Former Vice President Al Gore in his home office in Nashville, TN. (Time magazine)
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Syndication: 
Great Article By Maggie Fox March 9, 2010 : 5:37 PM
Last week, Alliance for Climate Protection CEO Maggie Fox posted an excellent piece at the National Journal’s Energy and Environment Experts Blog.
She wrote:
“Despite what the professional skeptics might claim, the overwhelming consensus on global warming remains unchanged. Less than a handful of small mistakes in a 4,000-page document do not undermine decades and volumes of important, careful scientific research, no matter what the paid pundits and pessimists try to spin. We cannot ignore that global temperatures have steadily increased in the past century, or that the past 10 years were the hottest decade on record. These are facts. Nor can we ignore that as the climate crisis worsens, we could see more severe flooding, more destructive hurricanes and longer droughts.”
“We have every reason to be confident in the overall conclusions of the U.N. report, which is based on thousands of peer-reviewed studies and multiple forms of analysis. At the same time, we can all welcome the increased transparency that will come from an independent committee that will review the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s work. What we do not need is to taint objective science with partisan conclusions, which is exactly what some climate change deniers in the US Congress are trying to do. We should not try to manipulate science to our own political ends or to serve the politics of the day. As a nation and a people, we need to respond to scientific evidence with effective and smart solutions. The severity of the crisis befalling our planet requires nothing less.”
“Which is why the Senate is currently crafting a proposal to limit carbon pollution and spur investments in clean energy. Comprehensive clean energy and climate policies can create millions of new American jobs and strengthen our national security, all the while reducing the pollution that causes global climate change. Now is the time to make sure we pass strong, comprehensive legislation that involves our entire economy and benefits the whole planet.”
Read her entire post by clicking here.
63,000 Calls in 72 Hours March 8, 2010 : 6:22 PM
Congratulations to all the members of Repower America who made more than 63,000 calls to their Senators last week.
Everyday we are moving closer and closer to passing climate and green jobs legislation and that is due to your efforts. I’ll be calling on you to take action again in the next few weeks, and I know you’ll come through.
Extreme Ice March 7, 2010 : 5:19 PM
NOVA has produced an extremely informative hour-long show called Extreme Ice. For example, the first section of the show, titled “In Extremis,” explores how:
"Around the world, glaciers and ice sheets have begun breaking apart and accelerating toward the oceans faster than ever imagined possible. With his Extreme Ice Survey, photographer James Balog is trying to alert the world to this unsettling fact."
You can watch the show online by clicking here.
$2.2 Trillion!!! March 5, 2010 : 9:23 AM
Every year the world’s largest companies cause $2.2 trillion in environmental damage to the planet and most of the time pick up none of the tab. According to the Guardian:
"The cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world's biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found."
"The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils."
"Later this year, another huge UN study - dubbed the "Stern for nature" after the influential report on the economics of climate change by Sir Nicholas Stern - will attempt to put a price on such global environmental damage, and suggest ways to prevent it. The report, led by economist Pavan Sukhdev, is likely to argue for abolition of billions of dollars of subsidies to harmful industries like agriculture, energy and transport, tougher regulations and more taxes on companies that cause the damage."
More than half of this damage is caused by the emissions of greenhouse gasses. The longer we delay, the more it will cost future generations to clean up our mess.
That is why it is vital that you call your Senator this week and demand they “support a strong clean energy and climate bill that will create more jobs and less pollution.” Take action today by clicking here.
Coral Reefs Disintegrating March 3, 2010 : 6:58 PM
Another sad result of the climate crisis:
"The world's coral reefs will begin to disintegrate before the end of the century as rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere make the oceans more acidic, scientists warn."
"The research points to a looming transition in the health of coral = ecosystems during which the ability of reefs to grow is overwhelmed by the rate at which they are dissolving."
"More than 9,000 coral reefs around the world are predicted to disintegrate when atmospheric carbon dioxide levels reach 560 parts per million. The amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere today stands at around 388ppm, but is expected to reach 560ppm by the end of this century."
