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Showing posts with label Climate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Climate. Show all posts

Republicans Censor Climate Information in Schools

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Climate denial is alive and well in the GOP. Republican legislators are conspiring to deprive kids of a science based climate education. In at least one state they have already succeeded. Earlier this year Republican lawmakers in Idaho voted to remove all fact-based references to climate from the state's science curriculum.

The state's House Education Committee voted for the new K-12 statewide science standards in February.  Republican legislator Rep. Scott Syme said he wanted the standard to include what he called "both sides of the debate". However, rather than invoke the baseless claims that constitute the other side of the argument lawmakers opted to excise all mention of climate change.

The level of ignorance among Idaho's Republican lawmakers is staggering. The state's political elite appear to be utterly unaware of even the most rudimentary climate science. They are equally oblivious of the climate connection in the spate of increasingly intense forest fires in the state. Their confusion may be explained by the fact that they get what little information they have from highly dubious sources.

House Resources Committee Chairman Dell Raybould, told Idaho Falls Post Register reporter Bryan Clark that his source for climate change science was conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh. In an email Sen. Dan Foreman, R-Moscow, said, "global warming ranks right up there with Al Gore’s phony ozone scare. I hope the Legislature enacts legislation to eliminate this ridiculous nonsense from all our textbooks."

This is not the first crack at climate censorship from Republicans in Idaho. In 2016 Idaho lawmakers rejected proposed science standards because they attributed climate change to human activity.

Schemes to censor climate information were also hatched by GOP lawmakers in Kentucky and Oklahoma but they were ultimately abandoned. While Idaho may be the only state to censor climate information in schools, there are many states with science curricula that contain very little climate information. This includes Alabama, Montana, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming. It is no coincidence that all of these states have Republican majorities.

Support for climate censorship in the Idaho legislature followed party lines. With 88 Republicans and only 17 Democrats the outcome was preordained. Almost all Democrats voted against the measure including the House Assistant Minority Leader Ilana Rubel.

"School should be a place where facts are shared, not suppressed," Rubel said. "Not only do we owe it to our children to teach them 21st Century science, but we owe it to the farmers, foresters, and citizens of Idaho to take this issue seriously and not bury our heads in the sand."

Organizations that respect science-based climate information indicated they were apauled by the decision in the Gem state. In April the Weather Channel called out Republicans in the Idaho state legislature for censoring fact-based climate information.

Some public school educators vowed to keep teaching the facts despite changes to the standard. Some district leaders have publically stated that teachers in their juridictions will continue providing their students with science-based information.

"In the Boise School District we will continue to teach climate change and investigate human impacts on biodiversity even though they are not mentioned in the standards," said Chris Taylor, Boise School District’s science curriculum director.

While Idaho legislators are burying their kids heads in the sand other states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards, which include accurate climate science information. These standards were crafted by 26 states and a number of science and education organizations. So far, almost two dozen states and the District of Columbia have adopted the standards.

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Make sure to see the article titled, "Comprehensive Green School Information and Resources." It contains links to over 350 posts covering everything you need to know about sustainable academics, green school buildings, student eco-initiatives, and college rankings as well as a wide range of related information and resources.
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Trump's First 100 Days are a Climate and Environmental Nightmare

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Trump's first 100 days have been a dismal failure. Trump failed to deliver on almost every single one of his promises leading many to conclude that the self-proclaimed deal-maker can't seem to close. True to his word he is making progress on one front, depriving Americans of clean air and clean water.

Trumps Muslim ban failed, his attempt to pass health-care legislation also failed. Congress will not finance his wall and nor will Mexico.  Rather than drain the swamp he has made the swamp bigger. The president has rewarded the wealthy on the backs of the poor and the middle class. His one-page reward-the-rich tax plan does not have a snowball's chance in hell of passing and if it were ever enacted by Congress it would trigger economic ruin.

