/outputsresour...

which is a chapter in the book

Liveable Cities: Urbanising World, editors Chris Gossop and Shi Nan; Routledge, 2012

I've also read some interesting and worthwhile extracts on the web from the book

Low Carbon Cities: Transforming Urban Systems, editor Steffen Lehmann; Routledge, 2014

Wed, 2015-09-02 06:11

#180

NDPP

The IPCC Caught in a Pressure Cooker - by Robert Hunziker

http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/09/01/the-ipcc-caught-in-a-pressure-coo...

"It's almost a given that 'something must be done fast'. Just ask any legitimate climate scientist. 'We are the first generation to really become aware of the problem and yet the last generation that can deal with it,' Laurent Fabius, President COP21."

Tue, 2015-09-22 21:27

#181

epaulo13

Arctic sea ice minimum extent reached, El Niño link unclear

This animation shows the evolution of the Arctic sea ice cover from its winter time maximum extent, which was reached on Feb. 25, 2015, and was the lowest on record, to its apparent yearly minimum, which occurred on Sept. 11, 2015, and is the fourth lowest in the satellite era.

Credit: NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio. Download this video in HD formats from NASA Goddard's Scientific Visualization Studio.

Wed, 2015-09-23 13:31

#182

mmphosis

The People’s Climate March takes place this year on 29 November, ahead of global climate change talks in Paris

People's Climate March: the revolution starts here (theguardian.com)

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/paris_save_the_date/

Thu, 2015-09-24 11:16

#183

epaulo13

Inside Exxon’s Great Climate Cover-Up: From Early Climate Change Researcher to Epic Climate Denier

A new report by InsideClimate News reveals how oil giant ExxonMobil’s own research confirmed the role of fossil fuels in global warming decades ago. By 1977, Exxon’s own senior experts had begun to warn the burning of fossil fuels could pose a threat to humanity. At first, Exxon launched an ambitious research program, outfitting a supertanker with instruments to study carbon dioxide in the air and ocean. But toward the end of the 1980s, Exxon changed course and shifted to the forefront of climate change denial. Since the 1990s, it has spent millions of dollars funding efforts to reject the science its own experts knew of decades ago.

Fri, 2015-09-25 11:06

#184

epaulo13

China to Implement a Cap-and-Trade System to Fight Climate Change — Is It Enough?

Chinese President Xi Jinping is arriving at the White House for a state visit with President Obama today, where Xi is expected to commit to implementing a cap-and-trade system to limit China’s greenhouse gas emissions in 2017. A cap-and-trade system is a market-driven strategy in which governments cap emission levels and then allow companies to buy and sell permits to pollute. We speak to Greenpeace International’s Kumi Naidoo, who recently visited China.

Mon, 2015-09-28 01:37

#185

mark_alfred

Tom Mulcair announced that the NDP will set up a national cap and trade system in Canada. As well, the NDP will pass Jack Layton's Climate Change Accountability Act to make certain that Canada meets its long-term target of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It aims to reduce emissions by 80 per cent by 2050, compared to 1990 levels.

The cap and trade program will be revenue neutral. Carbon pricing revenues will be returned to the provinces so that they can be reinvested into greenhouse gas reduction efforts.

http://www.ndp.ca/news/canada-to-show-leadership-climate-change-tom-mulcair

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-ndp-climate-change-...

Tue, 2015-10-06 18:37

#186

epaulo13

FOR OUR COMMON HOME - CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE October 17, 2015

(Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Downtown Campus)

Our way of life, based for the last two hundred years on extracting resources from the earth and burning fossil fuels for a market-based economy, has produced a polluted planet and climate change that is devastating and will become irreversible and catastrophic within a few decades. Our only way to save our common home is to come together to act in our common interest....

Mon, 2015-10-26 16:17

#187

epaulo13

Patricia’s epic bombification — monster El Nino + Climate change serves up strongest western hemisphere hurricane ever

Now this is scary. A tragic development you’d tend to see in a disaster movie screenplay and not in any typical meteorological record for any 36 hour period. But here we have it.

