Month: September 2014 (Page 3 of 3)

California has always been a leader in green policies in the US and they are really making headway with collaboration between people from both parties. Governor Brown was quoted, “While the politicians in Washington can’t get anything done because they’re stuck in their ideological foxholes, we here in California have governors from two different parties in the same room fighting for a better future.” This hopeful precedent set by a progressive state shows that inter-party communication is possible. What’s better is that California is seeing results, Matt Rodriguez, California’s secretary for environmental protection said, “Passed in 2006, Assembly Bill 32 committed California to reduce its emissions of heat-trapping greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by the year 2020 and to reduce them 85 percent by 2050. Eight years later, the state is on track to meet these goals.” Their reduction of carbon emissions has been achieved mainly through energy efficiency. In conjunction with increased efficiency, California’s economy “has outpaced the nation’s economic growth. We attract more than half of the investment capital in the country,” said Schwarzenegger. It has been a criticism in years past that instituting policies that push for energy efficiency would slow the economy. In addition, California Governor Brown has been involved in advising China on carbon emission reduction programs. He also hopes to bring  his ideas to the special summit UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is convening on Sept. 23.

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-09/u-dot-s-dot-may-not-be-leading-on-climate-but-california-is

In the New York Times article I read, Justin Gillis the author of the piece points out that the scientific community does not know nearly enough about climate change to either currently predict it, or solve it. This comes based off the notion that we know more about space than we do about our own oceans. I’ve heard this statement many times throughout my life and it kind of creeps me out because you would like to think understanding what’s in our backyard would be more important than knowing what’s in another galaxy. This seems to be our own fault for not allocating the appropriate funding to the right causes and in general dodging the tougher questions initially. Nevertheless, the article does mention some knew information involving climate change that I have never heard before. One, is that scientists are now taking more of an initiative to understand the oceans’ role in cooling the earth because in recent decades the earth’s temperature rise has slowed down; The oceans must have something to do with this. Secondly, that China’s coal addiction may actually be helping the rest of world:”Coal releases greenhouse gases that will have a long-term warming effect, of course, but it also throws particles into the air that can reflect sunlight back to space over the short term” (Gillis). This statement is strange to me, but you can’t rule it out. In summary the article provided some interesting information on climate change study and where it is headed. I’d definitely recommend glancing over this because some of the information seems before its time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/12/science/in-the-ocean-clues-to-change.html?ref=earth&_r=0

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There will be People’s Climate March in New York City on September 21st. This march is taking place two days before world leaders get together for an emergency Climate Summit at the UN. Americans will be coming from all parts of the country to stand together and demand bold action at the summit. There are other marches occurring worldwide in London, Paris, Australia, Berlin and other cities. This will be a monumental moment in history for the environmental social movement.

More information can be found on the link I posted above.

What do the new climate rules have to do with my kid’s asthma?

This article raises a great question: will the EPA’s cap and trade program work? Although the regulations state that we should have a 30% drop in carbon emissions by 2030, a hard target is not stated. There is no “punishment” stated for states that do not comply and nothing is said about what will happen if we do not reach that target. The reduction depends not only on how well states comply but also how well power plants comply.  Furthermore, due to the nature of the ‘cap and trade’, the reduction of emissions may not lead to cleaner air across the board. If companies who want to pollute more can “trade” air space with cleaner companies who don’t need it, those areas will stay just as polluted as they were before. This is a big problem for Environmental Justice as the communities in polluted areas have a much greater risk of health problems and the majority of those communities are compromised of minority groups.

Although the Climate Change initiative is a great idea there are a few flaws. First of all changing habits is hard. It will take awhile for people and companies to actually get on board with the changes. Secondly, the regulations were put in place by an Executive Order. I doubt they will be finalized before Obama leaves administration and then it is up to the next president to decide if he wants to continue the push for change or not.

However, I think what Obama did was the right thing. Many people will make the argument that it wasn’t “constitutional” but something had to be done and it had to be done quick. The way Obama’s relationship with Congress is right now, nothing was going to get accomplished if he tried to put it through Congress.

http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2014/08/army_corps_of_engineers_will_m.html#incart_related_stories

This article presents some strong accusations against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, claiming that the Government employees are said to be regulators of environmental law, but also a main component in the pollution that exists in the Columbia River. The main issue at hand is the lubricants that are used in the turbines on the eight dams on the Columbia are polluting the river. These lubricants are put in place to increase the efficiency of the turbines, but also have killer effects on the marine life in the river. In July 2013, Columbia Riverkeeper, the accusing party, sued the Corps and demanded to know what was going into the water and how much of it was going in. This is especially difficult matter to make a conclusion on because the Corps is not regulated under any permits. As part of the settlement, the Corps will pay $143,000, but admits no wrongdoing and all other charges were dropped. Who is going to enforce environmental policy when the U.S. Government can’t even hold itself to a higher standard?

To get you all pumped for our section on radical environmentalism, here in an article about protesters in Everett, WA engaging in a direction action to prevent coal and oil transport trains from passing through WA.

http://earthfirstjournal.org/newswire/2014/09/02/seattle-resident-suspends-herself-from-tripod-to-block-coal-and-oil-trains/