writeaboutwarming

April 14, 2019 I'd never heard of the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) before, but the 160 countries and regional intergovernmental agencies that comprise its membership have released a report entitled Global Energy Transformation: A Roadmap to 2050. I ran across a summary of the report at Think Progress, and I thought I'd share parts of it with you. This is an important report. The members of IRENA base their research on the premise that renewable energy sources, as the most accessible energy on earth, can accelerate conversion to electricity on a global scale while meeting agreed-upon climate objectives. (I should mention that member countries must also belong to the United Nations.) Their report maintains that because prices of key clean energy technologies are dropping, as much as 85% of the world's energy could come from renewable energy sources, primarily solar and wind. Keeping the global temperature increase below two degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees...

January 22, 2014 -   Business leaders are catching on, even in the United States.   Yesterday, a report authored, in part, by over 100   academics, energy experts, government officials, and business leaders called upon the President to address climate change by taking measures that do not require congressional approval. Spear-headed by the Center for the New Energy Economy (CNEE) at Colorado State University, the report grew out of a meeting convened last March, attended by the President and 14 corporate and private sector leaders.   They spoke for hundreds of like-minded individuals who want to reshape the country’s energy policy. The resulting 207-page report contains around 200 recommendations regarding the use of executive authority to enact the climate change action plan the President announced last June.   Former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter released the report, briefing cabinet officials and senior policy staff whose focus is ene...

December 12, 2011 - Abigail Borah took her brave pills last Thursday, and then proceeded to do what so many of us have wished we had the guts to do: she spoke Truth to Power.  While attending the Conference of the Parties (17), also known as the "climate talks," in Durban, South Africa, the junior at Middlebury College interrupted Todd Stern, chief negotiator for the United States.  Her voice high-pitched with fright, she said what has needed saying for too long: "I am speaking on behalf of the United States of America because my negotiators cannot.  The obstructionist Congress has shackled justice and delayed ambition for far too long.  I am scared for my future.  2020 is too late to wait.  We need an urgent path to a fair, ambitious, and legally-binding treaty.  You must take responsibility to act now, or you will threaten the lives of youth and the world's most vulnerable.  You must set aside partisan politics and let science dictate dec...