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Thank You, Climate Strikers. Your Action Matters and Your Power will be Felt

Thank You, Climate Strikers. Your Action Matters a...

I want to say to all the climate strikers: thank you so much for being unreasonable. That is, if reasonable means playing by the rules, and the rules are presumed to be guidelines for what is and is not possible, then you may be told that what you are asking for is impossible or unreasonable. Don’t listen. Don’t stop. Don’t let your dreams shrink by one inch. Don’t forget that this might be the day and the pivotal year when...
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Solar and wind firms call the ‘Green New Deal’ too extreme

Solar and wind firms call the ‘Green New Dea...

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – U.S. solar and wind power companies may have the most to gain from the Green New Deal, an ambitious proposal backed by several Democratic presidential candidates to end U.S. fossil fuel consumption within a decade. But do not expect the renewable energy firms to endorse it. Representatives of America’s clean energy companies are withholding their support for the climate-fighting plan,...
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Report: Great Lakes feeling effects of rapid climate warming

Report: Great Lakes feeling effects of rapid clima...

TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — The Great Lakes region is warming faster than the rest of the U.S., a trend likely to bring more extreme storms while also degrading water quality, worsening erosion and posing tougher challenges for farming, scientists reported Thursday. The annual mean air temperature in the region, which includes portions of the U.S. Midwest , Northeast and southern Canada, rose 1.6 degrees (0.9 Celsius) from...
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3-5°C temperature rise is now ‘locked-in’ for the Arctic

3-5°C temperature rise is now ‘locked-in’ for the ...

Even if Paris Agreement goals met, Arctic winter temperatures will increase 3-5°C by 2050 compared to 1986-2005 levels. Thawing permafrost could wake ‘sleeping giant’ of more greenhouse gases, potentially derailing global climate goals. Ocean acidification and pollution also posing major threats to Arctic   Nairobi, 13 March 2019 – Even if the world were to cut emissions in line with the Paris Agreement, winter...
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The Good News About a Green New Deal

The Good News About a Green New Deal

Last month’s rollout of the Green New Deal, a fourteen-page legislative resolution, sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Ed Markey, that called for “net-zero greenhouse gas emissions” through a ten-year “national mobilization,” has sparked a good deal of controversy. The resolution was larded with goals not directly tied to the environment, such as guaranteeing everyone a job, affordable housing,...
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Ohio bill would create nonprofit to promote advanced nuclear research

Ohio bill would create nonprofit to promote advanc...

Sponsors tout economic development potential, but critics question the benefits and risks to taxpayers. A group of Ohio lawmakers wants to help make the state a leader in advanced nuclear technology, but some critics are questioning the benefits and potential risks to taxpayers under a new bill to promote research and development. Ohio House Rep. Dick Stein, R-Norwalk, introduced the Advanced Nuclear Technology Helping...
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Researchers: Biofuels mandate may cause more harm than good with plowed-up land

Researchers: Biofuels mandate may cause more harm ...

Jeff Wheeler – Star Tribune Hundreds of thousands of acres of grasslands and wild habitat in the Upper Midwest have been plowed up to plant corn and soybeans in the last decade because of demand created by the government’s ethanol mandate. Hundreds of thousands of acres of grasslands and wild habitat in the Upper Midwest have been plowed up to plant corn and soybeans in the past decade because of demand created by the...
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Project Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming.

Project Drawdown is the most comprehensive plan ev...

We did not make or devise the plan—the plan exists and is being implemented worldwide. It has been difficult to envision this possibility because the focus is overwhelmingly on the impacts of climate change. We gathered a qualified and diverse group of researchers from around the world to identify, research, and model the 100 most substantive, existing solutions to address climate change. What was uncovered is a path forward...
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Opinion: Don’t let political dollars influence climate change debate

Opinion: Don’t let political dollars influen...

The News-Herald published an editorial from USA Today in November, 2018 calling for a climate “super-lobby” to raise money to change public opinion, mobilize voters, and influence lawmakers about climate change initiatives. We do not need more money spent toward political influence; it is excessive money — used by the fossil fuel industry — that is the problem. Those on the side of climate change solutions will...
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Bees Brought Bavarians Together. And They Have a Lesson for us All

Bees Brought Bavarians Together. And They Have a L...

Last week, Bavarians forced their state legislature to change farming policies with the most successful petition in the state’s history. And while the law proposed by the petition covers a range of measures, it’s no surprise that campaigners’ rallying cry quickly became “save the bees”. Bees stand for diligence, dedication and orderliness. But they are also a symbol of our relationship with nature – and everything that has...
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Intensive Agriculture Driving Worldwide Decline of Insects

Intensive Agriculture Driving Worldwide Decline of...

Over 40% of insect species are at risk of extinction over the next few decades and 75% to 98% of insect biomass has already been lost, according to this review of the current state of knowledge about insect declines, with habitat loss through conversion to intensive agriculture being the main driver. Agro-chemical pollutants, invasive species and climate change are also driving insect declines. The authors conducted a...
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‘Kicking Ass for Her Generation’: Applause for 16-Year-Old Greta Thunberg as EU Chief Pledges Billions to Curb Climate Threat

‘Kicking Ass for Her Generation’: Appl...

Sixteen-year-old climate action leader Greta Thunberg stood alongside European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker Thursday in Brussels as he indicated—after weeks of climate strikes around the world inspired by the Swedish teenager—that the European Union has heard the demands of young people and pledged a quarter of $1 trillion budget over the next seven years to address the crisis of a rapidly heating planet. In the...
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This Is the Green New Deal’s Biggest Problem

This Is the Green New Deal’s Biggest Problem

A Tesla in every driveway just won’t cut it. There might be no better monument to the limits of American environmentalism in the climate change era than a parking garage in Berkeley, California. It’s got “rooftop solar, electric-vehicle charging stations and dedicated spots for car-share vehicles, rainwater capture and water treatment features”—not to mention 720 parking spots. It cost nearly $40 million to build. At night,...
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The Economic Case For The Green New Deal

The Economic Case For The Green New Deal

Almost overnight, the idea of a Green New Deal has won over environmental activists and many lawmakers. An all-out national mobilization to decarbonize the economy has a natural appeal to those who see climate change as an immediate, existential threat. But others have doubts. Why can’t markets guide the transition from carbon? Do we really need an expansion of the public sector on the scale of the New Deal or World War II?...
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The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental Policy Looks Like

The Green New Deal Is What Realistic Environmental...

In the 21st century, environmental policy is economic policy. Opinion Everyone is lining up to endorse the Green New Deal — or to mock it. Kamala Harris, Cory Booker, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand have all endorsed the resolution sponsored by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward Markey of Massachusetts. Conservative critics predictably call it “a shocking document”...
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