Clearly, Trump does not have a clue about how to get things done in Washington.  Here is a general summary of Trump's first 100 days, by most accounts, the worst 100 days in modern US presidential history.



Trump's inauguration was a gloomy affair heralding the coming darkness. Even before Trump took the oath of office he cast a shadow over the proceedings at COP22.

Early in his term, some had the audacity to suggest that a Trump presidency would not be as bad as it seemed. They did not have the courage to face the truth about what a Trump administration would mean for the planet. However, their naive hopes were quickly dashed. Shortly after the inauguration, his administration purged all mention of climate change from the White House and State Department websites. However, they did leave one reference, a promise to eliminate Obama-era climate change policies.

Trump then picked Scott Pruitt to head the EPA and ex-Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson to be the secretary of state. These two men and other members of the administration oppose science-based climate action plans. Trump’s budget director, Mick Mulvaney, like so many others in the administration, opposes government funding for climate research.

This brings us to Trump's budget which was a declaration of war against environmental protections, climate action, and scientific research. Trump made it clear that he wants to decimate environmental protections and climate action in the US.

In their first month, the Trump administration resurrected dead or dying pipelines (the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline). Within the first two months, they began eliminating vehicle fuel efficiency standards and then they went to work gutting the EPA with proposed budget cuts of 31 percent.

Trump has broken almost every promise he made except for one, the promise to eliminate environmental regulations. 

On the one hand, Trump is the most ineffectual US president in history on the other he has wreaked unprecedented environmental damage in his first 100 days.  His Executive Orders have systematically rolled back all vestiges of environmental progress in the US. These are protections that began under Republican presidents. He has ended the era of progressive climate action that we saw under President Obama and he has turned the US into a global climate pariah.

When he was running to be president leading Republican insiders suggested he was not fit to be president. After one hundred days in office, it is safe to say that those who made this statement have been vindicated. Even Trump himself conceded that the job is far harder than he had imagined. One hundred days into his presidency Trump has joined the chorus of those who say he is is not up for the job. The point may become moot if he is impeached for collusion with the Russians.

More than any other president who preceded him, Trump is an unmitigated disaster. However, people are standing up and offering unprecedented opposition.

Even before he was president heads of state, climate scientists and business leaders have all urged him to act on climate change. Early in his term, there was the Women's March. This was followed by the March for Science on Earth Day where scientists and others called Trump out for his war on science. One week later there was the Peoples Climate Movement event that drew attention to his utterly irresponsible climate conduct. Just to make sure we get the point, on April 28th, the eve of the Peoples Climate Movement event, all vestiges of climate science were removed from the EPA website.

Trump's strategy is encountering resistance from some business leaders and the courts are challenging his authority.  People are feeling that it is both necessary and appropriate to protest against Trump and they are seeing that there is power in their resistance.

The situation is grim but we need to try to stay hopeful and keep resisting the incompetence of this administration.

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Republicans Trying to Kill the EPA Quickly

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Trump drew first blood with an Executive Order that enfeebled some of the EPA's activities, now Republicans are going in for the kill. They recently proposed a bill that seeks to abolish the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Known as H.R.861, the bill has the following self-explanatory title: "To terminate the Environmental Protection Agency."

While this bill is unbelievably destructive for the American people it should come as no surprise when you consider Republican obstructionism for the last eight years and the man who is now President of the United States. Within his first two weeks in office, Trump signed an Executive Order that targeted the EPA.

The nomination of Scott Pruitt to lead the EPA sent a clear message that made his intentions clear. Pruitt has spent a good chunk of his adult life trying to dismantle the EPA from the outside. Now after having been confirmed in committee he gets to destroy the agency from the inside.

The proposed bill that would kill the EPA has moved on to committee. Don't wait to see if it moves forward from there. Call or email your congressman, write letters to your local newspapers, talk to your friends, don't let the EPA go down without a fight. Despite what Trump may say, the EPA is not a partisan body. Both Democrats and Republicans want and need clean air and water. Don't let Republicans deprive you of your basic human rights.

