My wife insisted that I go to the Angelina Jolie press conference — even though AJ was focused on educating one million children affected by conflict, and not global warming. Fortunately, CGI had a wireless feed from all the working sessions, so I was able to get all the camera phone pix of AJ while I didn’t miss the woman I really wanted to hear, Jane Goodall.

I will say this for AJ — she is very serious about her work with refugees. And even with two hundred press crammed into this room for her, and photographers literally crawling over each other for photos — especially whenever she brushed her hair back — she very graciously brought many of the country experts into the Q&A.

Jane Goodall was full of quiet passion, as always. If anyone is a “must hear,” she is (here she is speaking at Google). She has devoted her name and her sober wisdom to Forests Now, whose declaration is “Forests Now in the Fight against Climate Change.”

Jane spoke with great eloquence about global warming and the need to save our tropical forests, not just because of the carbon they contain, but also the biodiversity–”I want children to hear the wonderful voice of chimpanzees” and then she imitated the call of her beloved primate. She pointed out that “orangutans, one of our closest living relatives, are hanging by a thread.” She poignantly quoted a native of the Arctic:

Read more

Don’t miss the World Resources Institute’s most recent comparison of climate legislation in the 100th Congress. Below is the basic image (here’s one larger), but visit the website for details.

Brad turns out to be as serious (on climate) as he is good looking. He came to the first CGI as an observer, not a speaker. But today he announced a major commitment:

Brad Pitt expanded his commitment to New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward today by announcing plans for a new community of homes in the area hardest-hit by the worst natural disaster in American history. He is partnering with Steve Bing in creating the 150 affordable and sustainable homes, which are the first effort of Pitt’s “Make it Right” project.

Pitt announced his plan at today’s meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative, where he challenged attendees to join him and Bing in rebuilding the Lower Ninth Ward. Pitt pledged to match $5 million in contributions to the project. Bing has pledged to match $5 million in contributions as well, for a total of $10,000,000 in matching funds.

Pitt seems genuinely committeed to these issues. He said, it was “nice to be in a room with people who are not still debating climate change.” He has enlisted William McDonough to make sure the housing is as green as possible:
Read more

You can follow along on CGI here.

At the end of their recent climate report, Lehman Brothers has one of the best brief discussions of the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) that I have seen. Since the EU ETS is often viewed in this country as a failure, I thought I would reprint their somewhat different perspective in its entirety:

The EU ETS, which came into effect in January 2005, was constructed on the basic premise that setting emission caps and allowing them to be freely traded would enable companies to seek emission reductions wherever and however it was cheapest to do so. It is the world’s most ambitious cap-and-trade scheme to date, covering 25 countries, each with authority to issue emission allowances. The sectors included in Phase I (2005-07) are: power generation; ferrous metal production and processing; chemical processes; mineral industry; and pulp, paper and board. These account for approximately 45% of EU CO2 emissions. In its very first year of operation, the value of allowances issued across the EU reached more than ‚¬60bn126.

Phase II (2008-12) expands the scope of the market to cover all greenhouse gases and adds further sectors, including aviation. And Norway, Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Switzerland will all join, even though they are not EU member states. Some economists have dubbed the EU ETS as “… by far the most significant accomplishment in climate policy to date.”

Has the EU ETS achieved its mission?

Read more