Reid Wants a Bill ASAP March 2, 2010 : 3:56 PM
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has told John Kerry that he would like a climate bill to bring to the floor of the Senate ASAP. Last week John Kerry told reporters:
"The majority leader is deadly serious about making progress this year on climate and energy reform. He's been a hero every step of the process and he's been in constant communication. Senators Lieberman, Graham and I have been meeting every day and we're on a short track here, piecing together legislation and working with our colleagues so it can be finished and rolled out soon."
Right now we need to increase the pace of our efforts. Call your Senator today and ask them to “support a strong clean energy and climate bill that will create more jobs and less pollution” by clicking here.
Pledge to Call Your Senators March 1, 2010 : 3:00 PM
Repower America is asking its members to pledge to call their Senator this week and ask them to “support a strong clean energy and climate bill that will create more jobs and less pollution.”
You can take this vital action today by clicking here.
Our goal is to bombard Senate offices with more then 20,000 calls, demonstrating the significant public support for solving the climate crisis.
Senator John Kerry is wrapping up his climate bill in the next two weeks, so action now is more important then ever before.
Pledge to make a call today by clicking here.
We Can't Wish Away Climate Change February 27, 2010 : 6:52 PM
My Op-ed in today's New York Times:
"It would be an enormous relief if the recent attacks on the science of global warming actually indicated that we do not face an unimaginable calamity requiring large-scale, preventive measures to protect human civilization as we know it."
"Of course, we would still need to deal with the national security risks of our growing dependence on a global oil market dominated by dwindling reserves in the most unstable region of the world, and the economic risks of sending hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas in return for that oil. And we would still trail China in the race to develop smart grids, fast trains, solar power, wind, geothermal and other renewable sources of energy — the most important sources of new jobs in the 21st century."
"But what a burden would be lifted! We would no longer have to worry that our grandchildren would one day look back on us as a criminal generation that had selfishly and blithely ignored clear warnings that their fate was in our hands. We could instead celebrate the naysayers who had doggedly persisted in proving that every major National Academy of Sciences report on climate change had simply made a huge mistake."
Repower America Reports the Facts February 23, 2010 : 2:46 PM
With all the climate deniers spreading lies about the climate crisis in the media, it's vital we arm ourselves with the facts. Thankfully, Repower America put together a great fact sheet explaining the relationship between the climate crisis and extreme weather:
"Fact: Climate change causes more frequent and severe snowstorms
Record snowstorms need two things: temperatures below freezing, and very high humidity. On a planet warmer by a few degrees on average, the Northeast US will still have plenty of days below freezing; the big difference will be warmer seas producing higher levels of moisture in the air — and therefore more severe cold-season storms."
"Fact: We can expect more extreme weather
Scientists tell us that climate change has already led to more extreme weather in the United States and we can expect stronger hurricanes, more wildfires, heatwaves and droughts, to name a few."
"Fact: The world is warming at a quickening pace
Weather in one region over days or months should not be confused with climate or the patterns of weather over decades and centuries. And the science is clear here: the last decade was the hottest on record. And to put this year’s weather in perspective, January was warmer than average for the continental United States"
A Great LTE February 19, 2010 : 5:27 PM
Paul Epstein, Associate Director of the Center for Health and the Global Environment at Harvard Medical School, wrote an exceptional letter to The New York Times last week:
“That fossil fuel industry-financed forces are continuing their campaign to undermine the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its chief scientists should not distract us from what we know about our climate.”
“Two physical findings stand out. In the last 50 years the world ocean has accumulated 22 times as much heat as has the atmosphere (data provided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of the Department of Commerce). It is this repository of heat -- through processes like evaporation and ocean overturning -- that drives the changes in weather we are experiencing: heavier precipitation events, sequences of large storms, bitter cold spells and prolonged droughts in some regions.”
“The I.P.C.C. 2007 report also found that winds have changed -- specifically circumpolar westerly winds (those blowing from the west) in both hemispheres. This ominous sign means that weather fronts and weather patterns are less stable.”
“Our society, security and the health of the global economy depend upon a stable climate. Getting off fossil fuels is the first, necessary step toward achieving climate stabilization.”