Call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to reach your senators or representative, you can also find the direct number to any member's office by consulting the Senate phone list or House phone list.

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Mother Nature Strikes Back: A Review of Extreme Weather in 2016

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Extreme weather is a deadly corollary of climate change. A UN study found that between 1995 and 2015, 600,000 people died from natural disasters. Global warming is known to exacerbate the intensity of extreme weather events. We are already seeing clear evidence of climate change playing a role in a growing number of natural disasters. Thanks to advances in attribution science we can now see the role that climate change plays in driving a succession of increasingly severe extreme weather events.

According to a report from the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, floods accounted for 30 percent of the world's top ten natural disasters in 2015. In 2015, three of the world's top 10 natural disasters by the number of fatalities were floods. In first place was heat waves, accounting for four of the top 10.

The warming trend and associated extreme weather events continued in 2016, which has replaced 2015 as the hottest year on record. Decades of hot data are the harbingers of a climate catastrophe. As published in Insurance Journal, here is a list of some of the extreme weather events we experienced in 2016
  • Flooding in China’s Yangtze Basin from May through August killed at least 475 people and caused $28 billion in losses.
  • A drought in India that started earlier in the year and stretched through June caused about $5 billion in damage.
  • Flooding in West Virginia and the mid-Atlantic in June killed 23 people and damaged more than 5,500 buildings.
  • Typhoon Nepartak hit the Philippines, Taiwan and China in July, killing 111 people and causing at least $1.5 billion in damage.
  • Flooding in northeast China in July killed 289 people and caused about $5 billion in damage.
  • Temperatures reached 129 degrees (54 degrees Celsius) in Kuwait and Iraq in July.
  • Flooding in Louisiana in August killed 13 people and caused around $15 billion in damage.
  • Flooding in Sudan and South Sudan in July and August killed 129 people and damaged more than 41,000 buildings.
  • A long heat wave coupled with high humidity afflicted the U.S. South and East. Savannah, Georgia, had 69 straight days when the temperature hit 90 or higher.
  • Typhoon Lionrock hit Japan, China and Korea in August and killed 77 people while damaging more than 20,000 buildings.
  • Spain set a record for the hottest September temperature recorded in Europe, with marks of 114 and 115 degrees.
  • Localities in the United States broke nearly 15,000 daily records for hot nighttime minimum temperatures from May into September.
Hurricane Matthew wreaked havoc in Cuba and the Bahamas and it killed almost one thousand people in Haiti. Although not as severe the effects of the Hurricane were felt in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina. What makes this hurricane noteworthy is that advances in attribution science are making it easier to see the role played by climate change.  The relationship between extreme weather and climate change was explored in a recent Scientific American article.

Perhaps the most disturbing thing about extreme weather in the US is the GOP's refusal to accept reality. Republicans ignored unprecedented heat and record breaking precipitation while boldly revealing policy platforms that will exacerbate the situation. The GOP's love of fossil fuels and disdain for climate action is equaled only by their hatred for science.

In the span of six months two once in 500 year storms have devastated Louisiana. Similar catastrophic flooding has gripped many pats of the world in 2016 including China, India, Macedonia, Pakistan and Sudan.

As reported by Damian Carrington in a Washington Post article, this warming trend has dire implications for extreme weather which costs lives, destroys crops and contributes to food insecurity.

"The extra heat from the powerful El Niño event has disappeared. The heat from global warming will continue...Because of climate change, the occurrence and impact of extreme events has risen...Once in a generation’ heatwaves and flooding are becoming more regular," Carrington said.

The WMO said human-induced global warming had contributed to at least half the extreme weather events studied in recent years, with the risk of extreme heat increasing by 10 times in some cases.

"It is almost as if mother nature is making a statement," said climate scientist Michael Mann, at Penn State University in the US.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, in 2016 extreme weather and climate events have adversely affected agriculture impacting the food security of more than 60 million people.

