Climate Change… “an American National Security Challenge” Sen. Kerry.
Filed under: Domestic Politics, Energy, Environment, Uncategorized
An appeal to self-interest from the Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Senator John Kerry decided to send another salvo across the bow today and penned a passionate op-ed in the The Hill newspaper in support of climate change legislation. Stalled in Congress, the legislation suffers from attacks by corporate lobbyists, conservative think tanks and right wing talk radio hosts who debate the scientific realities of global warming. As many supporters of Congressional efforts to reduce carbon emissions know, defending the science and consequences of climate change against the fictitious and greedy attacks of the opposition can be a futile cause. So Kerry went another way.
Instead of arguing the science of the bill, he laid out the simple and stark geopolitical and national security threats that face this country if we fail to place a price on the cost of carbon. ”Climate change injects a new major source of chaos, tension and human insecurity into an already volatile world. It threatens to bring more famine and drought, worse pandemics, more natural disasters, more resource scarcity, and staggering human displacement. In an interconnected world, that endangers all of us,” he wrote. Shining a light on the critically shared Himalayan glacier water resources of India and Pakistan which are melting away, and the growing threats of famine, drought, and pandemics across the globe Senator Kerry hoped he could soften some intransigent opinions.
Channeling Hans Morenghtau he ended with the article with a clear message. “Here’s one fact that should awaken every rock-ribbed defense hawk to the stakes: There will always be excuses to wait, but every day that Washington fails to price carbon and embrace clean energy, America sends another $100 million to Iran. That’s not a choice America can afford., he wrote”.
I encourage you to read the whole letter in The Hill newspaper and then read the Senate’s bill S. 1733: Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
The Paralysis of Copenhagen and the Potential of Cochabamba
An Opportunity to Stop Burning Coal
Op-Ed Contributor:
Jim Gonzalez Founder and Chair of the Renewable Energy Accountability Project
In a bold move that could recoup the momentum that was lost at the disappointing Copenhagen Climate Conference, Bolivian President Evo Morales has challenged governments “who want to work with their people” to come to Cochabamba on April 20-22, 2010 to work on meaningful climate change reform. President Morales is inviting indigenous peoples, social movements, scientists and environmentalists from throughout the world to attend.
Here is why I will attend.
The Copenhagen Climate Conference was meant to unify the world in bold action to save the planet. Instead, inaction and indifference prevailed in a lemming march to the global warming tipping point — led in large part by the rich nations of the developed world.
Those who will suffer most as a result of climate change are often ignored in a rich world debate about cap and trade. The threat of climate change on the lifestyles of the richest countries is highlighted at the expense of the life and death struggles of the subsistence poor. In truth, the rich may be able to shift their buying power to avoid the impact of climate change, but it is the poor who will die in the wake of rising sea levels and hemispheric droughts.
The data and scientific evidence are compelling. Scientists from the United Nations Environment Programme’s (UNEP) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) recently announced that global carbon dioxide levels in 2008 were a staggering 40% higher than in 1990. This means that sea levels may rise as much as one meter by 2100, nearly twice as much as was projected just two years ago by the IPCC. To abate a global climate disaster by keeping global warming under two degrees Celsius, per capita carbon emissions will have to decrease by at least 80% below the 1990 per capita emissions from developed nations.
This is a tall order that can be accomplished only through facing the truth about the greatest source of global warming pollution – burning dirty coal to generate electricity.
The one statistic big utilities and corporate polluters hope the public never focuses on is the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) estimate that over 40% of man-made carbon emissions in the United States are attributable to the burning of fossil fuels (primarily coal) to generate electricity.
(Ironically, in the United States the coal industry cheerily advertises that over half of our electricity comes from coal; and Congress debates the infusion of billions of dollars on carbon capture and sequestration, aka “clean coal”, in an attempt to extend the life of over 600 U.S. coal fired plants.)
Amidst the disappointments of Copenhagen and the new opportunity of Cochabamba are the horrific coal burning statistics which are at the very core of the global warming crisis. These statistics — if ever honestly dealt with — would provide the single most effective solution to human caused global warming.
