Welcome to Edition #3 of This week in climate change.
This series looks to add more debate and attention to the issue as the Senate moves to pass climate change legislation. We all need to come together and do more than ever if we are going to overcome the defining challenge of our generation.
What's that?
We already have plenty of "eco series"?
Isn't that what DK Greenroots is for?
Indeed, in the past there have been many great DK Greenroots diaries. The goal of this series is to supplement the good work done on that front, and to raise awareness about climate issues.
This series, This week in climate change, narrows its focus to climate-related items only.
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Climate news, Climate Diary Rescue, Climate Blog Roundup, Action Items and more below the fold.
This week in climate change is a new series at Daily Kos devoted to climate change and related news. The hope is that we can engange in constructive debate about the issues raised by the topics presented, and coalesce around the action items proposed each week.
The diary for now will appear Wednesday afternoons, around 1PM Pacific.
THE LEDE
Mainstream media ignore rally of 100,000 to 150,000 people.
Notable speakers included Reverend Jesse Jackson, film director, James Cameron, AFL-CIO President, Richard Trumka, Olympic gold medalist, Billy Demong, producer, Trudie Styler, author, Margaret Atwood, NFL player and television personality, Dhani Jones, environmental photographer Sebastian Copeland and many more.
If only this rally, or the subsequent media blackout was front page news somewhere besides a diary on Daily Kos.
WASHINGTON - APRIL 25: Audience members pass a large ball made of plastic bags over their heads at the Climate Rally on the National Mall on April 25, 2010 in Washington, DC. The free concert and rally was organized by the Earth Day Network to encourage Congress to enact strong comprehensive climate legislation.
From Climate Progress
April 25, 2010
The Earth Day rally was incredible. Well over 100,000 people were in the crowd, well over 10x what the Tea Partiers delivered on tax day, so you can figure out which event the media fawned over.
I ended up spending a lot of time chatting with James Cameron, and I’ll do a separate post on what he’s like in person. I also chatted with a few people in the know about inside-the-beltway climate politics who were relatively optimistic that the climate bill can be put back on track.
http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/...
Tens of thousands of people gathered Sunday on the National Mall in Washington to observe the 40th anniversary of Earth Day and to urge Congress to pass climate and energy legislation.
(snip)
Word that senators would delay the unveiling of a climate bill, originally planned with much fanfare for Monday, did not seem to dampen the day, which attracted some 150,000 people over eight hours, according to Tiffany Shipp, a spokesman for the Earth Day Network, the rally’s organizer.
Denis Hayes, who helped mobilize the first Earth Day in 1970 with a small group of environmental activists, said he was gratified by the growing international attention to climate change.
I didn't tune into Fox News that day, but I can only imagine that they had non-stop coverage of this rally that dwarfed the tax day Klan Tea Party rally at the same location.
GOOD NEWS
We on the political left, especially environmentalists, don't get enough good news lately. The past decade ("The Ohs") was our worst in 40 years.
Starting today, let's try to briefly look at the minor victories more often before we find ourselves getting too down.
M'kay?
Ecuadoran President Confirms Deal to Leave Oil Under Yasuni Park
QUITO, Ecuador, April 26, 2010 (ENS) - President Raphael Correa now has approved an agreement to leave Ecuador's largest oil reserves, amounting to some 900 million barrels, underground in Yasuni National Park in exchange for more than $3 billion.
Under the unprecedented agreement, known as the Yasuni-ITT Initiative, the government of Ecuador will refrain from exploiting the Ishpingo-Tambococha-Tiputini oil field within the Amazon rainforest park, which scientists have determined to be the most biodiverse area in all of South America.
The agreement between Ecuador and the United Nations Development Programme creating a trust fund to receive donations to the Yasuni-ITT Initiative was nearly signed in December at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen, but at the last minute, President Correa instructed his negotiators to hold back until several sticking points were resolved.
World’s first taxis with easily swapped batteries hit Tokyo
by Agence France-Presse
http://www.grist.org/...