"Climate change is not like other issues that can be postponed from one year to the next,” he said. “The US and world are already behind; speed is of the essence because climate change and its impacts are coming sooner and with greater ferocity than anticipated."

The situation is dire as indicated by new research published at the end of 2016. The findings are from a Stanford University doctoral dissertation by Carolyn Snyder, a climate policy official at the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). As reported in Nature the research suggests the Earth is currently warmer than it has been in 100,000 years. The conclusion of the Snyder study suggests that current levels of fossil fuel use indicate the Earth is 'locked into' temperatures not Seen in 2 million years. The research suggests that we may see temperature rises of up to 9° Celsius.

As reported in an accompanying Nature article: "Even if the amount of atmospheric CO2 were to stabilize at current levels, the study suggests that average temperatures may increase by roughly 5° C over the next few millennia." If Trump delivers on his promise to extract and burn even more fossil fuels the situation could be even worse that predicted by the research.

"The kinds of extreme weather we have seen over the past year or so will be routine all too soon, but then even worse records will be set," Kevin Trenberth, one of the world’s leading climatologists, told Think Progress' Joe Romm.

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Event - Green Sports Alliance Summit: College Sports Sustainability Summit

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PAC-12 will host the first conference wide College Sports Sustainability Summit. It will take place on June 27th 2017 in Sacramento, California. This event is part of the annual Green Sports Alliance Summit.

The College Sports Sustainability Summit is part of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy's (OSTP) call to action to tackle climate through sports. This event is supported by member universities that have pledged to take a leadership position in promoting sustainability through sports.

The mission of this event is to influence conferences and universities around the country. This summit will convene sustainability officers from across the conference to design new collective initiatives and share best practices to transform college sports into a platform for environmental progress.

“Our member universities and athletics departments are national leaders in minimizing their impact on the environment,” said Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott. “In hosting this summit, we look forward to convening an esteemed group of experts to design new initiatives and share best practices to enhance our collective efforts.”

The pledge was part of a larger push to use sports to address climate change. Earlier this year, the OSTP put out a call to action to capture new commitments and actions that leagues, teams, and organizations were taking in the climate space. Today’s announcement by the OSTP featured the Pac-12’s commitment along with other organizations’ pledges to minimize the environmental impact of their footprint and increase their response to counter the impact of climate change.

As part of the Pac-12’s pledge, Pac-12 Networks will also continue to shine a light on meaningful sustainability initiatives across the Conference.

Previous programming on Pac-12 Networks highlighted the Green Sports Alliance’s Zero Waste Challenge on Pac-12 campuses. In 2015, the Pac-12 joined the Green Sports Alliance, following the lead of the conference’s 12 institutions, which were already members of the Alliance.

The Pac-12 was the first collegiate sports conference to count all its members as Alliance participants.

About the Pac-12 Conference: Recognized as the 'Conference of Champions' for its unequaled NCAA Cohampionships, the Pac-12 Conference comprises the 12 leading universities located in the Western United States: The University of Arizona, Arizona State University, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), the University of Colorado, the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, Stanford University, the University of Southern California, the University of Utah, the University of Washington and Washington State University. For more information on the Conference’s programs, member institutions, and Commissioner Larry Scott.

About the Green Sports Alliance: The Green Sports Alliance leverages the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable communities where we live and play. The nonprofit does so by inspiring sports leagues, teams, venues, their partners, and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, species preservation, safer chemicals, and other environmentally preferable practices. Alliance members represent over 370 teams, venues and universities from 20 leagues in 14 countries.

For more information or to register click here.

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Green Sports Alliance: Making Athletics more Sustainable

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With 344 members, 300 teams, 172 venues and 20 leagues, in 14 different countries the Green Sports Alliance is a major force in sustainable athletics.  The Green Sports Alliance helps sports leagues to be more sustainable.