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, from 2002 to 2007, China doubled its use of coal – 3 billion tons of coal, more than three times that of the United States. The impact of coal burning on the environment and its relationship to greenhouse gas pollution and global warming is incontrovertible. And yet, these statistics are brushed aside as the popular debate turns to speculative engineering adventures, “freakonomics” geo-engineering, carbon “capture and sequestration,” or to the creation of yet another Wall Street derivative market through the cap and trade gamble.
If we are to be truthful about the crisis we are in, and if we are to examine scientific data – and yes, statistics – with cold realism, we are led inevitably to one undeniable conclusion: we must end coal burning to generate electricity- and if we do we will halt, and possibly reverse, human caused global warming.
Although scientific evidence and data has been essential in understanding and confronting the climate crisis, too often the profit motive has trumped sound national and international policy. In this case, the facts clearly indicate that coal burning is way too profitable for Big Utility cheerleaders to be inspired to do the right thing.
Owning a coal plant – particularly an older coal plant — is, in effect, like owning a diamond, or gold mine; or an unlimited license to print money. A lot of mega-polluters are dependent on coal profits at the expense of the environment: the mountain top removal mining companies, the railroads which transport coal and the big utilities (both private and public) which burn coal.
So, in the wake of the paralysis of Copenhagen and the potential of Cochabamba, it is time to start focusing on the coal electricity monopolies that are the chief culprits of the climate crisis. Retiring coal plants in the United States and China is the most efficient and effective way to solve the global warming crisis; and to usher in the worldwide green economy. Since world leaders stumbled at Copenhagen, hopefully now the people will lead the march to save Mother Earth in Cochabamba.
Jim Gonzalez is the founder and chair of the Renewable Energy Accountability Project, a grass roots campaign to hold utilities and policy makers accountable to their commitments to a clean energy future. Jim Gonzalez is a former member of the elected Board of Supervisors of the City and County of San Francisco, California. www.reapinfo.org
Global Fund in Copenhagen should not be overlooked
By: Melissa Vargas
The unavoidable truth, is that the most economically and socially disadvantaged people are the ones that are the worst affected by climate change’s extreme weather patterns and its corollaries.
The United Nations’ climate conference in Copenhagen this month hopes to a find a new climate treaty to restore the Kyoto Protocol. Officials have 11 days to convince 192 countries to impede the growth of the global GHG emissions. Although the international goals to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions are vital, the opportunity to establish a global fund to help poor nations fight climate change and the extreme environmental shifts that follow is of equal importance.
The unavoidable truth, is that the most economically and socially disadvantaged people are the ones that are the worst affected by climate change’s extreme weather patterns and its corollaries. Scientific estimates claim that more than 300,000 people die each year because of climate change related events. The living conditions of an additional 325 million people are significantly affected by the extreme weather patterns that have doubled in the past 20 years; more frequent and more severe rainfall, more intense heat waves and extended droughts.1 The unavoidable truth is that the most economically and socially disadvantaged people are the ones that are the worst affected by climate change’s extreme weather patterns and its corollaries. (continue reading..)
In Security Council, Obama can make or break UN trip
Update: Embarrassment avoided, UN Summit a measurable success. President Barack Obama chaired a summit level-session of the Security Council Thursday that unanimously adopted a resolution committing to work toward a nuclear weapons-free world. Admittedly, it was a pre-negotiated document that the U.S. knew would pass. However, on the positive side, according to VOA, “All of the other [Security Council]members were represented by their head of state or government, except for non-permanent member Libya, which sent its U.N. ambassador instead of President Moammar Gadhafi.” After Gadhafi’s 90 minute diatribe in the GA Hall yesterday, he was a no show in the packed media spotlight. Pity. Nuclear disarmament statements by the UK’s Gordon Brown, positive climate change comments by China and gestures from Russia on Iranian sanctions were also notable developments. Now on to Pittsburgh.
