Environmental Justice
Fatalistic Friday (Our 501st Post!): Antarctic glacier thinning at astonishing rate
Published August 14, 2009 @ 06:36PM PT
Here's the latest bad news on how global warming is changing the environment -- super concentrated into one regular weekly burst of woe:
Antarctic glacier 'thinning fast': One of the southern continent's largest glaciers is thinning four times faster than it was 10 years ago. The Pine Island Glacier is dropping at a rate of up to 16 meters (52 feet) a year. "Since 1994, the glacier has lowered by as much as 90m, which has serious implications for sea-level rise," reports the BBC about the research, which is published in the journal Geophysical Research Letters. "This is unprecedented in this area of Antarctica. We've known that it's been out of balance for some time, but nothing in the natural world is lost at an accelerating exponential rate like this glacier," said co-author Andrew Shepherd of Leeds University. (BBC News)
Study looks at warming’s effect on Beartooth glaciers: When Dr. Edward Chatelain first climbed Montana's 12,604-foot Castle Mountain as a teen, in the mid-1970s, he was awed by the size of the glacier and the deep crevasses that sliced into its core. Flying over it two decades later, "We were absolutely aghast to see what was left," he said. The Castle Rock Glacier lost 60 meters (197 feet) of ice from its surface between 1952 and 2003, an average of 1.26 meters (1.434 feet) of melt per year. (The Billings Gazette)
Vast expanses of Arctic ice melt in summer heat: In late July the mercury soared to almost 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, Canada, home of 900 Inuvialuit. Kids were swimming in the ocean. "As of Thursday, the U.S. National Snow and Ice Data Center reported, the polar ice cap ... shrunk an average 41,000 square miles (106,000 square kilometers) a day in July -- equivalent to one Indiana or three Belgiums daily. The rate of melt was similar to that of July 2007, the year when the ice cap dwindled to a record low minimum extent of 1.7 million square miles (4.3 million square kilometers)..." (AP)
Either way, it was really, really warm: Globally averaged land and sea surface temperatures for July were the second hottest on record, according to NASA (data set here). NOAA calls it the sixth hottest on record, with global ocean surface temperature for July 2009 was the warmest on record.
Why do the same groups oppose health care and energy reform? "Perhaps the best explanation is that great unifier, money." That is, the enormous sums a small but powerful coterie of corporations stand to lose if and when these policies are brought up to date for the conditions the 21st century America. (DeSmogBlog)
Money key stumbling block at UN climate talks: Developing countries will need billions to curb carbon pollution and cope with globl warming's effects on their vulnerable lands and populations. Who will foot the bill was a key hurdle at UN climate talks this week in Bonn. "The five-day negotiating session veered to an end with many participants expressing frustration at the lack of progress only four months ahead of the Copenhagen climate conference slated to deliver a planet-saving climate treaty." (AFP)
Related: India called developed nations' failure to implement the Kyoto Protocol the "single biggest issue" facing multilateral talks. (AFP)
As India water and power dry up, the people revolt: Could be global warming, could be natural cycles that are causing an abnormally light monsoon season this year. Not much comfort to the thousands of Indians whose farm fields are drying up, and hydro-powered electricity supply is faltering. (The Los Angeles Times)
Climate change fueling forest fires in Europe: Greenpeace has warned that climate change is fueling forest fires that have already destroyed tens of thousands of hectares in southern Europe this year. "Climate change is driving a new generation of fires with unknown social and economic consequences," said Miguel Soto, Greenpeace Spain forests campaigner. (AFP)
Intensity of Recent Hurricanes Not Matched Since Middle Ages: The Atlantic Ocean is experiencing the most intense period of hurricane activity in 1,000 years. One of the study's authors says, "We believe a substantial part of the reason for that anomalous recent warmth is in fact the human influence on climate." The research has just been published in the journal Nature. (NPR)
Emissions trading scheme defeated in Australia: Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said it was a ''disappointing day indeed for Australia...Today, Australia had an opportunity to embrace the future on climate change and instead we find ourselves, courtesy of the Liberal and National parties, dangerously anchored in the past,'' he told Parliament. (The Age)
Life's a bleach for Barrier Reef as climate changes: New research into the potential financial cost of climate change to the world heritage-listed wonder puts the present value of the reef at $51.4 billion - approaching $2500 for every Australian alive today - but warns that nearly four-fifths of this value would be destroyed if the coral was totally and permanently bleached. Warming global ocean temperatures are increasing coral bleaching events. (The Australian)
Related: Australia's Green (liberal) and Coalition (conservative) parties have voted down an emissions plan. It's bad news for the environment. (The Guardian)
Astroturf Fail? Join the real grassroots climate action movement
Published August 14, 2009 @ 12:52PM PT
It’s more important than ever that we keep the pressure up for strong climate policy. As Emily wrote earlier this week, a fake-grassroots campaign is being unleashed against energy and climate policy reform.