Sports are an incredibly powerful activity that garner the attention and interest of billions of people around the world. With this is mind the Green Sports Alliance strives to leverage the cultural and market influence of sports to promote healthy, sustainable communities.

They inspire sports leagues, teams, venues, their partners and millions of fans to embrace renewable energy, healthy food, recycling, water efficiency, species preservation, safer chemicals and other environmentally preferable practices.

The Green Sport Alliance brings together venue operators, sports team executives and environmental scientists to develop more sustainable practices in sport. Their collaborative approach has generated innovative and cost competitive solutions.

The Green Sports Alliance was conceived and founded by the Seattle Seahawks, Portland Trail Blazers, Seattle Sounders FC, Seattle Mariners, Seattle Storm, Vancouver Canucks and the Natural Resources Defense Council with support from Bonneville Environmental Foundation, Green Building Services and Milepost Consulting.

Click here to download the Green Sports Alliance Summit highlights (pdf) or here for more information.

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Keystone XL is Rejected Energy East to Follow

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TransCanada's tar sands pipelines are being thwarted at every turn. US President Barack Obama has officially rejected the Keystone XL and the new Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to cancel the Energy East.

President Obama rejected the Keystone citing the economics associated with low oil prices. He also said that building the KXL would be inconsistent with US leadership on climate change. The $7 billion dollar, 1,179 mile long KXL would have ferried 800,000 barrels a day of heavy crude oil from the tar sand pits in Alberta Canada to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico.

Last week TransCanada announced a new route for the Energy East pipeline that excluded an oil export terminal in Cacouna northeast of Quebec city. The terminal was abandoned 6 months ago due to a public outcry over the impact the project would have on the habitat of beluga whales.

The $12 billion, 4,600-kilometre Energy East pipeline would transport 1.1 million barrels of crude each day. from Alberta to Canada's east coast. It is scheduled to be completed in 2020 the year that a hoped for global climate agreement would come into effect.

The change comes a matter of days after TransCanada requested a pause in the US State Department's consideration of the Keystone XL pipeline. The request was subsequently denied and then on November 6th the KXL pipeline was cancelled outright after many years of wrangling.

In response to the news, TransCanada said that the fight for the Keystone XL is not over. They are also working on ways of keeping the Energy East afloat. They have submitted new plans for the Energy East to Canada's National Energy Board. The revised route for Energy East pipeline excludes a port in Quebec and goes directly to Irving Oil's massive refinery in Saint John, New Brunswick.

While the company is trying to put a brave face on the cancellation of the Keystone XL and the rerouting of the Energy East, they are having an increasingly difficult time moving forward with their pipedreams.

The situation is destined to get worse for TransCanada as the new Liberal government has promised to prevent oil shipping along Canada's west coast and cancel the Energy East outright. TransCanada explained the rerouting indicated that their decision was made after "conducting thorough studies and consulting with many local communities," Energy East president John Soini said.

Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard has questioned the economic, employment and environmental benefits of the Energy East and he said that his province will not just be a passageway for the pipeline. Citing climate and other concerns, environmental groups oppose the building of the pipeline altogether.

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Proof of Disinformation from Fossil Fuel Companies (Video)

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The fossil fuel industry is widely known to be the driving force behind climate denying front groups and disreputable scientists. Their aim is to make the public question the veracity of climate scientists and by all accounts they have been successful. In the US they managed to increase public skepticism and gain control of the Republican party.

As revealed by a series of internal company and trade association documents the fossil fuel industry has funded climate denial. This summary of evidence from the Union of Concerned Scientists shows how the fossil fuel industry funds a campaign of deception. 

Here is an assemblage of some of the most compelling evidence to date:



For thirty years they have been working to confuse the clear scientific evidence that fossil fuels are responsible for climate change. They not only work to misinform the public, they influence politicians in devious ways.

If left unchecked the fossil fuel industry will push us past dangerous climate tipping points and create a world ravaged by climate change.