Original Story: This Thursday (24 September) Barack Obama will be the first U.S. President to chair a special session of the United Nations Security Council. This white-hot media event could offer an opportunity for diplomatic successes, but also very public embarrassments. Sitting around the horseshoe table on New York’s east-side, President Obama will face the leaders of 14 other nations including Russia, China and curiously enough Col. Qaddafi of Libya. See Full Member List here:
Susan Rice, the United States’ Ambassador to the UN hinted about Obama’s four priorities for the UN this week to CBS news’ Pamela Falk: nonproliferation (read: Iran and North Korea), peacekeeping, development, and climate change. Thursday’s appearance in the Security Council chamber will focus on the nuclear nonproliferation, but analysts expect Obama’s rhetoric will avoid directly naming obvious US concerns.
On Thursday you can view Obama’s appearance live here: http://www.un.org/webcast/
U.S. President Addresses Summit on Climate Change. UN Photo/Marco Castro
Earlier today, Obama delivered a speech to the Climate Change meeting in the UN General Assembly where he foreshadowed a proposal to phase out fossil fuel subsidies at next week’s G20 Summit in Pittsburgh. He also raised new regional powers in his talk, Brazil, India and Mexico acknowledging their new standing in global trade, not to mention carbon emissions. China figured prominently in Obama’s message to the assembled delegates, in which he attempted to verbally separate China’s responsibility above other developing nations. “We must also energize our efforts to put other developing nations — especially the poorest and most vulnerable on a path to sustainable growth. These nations do not have the same resources to combat climate change as countries like the United States or China do, but they have the most immediate stake in a solution,” he said. The subtle point is a good move to bring China’s burden in the climate change debate out from behind the mantle of a “developing nation”.
Thursday will cap off a busy week for Obama in New York including appearances on David Letterman and a keynote to the Clinton Global Initiative conference, but his Security Council appearance could make or break the trip.
Governments, Private Sector, Unions and Environmentalists look to Copenhagen.
Filed under: Commentary, Energy, Environment, United Nations
This December, delegations from 192 countries will descend upon Copenhagen, Denmark for the United Nations Climate Change Conference (7-18 Dec.). Regional member blocks such as the African Union and the G77 have already been having internal discussions for months. The Obama administration singled its desire to lead the dialogue, organizing three run-up meetings this summer with the group of nations called the Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate. The US is also expected to advance agreement amongst the major industrial countries at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh (Sept.) on what reforms to bring to Denmark this winter.
The weight of the Copenhagen Conference’s importance is punctuated by global technology and energy companies whose heavy hands are invested in the game. In May this year, the private sector held the World Business Summit on Climate Change in Denmark. While there, leaders discussed global climate change legislation and their means to influence the framework that will determine future business. Several industries such as solar, wind, geo-thermal and high performance electric batteries optimistically look forward to more business. Other industry verticals are unprepared.
The Dow Jones Clean Technology Insight, an industry analyst report cites a research study sponsored by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) that “says that 90% of utilities around the world know they are at risk from climate change but fewer than a third said they have performed any financial review of the possible impacts on their business.
Utilities face a variety of potential problems from climate change, including shortages of water to cool plants, increased generation demand from hotter summers and power outages from more frequent severe weather, according to the report. They also face challenges as society tries to address the need to curb carbon emissions with new technologies like electric vehicles, which will increase electricity demand”. (read full coverage)
Unfortunately, the US Senate’s Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman Barbara Boxer and Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry announced a new delay on climate change legislation today in Washington, D.C. An industry expert in involved in the discussions said, “Practical climate change legislation cannot hope to proceed in Denmark unless the United States has made adequate concessions to lure China and India into the same. Our trade balance actually hangs in the midst.” Green technology and energy corporations are beginning to see their interests in shaping the debate and have been sharing their priorities on Capital Hill this summer.
At the same time, the Blue Green Alliance a collaboration of six unions and two environmental groups including the Sierra Club, the United Steelworkers, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Service Employees International Union, Communications Workers of America, Utility Workers Union of America, Laborers’ International Union of North America, and the American Federation of Teachers is uniting more than six million of their members in pursuit of a platform aimed at good jobs, a clean environment and a green economy.
It will be interesting to see whether the President has something to show for his efforts in Pittsburgh.