TOKYO -- The world's first taxis with easily replaceable batteries hit the streets of the Japanese capital Monday in a government-funded experiment.
The purpose-built cars that can run on easily swapped batteries -- rather than wait to be recharged or switch to other fuels -- were launched in Tokyo by Japan's energy agency.
Three cars based on the Nissan Dualis will operate as normal taxis on the city's streets during the 90-day experiment, a joint project with Better Place, a U.S. firm specializing in providing electric vehicle infrastructure.
On again, off again climate/energy bill is on again according to Politico...
http://www.politico.com/...
By JEANNE CUMMINGS & MEREDITH SHINER | 4/27/10 4:25 PM EDT
Supporters of a stalled Senate energy bill are floating a compromise that would put immigration reform on a fast track through the regular committee process and allow the energy bill to move forward on the Senate floor.
The proposal would tentatively set action on immigration for November after the midterm elections – a delay that even some Democrats would welcome.
The potential breakthrough came just a day after an the energy package was quietly forwarded to the Environmental Protection Agency for analysis – another indication that the bill’s co-sponsors, Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Ct.), and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), have not given up on it.
Some might debate whether this is good news. I like to think anything that avoids delay on action to combat climate change is good news.
Whether the bill itself will be good news remains to be seen.
OTHER NEWS
BREAKING!
More GOOD NEWS!
Regulators Approve First Offshore Wind Farm in U.S.
BOSTON — After nine years of regulatory review, the federal government gave the green light Wednesday to the nation’s first offshore wind farm, a highly contested project off the coast of Cape Cod.
The approval of the 130-turbine farm gives a significant boost to the nascent offshore wind industry in the United States, which has lagged far behind Europe and China in harnessing the strong and steady power of ocean breezes to provide electricity to homes and businesses.
With Gov. Deval Patrick standing beside him, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced at a news conference at the Massachusetts Statehouse that the government had approved a permit for Cape Wind Associates, a private venture, to build the farm.
h/t mark louis
Pressure Is Building on Disputed Wind Farm
BOSTON — Political pressure continues to build on Interior Secretary Ken Salazar as he prepares to announce his decision this week on the fate of a proposed wind farm off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., that has been stalled for nine years.
Gray whales head north to shifting summer diet
Jane Kay, SF Chronicle
Monday, April 26, 2010
This migration, one of the world's longest, has gone on for thousands of years. But predicting the future of this watery voyage raises questions about how the changing climate is affecting species living in the Arctic, the part of the world being transformed most dramatically by climate change.
As ocean and atmospheric temperatures rise, the gray whales - and other Arctic dwellers like the walrus, polar bear, ice seal and Arctic fox - are finding their habitat and food supplies shift.
Report: Most Americans still live in unclean airBy SUE MANNING, Associated Press Writer
(04-28) 11:01 PDT LOS ANGELES (AP) --
Six in 10 Americans — about 175 million people — are living in places where air pollution often reaches dangerous levels, despite progress in reducing particle pollution, the American Lung Association said in a report released Wednesday.
The Los Angeles area had the nation's worst ozone pollution.
The report examined fine particulate matter over 24-hour periods and as a year-round average. Bakersfield, Calif., had the worst short-term particle pollution, and the Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale area of Arizona had the worst year-round particle pollution.
Chevron wants unused film on Ecuador dispute
David R. Baker, Chronicle Staff Writer
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
(04-27) 18:35 PDT -- Chevron Corp. has gone to court seeking the unused footage from a documentary film about the $27 billion lawsuit against the oil company in Ecuador.
Chevron, based in San Ramon, has asked a federal judge in New York to force filmmaker Joe Berlinger to grant the company access to more than 600 hours of footage left out of the movie "Crude," which was released last year. Berlinger is fighting the company's request.
CLIMATE BLOG HIGHLIGHTS
This is what "fantastic coverage of environmental issues" looks like. Instead of one story per week, these sites post numerous items every day.