Click here to read more about the fossil fuel industry's coordinated campaign of deception in this report from the Union of Concerned Scientists. Click here to do something about it.

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Video - Arctic Emergency: Scientists on Melting Arctic Ice

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In this video climate scientists address how rising temperatures in the Arctic are contributing the melting sea ice, thawing permafrost, and destabilization of a system that has been called "Earth's Air Conditioner". They make the point that global warming is here and is impacting weather patterns, natural systems, and human life around the world - and the Arctic is central to these impacts.

Scientists featured in the film include:

- Jennifer Francis, PhD. Atmospheric Sciences Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences, Rutgers University.

- Ron Prinn, PhD. Chemistry TEPCO Professor of Atmospheric Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

- Natalia Shakhova, PhD. Marine Geology International Arctic Research Center, University of Alaska-Fairbanks.

- Kevin Schaefer, PhD. Research Scientist, National Snow and Ice Data Center.

- Stephen J. Vavrus, PhD. Atmospheric Sciences Center for Climatic Research, University of Wisconsin-Madison

- Nikita Zimov, Northeast Science Station, Russian Academy of Sciences.

- Jorien Vonk, PhD. Applied Environmental Sciences Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University

- Jeff Masters, PhD. Meteorology Director, Weather Underground

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Dipole Explains How Climate Change can Cause Diverging Weather Systems

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A dipole is a term that has been coined by researchers to explain two different weather systems such as hot dry weather in the West and cold snowy weather in the Midwest and the East. Traditionally, a dipole is a term used in physics and chemistry to describe two electric charges or magnetic poles that have equal magnitudes but opposite signs and are separated by a small distance. It is also used in chemistry to define a molecule in which the center of positive charge does not coincide with the center of negative charge.

Research conducted by climate scientist Simon Wang at Utah State University employs the term to explain how climate change may be behind two diverging weather systems. Namely, the drought in California and the cold and precipitation elsewhere on the continent.

In 2009, Wang related the dipole anomaly to record lows in Arctic summer sea ice extent.

In Wang's research a dipole refers to the combination of a strong Western high pressure ridge and deep Great Lakes low pressure trough. That dipole is linked to a recently found precursor to El Nino. Wang's study notes that this precursor is amplified by a build-up of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

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Video - Science Based Reason vs. Climate Denial in the US House of Representatives

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Video - Fear is at the Heart of the Psychology of Climate Change Denial

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At first glance climate change deniers are simply ignorant. However, when seen through the lens of climate psychology we realize that it is a far more complex issue. Denial is motivated by pain and fear. The harrowing reality of climate change augers despair and causes people to shut down. People are overwhelmed so in this context denial can be understood as a psychological coping mechanism. For more information on how the negative emotions associated with climate change are impeding action click here. For information explaining why we need a new climate narrative click here.

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The US is the World's Leading Climate Denying Nation

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The United States is the world's leading bastion of climate change denial. According to an international poll, the US is the nation with the largest percentage of people who refute the veracity of anthropogenic climate change.

A total of 52 percent of American agreed with the statement, “the climate change we are currently seeing is a natural phenomenon that happens from time to time.” India was tied with the US followed by China. In contrast, only 34 percent of Swedes, 26 percent of South Koreans, and 22 percent of Japanese agreed with the statement.

When asked if we are headed for environmental disaster unless we change our habits quickly, only 57 percent of Americans said yes compared to 91 percent of Chinese.

The United States also had the ignominious distinction of having the largest percentage of people who disagreed with the statement, “the climate change we are currently seeing is largely the result of human activity.” A total of 32 percent of Americans disagreed with this followed by 25 percent of Australians.

In France, Italy, Turkey, Spain and Argentina, 80 percent or more of the population believe that human activity is the cause of climate change.

To see the complete Ipsos Mori Global Trends Survey click here.

