Skip to main content

Speaking Truth to Power

October 24, 2011 - I learned last week of a speech, delivered to the U.S. Senate by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (what a name!) of Rhode Island the week before. The speech was about climate change, of all things. The senator, a member of the Democratic party, spoke very directly and pulled no punches. Rather than describe his speech, let me quote a small portion of it to you:

" ... There is a wave of very justificable economic frustration that has swept through our Capitol. The problem is that some of the special interests - the polluters - have insinuated themselves into that wave, sort of like parasites that creep into the body of a host animal, and from there they are working terrible mischief. They are propagating two big lies. One is that environmental regulations are a burden to the economy and we need to lift those burdens to spur our economic recovery. The second is [that] the jury is still out on climate changes caused by carbon pollution, so we don't need to worry about it or even take precautions. Both are, frankly, outright false[hoods]."

Whitehouse goes on to cite examples of corporate prognostication that turned out to be badly exaggerated, insofar as the cost of complying with environmental regulation is concerned. His speech lasted for 23 minutes - lots of time for speaking lots of truth. Senator Whitehouse, the American people are indebted to you! If you care to hear the speech in its entirety, go to
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k6VQ0vYfrAw&noredirect=1.

In other news, you have no doubt heard by now that Dr. Richard Muller of Berkeley, a well-known climate change skeptic, has co-authored a research review which confirms global warming and its anthropogenic origins. Dr. Muller, a physicist, and his team of researchers, have disproved a theory - beloved of climate change naysayers - that contends global warming is merely the product of expanding asphalt located near weather station thermometers. I have to say, it doesn't strike me as much of a theory. Oh well, if Dr. Muller is convinced, that's all to the good. He can now join the 97% of American climatologists who know that climate change is real, and is happening right now.

Another Event Worth Noting also originates in California: the nation's first state-implemented cap-and-trade regulations. The rules have been years in the making, in no small part due to the stringent efforts of the oil industry to fight their institution. As explained by the chairwoman of the California Air Resources Board, Mary Nichols, cap and trade will permit the board to reward companies for doing the right thing (decreasing their emission of greenhouse gases). The second phase of regulation, which begins in 2015, will require 85% of California's companies to be in compliance.

If, as expected, California's program leads to improved air quality without impeding the state's economy, there will be states waiting in the wings to join the Golden State. It's likely their approach would take the form of regional oversight. Readers will recall that Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey chose to withdraw his state from participating in the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The coalition of nine remaining states in the eastern United States continues unabated. Money generated by the sale of carbon credits at public auction is used to develop renewable energy sources.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Great March for Climate Action

December 23, 2013 – Have you heard about The Great March for Climate Action?   I just learned about it today.   Organizers have determined it will take them 246 days to march from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.   They are looking for 1,000 people – 20 from each state – to participate.   The march is stopping in many, many locations along the way so that locals can participate for as little as a day, or as long as they like. The march is Ed Fallon’s brainchild.   Ed, along with most of his staff members, is from Iowa, where he served as a state legislator for fourteen years.   He currently hosts a radio program called Fallon Forum.   Fallon began his career as a social activist coordinating the Iowa section of the Great Peace March in 1986.  Ed bases his approach on Great Marches of the past.  Women suffragists marched on Washington on March 3, 1913; Gandhi led the Salt March in India on March 12, 1930; Dr. King led the voting rights march from Selma to Montgomery

Greenland: A State of Rapid Collapse

 September 1, 2020 The good news, such as it is, goes like this: the suspense is over. No need to guess about whether sea level rise will be life-altering by the end of this century or not. It will, at least for the 40 percent of humankind which lives on or near a coastline. That's because all the ice on Greenland is going to melt, according to researchers at Ohio State University (yes, yes, I know - it's THE Ohio State University. Get over yourselves.) Their research appeared in the journal Nature Communications Earth and Environment in August. Total meltdown will take 10,000 years, but enough will have melted by 2100 to cause sea level rise of approximately three feet. That will cover a lot of coastal property, a loss made worse by storms and hurricanes. How have researchers reached this conclusion? By studying almost 40 years of satellite data. Glaciers on Greenland have shrunk so much since the year 2000 that even if global warming came to a complete stop, they would contin