Big Oil is eager to evade regulation of their dirty energy supplies. It's taken a cue from the health care reform protesters, who have managed to seize the media spotlight with intimidation tactics like shouting down members of Congress at their in-district town hall meetings.
Kevin Grandia recently wrote on HuffPo about an email memo, written by American Petroleum Institute (API) president Jack Gerard, that was leaked to colleagues of mine here at Greenpeace. The memo details how API, a lobbying group for Big Oil, "plans to launch a nationwide Astroturf campaign attacking climate legislation at public events scheduled throughout the final weeks of recess before the Senate returns to debate the issue in September."
The best cures for astroturf are real grassroots. So here are ways that you can get involved right now, to help keep the record straight and demand solutions on climate and energy policy:
Green the Block's national day of service on September 11:
This campaign builds off President Obama's call for citizen's to join in national recovery and renewal efforts on September 11th, 2009. Enter your event into Green the Block's online system, so that anyone looking for something to do on 9/11 will be able to find it.
This campaign is organized by green jobs group Green for All and the Hip Hop Caucus “to educate and mobilize communities of color to ensure a voice and stake in the clean-energy economy.”
Above: Green for All has put together a really great video, called "The New Sound," to help get the word out about "Green the Block" day of service on Sept. 11, 2009.
The International Day of Climate Action on October 24th:
Being co-ordinated by 350.org, which has tools online to help you plan and promote an event in your community.
The goal is to unite activists worldwide around getting the greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere down to 350 parts per million (right now we're at around 389 and climbing), and demand that world leaders take action to solve global warming.
As writer and 350.org activist Bill McKibben told us right here on this blog this week, there are over 1,500 or so events already scheduled around the world, from rallies in big cities to "climbers high in the Himalayas, and underwater demonstrations off the coral reefs of the Maldives, and teams of 350 bike riders, and churches ringing their bells 350 times, and an endless variety of other creative and impassioned ways to drive this most important number into the consciousness of the world!"
Maybe you don't want to wait until 9/11 or 10/24:
Well, Greenpeace has organizers around the country who’d be happy to help you plug in to your local activist community. Check out greenpeace.org/volunteer to find an organizer near you, or to sign up to get more information from one of our national organizers if you’re not near one of our field organizers.
I know I’m really stoked about the Mobilization for Climate Justice happening here in the Bay Area this weekend, to protest the expansion of a Chevron refinery in Richmond, CA.
[Other organizing / action efforts and events to consider: 1Sky's "Summer Recess Beach Party" campaign, the Alliance for Energy Education's climate assemblies, and the Energy Action Coalition youth movement. - Ed.]
The important thing is that we all get out there and make sure that corporate-backed astroturfers don’t hijack this debate. Don't let Big Oil drown our voices out! The time for real global warming solutions is now. Let’s make it happen.
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Image via Energy Action Coalition.
Five Videos to Watch This Week: From Climate Denial to Keen Electric Sportscar
Published August 11, 2009 @ 07:41PM PT
Okay, I know it's summer. But look away for just a few minutes from Darth Vader dancing to Hammer and Mean Kitty vs FlippyCat and check out this week's haul of nifty and informative videos about global warming:
1. Climate Denial Crock of the Week
Peter Sinclair's "Climate Denial Crock of the Week" is an ongoing and very enjoyable video series that debunks global warming myths. This installment, which mentions Anthony Watts of the prominent global warming denial blog wattsupwiththat.com, was temporarily taken down by YouTube after Mr. Watts complained it had violated some copyright rules.
