TOP STORY
There are many forms of climate change obstructionism, including denial of the science to confuse and mislead the public to reduce support for reform, boycotts and Congressional parliamentary tactics to delay a domestic law and global treaty, and interference with national policy to ensure failure blamed on Obama and the Democrats.
Texas, the top U.S. producer of wind power, now plans to become the "Coal Star State" with 12 new coal-fired power plants. (larger graphic here.)
While the nation and the world are working to move from fossil fuel to alternative energies, Texas is pushing new coal-fired power plants.
Coal's comeback in Texas comes as the rest of the United States moves in the opposite direction. At least 107 proposed coal plants have been scrapped nationwide since 2002. Recently, high-profile battles in Idaho, Georgia, Kansas, Iowa and Nevada doomed proposed coal-fired plants.
The Texas coal plans could wipe out the benefits from other states working to reduce CO2 emissions:
The Texas coal rush threatens to throw a monkey wrench into the nation’s long-delayed efforts to stem global warming—so much so, Nilles says, that "it makes it impossible." If all 12 proposed plants are built, they would add upwards of 80 million tons of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere every year. That would be more than the entire country’s increased emissions in 2007.
Coal backers point out that the 12 plants’ CO2 output would cause just a 1-percent increase in U.S. carbon emissions. (In Texas, carbon emissions would go up by 12 percent.) That may not sound like much but in a race to drastically cut emissions in time to avoid runaway climate change, it’s a lot. Eighty million tons is enough to easily wipe out the efforts of other states. For example, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, a cap-and-trade system devised by twelve Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states, aims to cut their carbon emissions from the power sector by 20 million tons by 2019.
Any benefits from Obama's ultimate climate change law can be sabotaged by state actions favoring coal and then his law will be painted a failure.
Who will win the first Angry Mermaid environmental award for doing the "most to sabotage action over global warming?"
Contenders include the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity for promoting "clean coal" and funding a letter-writing campaign in an attempt to weaken the US climate bill; the American petroleum industry for spending millions lobbying against climate legislation; and the European chemical lobby for attempting to undermine EU attempts to cut carbon emissions.
Climate change obstructionism does not just harm the U.S. but also impedes international efforts to address a grave danger that has been ignored far too long. Now, the global effort has been diluted and delayed because Obama can not commit in Copenhagen without a climate change law in the U.S.
Climate change obstructionism prevented passing a bill and will determine next year the policy commitments Obama can make with the global treaty.
Delay also provides climate change deniers with more time to confuse and mislead the public. A recent poll showed that Americans are now climate change illiterate. We are no longer alone on that issue. Global warming is not our fault, say most voters in Times poll in Britain.
Only 41 per cent accept as an established scientific fact that global warming is taking place and is largely man-made. Almost a third (32 per cent) believe that the link is not yet proved; 8 per cent say that it is environmentalist propaganda to blame man and 15 per cent say that the world is not warming.
CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY
- Whenever there is a cold day, some global warming denier proclaims it is proof that global warming does not exist. New study reports that record high temperatures far outpace record lows across U.S., showing that our "climate is already shifting." (larger image here)
Spurred by a warming climate, daily record high temperatures occurred twice as often as record lows over the last decade across the continental United States, new research shows.
...If temperatures were not warming, the number of record daily highs and lows being set each year would be approximately even.
- Greenland ice cap disappearing at rate of 300 Lake Windermeres a year.
More than 273 gigatons of water is now pouring into the oceans annually, raising sea levels by nearly a millimetre every year, satellite imaging has shown.
Such is the change in the vast ice sheet that the loss of weight is actually changing its affect on the earth's gravitational pull, the study in Science claims.
One gigaton could provide enough water for 17 million people in Britain and is the volume of Lake Windermere, the country's biggest water mass.
See also, Bolivian glacier 'disappearing' in under 1 year or 6 years earlier than predicted due to accelerated global warming.
CLIMATE CHANGE POLITICS
- An outline of Kerry, Graham, Lieberman proposal may be released before Copenhagen.