This week featuring the following:
Solve Climate
Climate Progress
HuffPo Green
Communicating the Risks of Climate Change
How to Get Facts Through the Static of an Emotionally Charged Culture War
by Renee Cho - Apr 22nd, 2010
http://solveclimate.com/...
Over the last two years, doubts about climate change have risen in the U.S., while concerns that it is a serious threat have dropped. One survey found the number of Americans "dismissive" of global warming had more than doubled since 2008 to 16%.
Such statistics are likely due to several factors, including the economic downturn, the negative hype surrounding "Climategate," and the IPCC’s flawed glacier report. But when the overwhelming majority of earth scientists say global warming is occurring, why is scientific evidence still unable to communicate the urgency of the climate crisis to a large portion of the American public?
Climate Progress
US & Canada lose higher percentage of forests than Brazil; Business groups say climate impasse undermines clean energy
April 27, 2010
http://climateprogress.org/...
All I can say is wow! Mongabay is highlighting a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences which reveals that between 2000 and 2005 over one million square kilometers of forest were chopped down worldwide, with both the United States and Canada losing a greater percentage of forest than the poster children of tree destruction, Brazil and Indonesia.
HuffPo Green
Question: Did a Kossack inspire a HuffPo banner headline?
Answer: Who cares? Probably not.
But yeah, it's possible. Originally posted by LaughingPlanet on Sun Apr 25, 2010 at 10:25:20 AM PDT
(Also seen in Top Comments Sun Apr 25, 2010 at 07:12:08 PM PDT):
Spill, baby, spill! (59+ / 0-)
Spill here, spill now!
And what do these spills do?
Kill, baby, kill!
Big Oil Fought Off New Safety Rules Before Rig Explosion
First Posted: 04-26-10 05:00 PM | Updated: 04-27-10 10:18 AM
As families mourn the 11 workers thrown overboard in the worst oil rig disaster in decades and as the resulting spill continues to spread through the Gulf of Mexico, new questions are being raised about the training of the drill operators and about the oil company's commitment to safety.
Climate.gov
Counting Blossoms along a Canyon Trail
By Zack Guido
Mike Crimmins, a climate science extension specialist for the University of Arizona, immediately saw the value of Bertelsen’s observations. By 2003, Bertelsen had amassed a continuous 20-year record of first blooming dates for hundreds of plants that spanned more than 4,000 feet of elevation. By 2009, though injuries had slowed his data collection for two years, Bertelsen had added another four continuous years of first-blossom dates to his records. In his 24 years of complete records, he cataloged 131,369 observations of plants in flower. He also noted more than 64,000 observations of animals along the trail, including birds, frogs, and snakes.
"I nearly fell out of my chair," said Crimmins. "Bertelsen unknowingly created the world’s first long-term record of phenology—the study of the timing of life cycle events in plants and animals—that spans a large range of elevation. On top of that, he compiled the record with such a high level of detail that he has produced an incredibly rich dataset. Much remains to be learned from his work," Crimmins said.
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DKOS CLIMATE DIARIES
NOTE:
This is not a Green Diary Rescue just like MB did in 2009, which linked every "green" themed diary over the preceding days. Instead I choose a handful of climate diaries subjectively, trying to cull more from our site's less-renown names and diaries that did not make the rec list.
A Slow Motion Disaster in the Gulf
by acliff
42,000 gallons of oil a day are pouring into the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and nobody has figured out how to stop it.
This isn't a ship with a specific amount of oil which would allow us to determine what the potential maximum spill might be. This is oil gushing from the seafloor through a pipe attached to a well 5000 feet deep. We don't know where the end will be.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
Macca's Meatless Monday...Giving Greece A Ride
by beach babe in fl
We're heading to Greece known for it's great beauty and ancient culture. Greece is also known for its cuisine and is often cited as an example of the healthy Mediterranean diet. Greek cuisine incorporates fresh ingredients into a variety of local dishes. Its famous olives, cheese, olive oil and fresh fruits and vegetables are incorporated into most of its cuisine.