Do-It-Yourself Enviro, Ag, Science "Afrigadget" Makers Gather in Accra
Published August 10, 2009 @ 08:45AM PT
Above: The Zeer pot is an African cooling gadget which, for less than $2US in local materials and without electricity, can extend the storage lifetime of fresh produce by as much as 18 days...Two clay pots are nested with a relatively thin layer of sand between them. The sand is watered twice daily, and the lidded inner pot is cooled by evaporation. More info at the end of this post.
The first-ever Maker Faire Africa, happening this week in Accra, Ghana, will put a heavy emphasis on what activist-entrepreneur Emeka Okafor calls bottom-up indigenous industrialization. It's a challenge to the top-down style of international aid and development programs, which typically focus on bringing "First World" technologies and agriculture methods into poorer nations, whether or not they really suit local conditions. (Worse, these are often technologies and food production methods that contribute to worsening global warming.)
In contrast, bottom-up indigenous industrialization offers solutions that are based on local knowledge, materials, and infrastructure. The emphasis is on smaller-scale, local economic development, rather than projects that generate food and goods for export to Europe and North America.
The event in Accra looks like it will feature more pragmatic inventions and innovations and get them into mass distribution; tech that's locally designed, with the potential to help people pull themselves out of poverty, hunger, and environmental degradation (while steering firmly away from digital information and communication technologies, or ICT):
Maker Faire Africa asks the question, “What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from Mali with those from Ghana and Kenya, and add resources to the mix?”
Maker Faire Africa will engage on-the-ground breakthrough organizations like Ashesi University and Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology to sharpen focus on locally-generated, bottom-up prototypes of technologies that solve immediate challenges to development. Specifically, Maker Faire Africa will take an approach that will achieve three principal aims:
- Brighten the light on local examples of the “fabrication” ethos
- Provide mechanisms to incubate these innovators and their products to a point where they can be taken to market
- Connect refined plans to disseminate innovations with venture finance
The aim is to identify, spur and support local innovation. At the same time, Maker Faire Africa would seek to imbue creative types in science and technology with an appreciation of fabrication and by default manufacturing. The long-term interest here is to cultivate an endogenous manufacturing base that supplies innovative products in response to market needs.
That's not to say everything must be serious. Maker Faire Africa is being programmed on four tracks, according to the event's first press release, which factor in art, craft and Lego blocks along with the bio-energy sources:
- Robotics – Lead by Afrobotics in the ROBOlab, this track host lectures as well as a LEGO robotics workshop and competition.
- Agriculture & Environment – takes a new look at sustainability, green technologies and innovations such as biofuel and architecture.
- Science and Engineering - this track will highlight new innovations from the 3rd annual International Development Design Summit (IDDS) at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) (a joint project with MIT and MacArthur “Genius Grant” award winner Amy Smith, who has focused on fostering indigenous technological development).
- Arts & Crafts – held at an outdoor art center, this track will showcase everything from sculptures to toys to textiles
Maker-type events I've been to in the US typically feature a lot of whimsical gadgetry, some hacked energy conservation-related tools, and a smattering of works with loftier artistic goals. They're fun, sometimes thought-provoking, and often more than a little anti-corporate. The fundamental organizing principle is that you can make something yourself instead of buying it at the store -- reflecting both our high level of prosperity as a nation, and a major challenge of American-style late stage capitalism: transforming ourselves back into citizens who shop as necessary in order to live, instead of consumers who live to shop.
Understandably, Maker Faire Africa's gadgets and gizmos are likely to be more down-to-earth. We've got our problems, and they've got theirs.
I'd love to be in Accra this week to enjoy Maker Faire Africa firsthand. (Hello, assigning editors!) Ah well: If you won't be making it to Ghana, either, I'd recommend keeping an eye on the following blogs and tags for first-hand reports from the scene:
Maker Faire Africa blog
Maker Faire Africa on Twitter
#mfa09 on Twitter
Emeka Okafor, at Timbuktu Chronicles
I'll add more links if and as I encounter them...please add yours to the comments!