© 2014, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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What Resistance to Evolution Teaches us about US Climate Denial

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In this article a comparison is made between resistance to evolution and climate change denial. With roughly one third of Americans rejecting evolution and climate change, those engaged in raising awareness may be able to learn something from the comparison. Despite the pernicious ignorance of deniers, there are reasons that some of them may be forced to change their tune. While a cogent case could be made for the need to reach climate deniers, we may have to accept that there will always be some people who are beyond the reach of reason.

Those engaged in efforts to enlighten climate deniers can learn a great deal from the long history of the anti-evolution movement.

Almost one hundred years ago this month, a young high school teacher by the name of John Thomas Scopes went on trial for teaching Darwinian evolution. From its inception to this day, the science of evolution has been under siege.

Climate denial is like resistance to evolution in that it is an irrational position rooted in faith rather than facts. Although those who resist evolution and those who deny climate change are often intellectually vacuous, the web of lies they weave is surprisingly pernicious.

It took 44 years to get the highest U.S. court to rule in favor of evolution (in 1968 the U.S. Supreme Court overturned an Arkansas statute outlawing the teaching of evolution). Despite this ruling and the wealth of scientific evidence, resistance to evolution persists.

The U.S. holds the ignominious distinction of being a world leader for both its resistance to evolution and rejection of climate change. According to a Reuters poll, 33 percent of U.S. citizens reject evolution and an Ipsos poll found that 32 percent of Americans do not believe in anthropogenic climate change.

Incognizance endures in the face of an overwhelming body of evidence. We should not underestimate the obstinacy and determination of those who belligerently ignore the facts. These people are steeped in an aggressive form of ignorance that forms a world view which is not easily undone. Some climate deniers revel in their opposition to science and spitefully go out of their way to be environmentally destructive.

Coal rollers

The reflexive and irrational opposition to climate science is illustrated by a small fringe group known as “coal rollers.” As a means of protesting U.S. clean air regulations, these people are modifying their diesel trucks so that they spew thick plumes of black smoke.

Owners of these trucks not only despise President Obama and the Environmental Protection Agency, they also hate people who drive fuel efficient vehicles. As one of the coal rollers explained, “that’s my way of giving them the finger.” Adding angrily, “you want clean air and a tiny carbon footprint? Well, screw you.”

Republican denial

While coal rollers may be a fringe element, there are a number of elected officials in the U.S. that are also passionate supporters of climate denial. It is no secret that the legislative deadlock on climate change and clean energy is largely attributable to the denial of Congressional Republicans.

As revealed in a Think Progress article, almost 60 percent of Republicans in Congress are climate deniers. Over 56 percent (133 members) of the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives deny the basic tenets of climate science and 65 percent (30 members) of the Senate Republican caucus deny man-made climate change.

Even more alarming is the fact that 90 percent of the leading Republican decision makers in both the House and the Senate are climate deniers. The majority of Republicans on the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology are climate deniers, as are most of those on the House Energy and Commerce Committee. All of the Republicans on the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee have said climate change is not happening or that humans are not the cause.

Economy and jobs

While most Republicans are reflexively obstructionist, others acknowledge that combating climate change is an engine for growth that enhances the nation’s global competitiveness and provides jobs. The tremendous economic and employment opportunities associated with climate change mitigation and adaptation are evident in the growing levels of investment. Annual investments in the global clean energy market alone could reach $230 billion a year in 2020 and as much as $424 billion in 2030.

Dollar for dollar, studies show that cleantech investments provide four times the jobs of fossil fuels. Currently, cleantech is seeing job growth which is two and a half times that of traditional jobs. With people clamoring for economic growth and hungry for jobs, deniers who seek public office risk alienating voters.

Conservatives want solar too

Many conservatives support greener energy and in red states across America, the demand for renewable energy is growing. To illustrate the point, Republicans in the Peach state recently voted in favor of an ambitious solar energy plan. The new law requires that Atlanta-based Georgia Power Co. increase its solar power capacity by 525 megawatts within two and a half years. What makes this decision noteworthy is the fact that it was supported by an unprecedented coalition of conservative lawmakers and the Tea Party. Support for rooftop solar is another green initiative that is getting support from red states like Arizona and Idaho.