- Nuclear energy high on Senate's climate agenda as the "key to finally passing sweeping domestic climate change legislation."
- Energy industry donated heavily to Senate Finance panel with jurisdiction over climate change legislation.
- Graham Censured for bipartisanship.
The Republican Party of Charleston County, S.C. on Monday voted to censure Sen. Lindsey Graham over his support for climate legislation and his willingness to work across party lines on the issue.
- It does not take huge numbers of the population for obstructionism to work: How 7.4% of Americans can block humanity's efforts to save itself with global climate change treaty.
Senate ratification of an international treaty requires not just 60 but 67 votes. Say 34 senators rally to block such a treaty—senators from, oh, Wyoming, Vermont, North Dakota, Alaska, South Dakota, Delaware, Montana, Rhode Island, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Maine, Idaho, Nebraska, West Virginia, New Mexico, Nevada, and Utah. Thus can representatives for 22,540,352 people—7.4% of the population—block the will of the other 281,519,372. Indeed, senators representing 7.4% of Americans can thwart the entire world's efforts to address the climate crisis.
WATER & NATURAL RESOURCES
- Arab experts predict Mideast water wars.
A Jordanian academic has predicted that Israel will go to war with neighboring Lebanon and Egypt to get their water.
An Arab water expert warns that Yemen's worsening water shortage, which is already causing civil unrest, will bolster extremist organizations that could ignite conflicts with nearby states.
These two views reflect a widely held fear in the Middle East that global warming, dwindling water resources and burgeoning populations will trigger wars over water in the not-too-distant future.
- Study Links Climate Change to California Droughts.
The researchers don't know exactly what connects Arctic temperatures to precipitation over California. However, climate models developed by others suggest that when Arctic sea ice disappears, the jet stream—high-altitude winds with a profound influence on climate—shifts north, moving precipitation away from California.
"If there is a connection to Arctic sea ice then there are big implications for us in California," Montañez said. Arctic sea ice has declined by about 3 percent a year over the past three decades, and some forecasts predict an ice-free Arctic ocean as soon as 2020.
- Obama's Pesticide-Pushing Nominee.
When Michelle Obama announced plans to plant an organic garden at the White House, nearly everybody thought it was a great idea. Everybody except for the pesticide industry. Representatives from a branch of the industry's main trade association, CropLife America (CLA), wrote to the First Lady asking her to respect the role of "conventional agriculture;" they added in a separate note to supporters that the thought of the White House's chemical-free vegetables made them "shudder." But the public swipe at the president's wife didn't stop the administration from nominating senior CLA executive Islam "Isi" Siddiqui to a key post: chief agricultural negotiator for the office of the US Trade Representative (USTR). If confirmed, Siddiqui will be responsible for, among other things, negotiating international agreements governing the use of pesticides.
GREEN JOBS & ECONOMIC IMPACTS
- US green builders to number almost eight million.
The US green building industry will support 7.9m and contribute over $550bn (£332bn) to the US economy over the next four years, according to a report this week from the US Green Building Council.
The study found that green construction spending currently supports more than two million US jobs and generates more than $100bn in gross domestic product, but it predicted that the sector is poised for rapid growth as a result of economic stimulus funding and increased demand for energy-efficient, low-carbon buildings.
- "Green" Jobs Should Be Black and Brown Too.
The Barack Obama administration's drive to promote a "green" economy is not working in the interest of poor people in the United States, especially those who belong to minority communities, according to a new study by a leading think tank.
...According to Keleher's findings, ... African Americans and Latinos comprise less than 30 percent of those employed in green industries and economies.
"Gender disparities are even starker," said Liu, who found that African American women are employed in only 1.5 percent of the energy sector workforce. The numbers are even worse as far as Asian and Latino women are concerned. Their share in jobs stands at 1.0 and 0.7 percent, respectively.
SUSTAINABLE COMMUNITIES & NEW IDEAS
- Plastic waste used to construct roads in India: Initially costs 3% more than conventional roads but over long term the costs are lower due to less need for repair and repaving, which has triggered dispute because road maintenance contracts big business that will lose money as well as "government officials who take kickbacks."