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Image: "The Zeer pot is an African cooling gadget which, for less than $2US in local materials and without electricity, can extend the storage lifetime of fresh produce by as much as 18 days. It is of staggeringly simple design: Two clay pots are nested with a relatively thin layer of sand between them. The sand is watered twice daily, and the inner pot, which is lidded, is cooled by evaporation. It's interesting to note that, although the technology to manufacture the zeer pot has existed literally since the dawn of civilization, it is not known to have been produced until recently. Who would have thought there was a profound invention remaining to be discovered using only clay and sand?" Via Make Magazine Blog
World Powers Play Politics While Island Nations Drown
Published August 07, 2009 @ 08:09AM PT
Portraits of climate refugees from the cyclone that hit Sunderbans are testimony to the unpredictability and dangers of global warming, which are already being felt in coastal India. They were intended to urge visiting U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton, along with U.S. President Barack Obama, to take bold steps to stop global warming. © Greenpeace
UPDATE, Aug. 7: The 16-nation Pacific Islands Forum this week called for international help to protect vulnerable island states from rising sea levels and warmer temperatures.
The industrialized nations of the world are largely responsible for creating the climate crisis. But so far they're playing politics instead of making real commitments to cut their greenhouse gas pollution. So it's not surprising that small island states, which are facing almost certain doom, are discussing some drastic options for survival.
As reported on this blog in the past, these "drowning nations" are trying to cope with the looming climate crisis:
- Mohamed Nasheed, president of the lowlying archipelago nation of Maldives, has announced that he intends his homeland to become the world's first carbon-neutral nation. But given how small the country is, that will do very little to mitigate the problem. So Mr. Nasheed is also apparently prepared to move all of his countrymen to a new home – one that won’t be easily inundated by rising sea levels.
- Indonesia sought and received a dismissal of some $30 million in debt that it owed to the US. In return, the government of the Southeast Asian archipelago nation has agreed to spend the money on protecting the rainforests of Sumatra, the sixth largest island in the world. Indonesia is the world’s third largest greenhouse gas emitter thanks to the incredible amount of deforestation that occurs there.
- Tuvalu, the fourth smallest nation in the world, is already feeling the effects of global warming: the tiny archipelago nation has experienced much worse periodic high tides (called king tides) than normal in the past decade, causing increasingly destructive flooding. Tuvalu has vowed to totally remove fossil fuels from its energy mix by 2020, hoping to set an example that the world's major greenhouse polluters will follow.
Prospects for a strong successor to the Kyoto Protocol emissions reductions agreement, set to expire in 2012, are looking grim. Opportunities for the world’s richest nations to make some preliminary agreements, like the Obama administration-sponsored Major Economies Forum, or the preliminary UN climate talks in Bonn, Germany, have so far been squandered.
In July, the G8 group of industrialized nations failed to make real progress on agreements to slash greenhouse gas emissions. While proudly trumpeting their commitment to limiting global temperature rise to 2 degrees Celsius, they laid out absolutely no roadmap for how they plan to get there. (Afterwards, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as well as the chairman of the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Rajendra Pachauri, did not hesitate to criticize the G8 for their failure. )
In response, the leaders of seven tiny Pacific island nations recently renewed their call for the developed world to commit to greenhouse gas emissions reductions of 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2020, and 85 percent by 2050. These are the targets many climate scientists say we must meet, if we're to avert the worst effects of global warming.
While the leaders of developed nations seem to feel they have the luxury of ignoring the reality of the crisis and the best recommendations on how to avert its worst effects, developing nations are not so lucky.
Another round of UN talks in Bonn are about to begin. There’s little reason to think the developed world will get as serious about climate change as the developing world, but here’s hoping...