Patricia, as of 36 hours ago, was a rather mild tropical storm churning through the human hothouse and El Nino warmed Eastern Pacific. The storm was predicted to make landfall in Western Mexico as a hurricane, then turn north into Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi — dumping extreme rains over a drought stricken region. But there was little hint as to what would happen next.

Favorable atmospheric conditions and next to zero wind shear set the stage for strengthening. But the main driver was the hot ocean water which Patricia could tap as fuel for rapid intensification. For the entire region now features ocean surface temperatures in the range of 30 to 31 C (86 to 88 F) or about 2-3 degrees Celsius above average. It’s heat fed by an El Nino that could be one of the top three strongest on record. Heat further intensified by a human forced warming of the globe that has now hit about 1 C above 1880s levels. Heat that would allow Patricia to hit never before seen heights of storm force in a period of extraordinarily rapid intensification....

Sat, 2015-10-31 09:06

#188

epaulo13

Click for a larger view

Sun, 2015-11-01 11:46

#189

epaulo13

'We Will Stand for Ourselves': Global Movement Stakes Claim for COP21

Building on the momentum and message of last year's People's Climate March in New York City, activists are vowing to convene during the upcoming COP21 talks in Paris for what campaigners hope will be "the largest mass civil disobedience climate justice action that we have ever seen in Europe."

From a huge march on the eve of the two-week UN climate summit to a mass mobilization on the final day of the conference to decentralized and creative direct actions in Paris and around the world, the events aim to demonstrate the energy and commitment of the people's movement, even as world leaders and corporate interests meet behind closed doors to try to strike a global agreement....

Tue, 2015-11-03 10:17

#190

mmphosis

Nothing to See Here (monbiot.com)

Thu, 2015-11-05 11:06

#191

epaulo13

Introducing 'Keep It in the Ground' Bill, Sanders Goes Big on Climate

A handful of Democratic Senators, along with 2016 presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders, on Wednesday unrolled a bill that would go far beyond anything the administration of President Barack Obama has proposed by prohibiting all new coal, oil, and gas drilling on federally-owned lands and waters—from the Gulf of Mexico to the Arctic circle.

quote:

Specifically, the proposed legislation would block corporations from pursuing new and non-producing leases for coal, oil, gas, shale, and tar sands extraction on federal land. In addition, it would ban offshore drilling in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans and halt new and non-producing leases in the Pacific and Gulf of Mexico.

"We are taking on the Koch brothers and some of the most powerful political forces in the world who are more concerned with short-term profits than the future of the planet," said Sanders in a statement accompanying the bill. "I’ve got four kids, and I’ve got seven beautiful grandchildren. We have a moral responsibility to leave our kids a planet that is healthy and inhabitable."

Sun, 2015-11-08 08:35

#192

mmphosis

Bill Nye's Global Meltdown (nationalgeographic.com)

Tue, 2015-11-24 04:56

#193

Doug Woodard

The incredible plan to make money grow on trees (carbon credits in Papua New Guinea):

http://gu.com/p/4eaxh/sbl

Fri, 2015-11-27 13:20

#194

mmphosis

The biggest man-made environmental disaster preceding the Paris climate conference (rabble.ca)

Mon, 2015-11-30 15:35

#195

JKR

From: http://www.wri.org/blog/2014/11/6-graphs-explain-world%E2%80%99s-top-10-...

Fri, 2015-12-11 06:32

#196

Doug Woodard

Beyond the climate crisis: a critique of climate change discourse, by Eileen Crist (long):

http://biophilosophy.ca/Teaching/2070papers/crist.pdf

I think that Crist can be criticized for jargon and excessive deference to academic fashion and a kind of approved list of "radical" writers, nevertheless she is very well worth reading.

Sat, 2015-12-12 23:15

#197

NorthReport

Have scientists solved one of the most troubling mysteries of sea-level rise?

Scientists have helped confirm estimates of 20th-century glacial melting and our understanding of how sea-level rise fundamentally affects the planet.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/12/12/have-scientists-solved-one-...