Magnifico continues to do a...umm...magnificent job of keep our community abreast of the ecological disaster in the Gulf.
http://www.dailykos.com/...
The precise location where the oil spill will first make landfall is still not known. "If some of the weather conditions continue, the Delta area is at risk," said Charlie Henry, NOAA scientific support coordinator told the NY Times.
"It is going to land eventually," said Doug Helton, the incident operations coordinator for NOAA's emergency response division. The winds could change on Wednesday and push the spill toward the Mississippi Delta.
A 'mass of oil' will wash ashore in Alabama and Mississippi as soon as Friday, the Mobile Press-Register reported.
Desmogblog give a primer about how to vote pro climate in Webby Votes for Climate Change.
Three top climate change campaigns of last year are up for prestigious Webby Awards in 2010.
The TckTckTck campaign is nominated for Best Activism website.
Greenpeace International is nominated for Best Green Site for their "Love Letters to the Future" project.
The 350 campaign is nominated for Best Video in the Public Service and Activism category.
Voting closes on Thursday, April 29th, so please if you have a minute, go there right now and cast your votes!
http://www.dailykos.com/...
A Siegel reviews Joe Romm's Straight Up, the book plugged here last week by The Al.
With that pained optimism, Romm speaks for me and many that I know. He, I, we understand that we face a dire situation. That, even in the best scenarios, the situation will worsen (significantly) before improving due to the 'cooked' books of extent CO2 and the huge polluting infrastructure (and culture) that already exists. He, I, we understand that facing that challenge -- directly, seriously, continuously -- also represents a path not just to avert utter disaster but to forge something better for tomorrow.
{UPDATE 2:27PDT ; LATE ADDITION}:
* Heather TaylorMiesle NRDC Action Fund's diary:: ::
This country and the planet cannot afford to delay climate and clean energy legislation. It is that simple. Every day Washington politics puts our clean energy future on hold our economy gets weaker, our enemies get stronger, and the planet gets more polluted. It has been almost a year since the House approved comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation to create jobs, cut our oil imports in half and reduce the carbon pollution that threatens us all, and we are still waiting for the Senate to act. The time is now for comprehensive clean energy and climate legislation that jump-starts our economy, strengthens national security, and leads to a healthier planet.
Other Env'al Series
The week in dirty coal by DWG
Alternative Energy Round-Up by mark louis
Sunday Train by BruceMcF
EcoJustice by various artists
Climate Change News Roundup by PDNC
Macca's Meatless Monday by beach babe in fl
Hike On! by by RLMiller
ECSTASY by various artists
As always, please list your own favorite climate diaries that I didn't list above in the comments below.
INTO ACTION
• Mr. Salazar has said that he will announce his decision about Cape Wind by Friday. Perhaps let him know where you stand.
Email him at: feedback@ios.doi.gov
or better yet (due to urgency, short notice means emails might be too late) call him The White House:
Is it just me, or is the DOI website full of broken links? I've found at least 4.
Anyone know how to call the cabinet directly?
• Join Hands Across The Sand on Facebook
• From RLMiller
People who are concerned about [offshore oil should] comment online to the federal agency that has to listen. The MMS website for public scoping (agenda-setting) will accept comments through June 30. Tell them you're concerned about tourism. Tell them you're concerned about sea turtles and other vulnerable critters. Tell them you're concerned about safety. Just tell them!
• OK; one of my primary action items has been thwarted by premature joculation about the Cape Wind project. So, I turn to you the reader to help beef up this section. I'm on the road today, so I'll try to update when possible.
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What actions do you guys suggest? Leave items in the comments and I'll update the diary and include them here.
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I tried to spend not too much more than a couple hours on this diary to inspire others to try doing their own version in the future.
In the comments below, please mention if you are willing to try and host this series on a future date.
Thank you for reading, recommending, and participating in the comments.