Failure to find fault

Climate deniers are quick to point to even the smallest errors in climate science. Deniers are not moved by scientific consensus, they prefer to side with outliers. However, it is getting harder to find sane scientists capable of any sort of cogent rebuttal. Even scientists who were previously deniers are being forced to recant under the weight of the evidence.

Let them fester

If only the weight of the evidence were enough to break the back of climate denial. In the Scopes trial, the prosecuting attorney William Jennings Bryan was humiliated and ridiculed for his foolish beliefs. Five days after the judge ruled, Bryan lay down and died. While climate deniers are highly susceptible to ridicule, they are unlikely to die as quickly or as conveniently as Bryan.

Eighty nine years after the Scopes trial there are still more than a hundred million Americans who oppose evolution. There are also a similar number of Americans who dismiss climate science. Many are unreachable as their attitudes are articles of faith that are not easily uprooted.

While there are many parallels that can be drawn between those who are opposed to evolution and those who deny the existence of climate change, there are also some salient differences. The chief difference is that questioning the validity of evolution does not threaten life on a planetary scale. With atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide surpassing 400 ppm, we are on track for a 9 degree temperature increase by the end of the century.

We will never be able to convert the majority of climate deniers. The long history of the anti-evolution movement forces us to concede that there will always be Luddites who support profoundly irrational positions. Rather than waste energy trying to enlighten deniers, we should relegate them to their rightful place on the lunatic fringe.

Source: Global Warming is Real

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Rubio's Opportunistic Denial of Climate Change is both Ignorant and Shameful

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On Sunday May 11, Marco Rubio the Republican senator from Florida said that he does not believe that humans are causing climate change, nor does he believe that lawmakers can do anything about it.

Given the state he represents, it is hard to understand how Rubio can deny the veracity of climate change. Climate change is destined to hit Florida harder than most states in the future and its effects are already being felt in that state today. This is what makes Rubio's climate denial so utterly ignorant. It is not only anti-science, Rubio's statements defy common sense.

The National Climate Assessment has named Miami as the city which is the most vulnerable to damage from rising sea levels. While a Southeast Florida Regional Climate Compact paper warned that water in the area could rise by as much as two feet by the year 2060.

Despite the scientific evidence Rubio said, "I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it," Rubio said, according to ABC This Week, "and I do not believe that the laws that they propose we pass will do anything about it, except it will destroy our economy."

While Rubio gives the impression of being concerned about the economy he ignores the far greater costs associated with doing nothing to manage climate change. The cost of sea level rises alone is thought to be around two trillion dollars and the cost of biodiversity loss is estimated to be more than two trillion.

One of the most costly elements of climate change takes the form of extreme weather. According to a study released by the UN-backed Principles for Responsible Investment (PRI) and UNEP Finance Initiative, global environmental damage caused by human activity in 2008 represented a monetary value of $ 6.6 trillion, equivalent to 11 percent of global GDP.  To put these numbers into perspective, these costs are 20 percent larger than the $ 5.4 trillion decline in the value of pension funds in developed countries caused by the global financial crisis in 2007/8.

While the cost of climate change is already staggering it is destined to get far worse. Some have estimated that in the last two years alone, delays in engaging climate change have cost us $8 trillion. The longer we wait the higher the price tag. The IEA says that climate change will cost $115 trillion by 2050. 

Rubio was not always a climate Luddite, when he was leader of the Florida House in 2008 he helped to craft a law capping carbon emissions. The inference that can be drawn from his change of direction is that he is now using the issue of climate change for partisan political purposes.

When you consider what is at stake, Rubio's political opportunism is unconscionable both for the state and the nation.

© 2014, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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