Coal Lobby Group Faked Grassroots Opposition to Climate Bill
Published August 04, 2009 @ 11:52AM PT
Last week news broke that one of the most prominent coal lobby groups, the cheerfully named "American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity," was responsible for forged grassroots letters to Congress in opposition to the American Clean Energy and Security Act, the clean energy and climate action bill sponsored by Reps. Henry Waxman and Edward Markey.
Now, as Politico reports, Rep. Markey (D-Mass.) is calling for an investigation into ACCCE's fraud, part of its $45 million media and lobbying campaign to support coal-based electricity.
Mr. Markey, whose House Subcommittee on Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming has subpoena power, has sent an investigative letter to Bonner & Associates, which contracted with ACCCE with Hawthorn Group, a "grassroots contractor" hired by ACCCE to do campaign work, listing 12 detailed questions about the fraudulent letters.
At least 3 Representatives received 12 forged letters prior to the ACES vote in June, purporting to come from 8 grassroots groups, including the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), which in fact is calling for strong action by Congress on stopping global warming and promoting green economy jobs.
"The letters, replete with letterhead and made-up identities, purported to be from Virginian minority organizations including the NAACP," writes ThinkProgress, which has put copies of the letters online.
"My organization Creciendo Juntos represents minorities in your district. You are about to vote on important environmental legislation (the Waxman-Markey bill)," reads one to Rep. Tom Perrielo. "We ask you to help protect minorities and other consumers in your district from higher electricity bills." It's signed by "Marisse K. Acevado, Asst Member Coordinator."
"Perriello was not the only congressman to receive forged letters urging him to oppose the so-called cap-and-trade legislation," reports The Daily Progress of Charlottesville, Va. "Reps. Kathy Dahlkemper and Christopher Carney, both of Pennsylvania, also received falsified letters that originated at Bonner & Associates, the clean coal advocacy group said."
ACCCE's put responsiblity on Bonner & Associates, which has used underhanded tactics before to undermine health policy reforms that threatened corporate profits. "This incident demonstrates the incredible lengths that the vested interests of health care and energy are willing to go through to undermine reform. With Congress going on recess soon, more of these astroturf tactics will undoubtedly occur as corporate backed anti-reform groups gather in Congressional districts throughout the country to obstruct health care and clean energy reform," writes Think Progress, which lists several of B&A's past astroturf frauds.
The Institute for Southern Studies' Facing South blog notes that ACCCE has itself been pretty hands-on with the misleading lobby techniques:
Last year, we reported that the group was behind phone calls urging recipients to oppose an earlier version of the climate legislation -- and that at least one of the calls misrepresented the organization.
Last May, Pete MacDowell with the N.C. Waste Awareness and Reduction Network reported receiving a call from a woman who identified herself as being from Americans for Balanced Energy Choices, which a month previously had merged with the Center for Energy and Economic Development to form ACCCE. MacDowell said the caller asked to add his name to a fax to Sens. Lieberman and Warner, the legislation's sponsors:
When I asked who ABEC was, I was told that they were individuals concerned about utility rates. When I asked if they were an environmental group, the answer was "yes." When I asked whether they were related to the utilities, the answer was "No."
After publishing our story about the deceptive call, we heard from Steve Gates, ACCCE's communication director. He blamed a new staff member who decided to "wing it" when asked some off-the-script questions and said the person was "no longer working on this project," as we reported in a follow-up story."
History repeats: Bonner is trying to shunt culpability for the more recent fradulent letters onto a temp employee gone rogue.
Believe it if you like. But just as a counterpoint, watch as Jon Stewart and The Daily Show nail the workings of the "outrage-generating ecosystem," when it comes to blocking health care reform:
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Master Rebators - The Crank Cycle | ||||
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If these reforms are so awful on the merits, why do industry lobby groups spend tens of millions and invent popular opposition to try and defeat them?
Enviroknow has a good timeline of developments in this story, with lots of links.
Video: Navajo vote for green collar jobs
Published July 24, 2009 @ 09:20PM PT
For your Friday evening inspiration: One of the citizen activist groups that lobbied for the Navajo Nation green jobs measure, Black Mesa Alliance, has created this video update on the Navajo Council's Tuesday vote to pass the legislation..
