Other stories below: Coke pulls the plug on anti-climate change ALEC Lobby; Climate change threat brings mountain communities together
Stopping Climate Change is Much Cheaper Than You Think (Mother Jones)
You’ve heard it before: politicians say they’d love to take action against climate change, but they’re reeling from the sticker shock. Today, a new report from the UK’s leading climate change watchdog refutes the oft-cited argument that climate action will herald economic Armageddon.
The Committee on Climate Change report, with the hairy-sounding title “Statutory Advice on Inclusion of International Aviation and Shipping,” says that in 2050, the UK’s emissions reductions across the whole economy will cost 1–2 percent of the total GDP. This updates, in greater detail, the range predicted half a decade ago by the watershed Stern Review….
The cost in GDP terms in the UK report accords with US studies. The Congressional Budget Office reported similar reductions would reduce the GDP here by 1–3 1⁄2 percent in 2050. One of the co-sponsors of the 2009 cap-and-trade bill, Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass.), said the scheme would cost the average family the equivalent of “about a postage stamp a day,” far less than critics claimed.
Related Post: “Introduction to climate economics: Why even strong climate action has such a low total cost”
Natural Resources Defense Council report says Virginia vulnerable to climate change
The National Resources Defense Council says Virginia is among the states least prepared for climate change.
The environmental group is scheduled to explain why on Thursday when it releases a state-by-state analysis of what the states are doing — or not doing — to prepare for what the group says are ever-growing threats related to climate change.
Coke Pulls the Plug on Anti-Climate Change ALEC Lobby
For several years now the Coca-Cola Company has charted a careful, politically neutral path to sustainability, and now it has suddenly veered into new territory. Coca-Cola has abruptly pulled its funding from the conservative lobbying organization American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). The move follows closely on the heels of negative publicity over Coca-Cola’s ties to ALEC, coupled with the announcement of an online petition asking the company to withdraw from the group.
On the surface it may appear that Coca-Cola’s response is an isolated reaction to a self-contained controversy, but in fact it is part of a broader trend among major corporations, and it could indicate a real tipping point for the corporate support of lobbying groups that focus on conservative causes for some funders while neglecting — or even actively working against — the sustainability initiatives of others.
On the stump, Dems split with Obama over Keystone XL pipeline
President Obama has steered clear of taking a firm stance on the Keystone pipeline, but many Democrats running for Senate don’t have the same luxury.
Eight of the 18 non-incumbent Democrats running for Senate surveyed by The Hill either steadfastly support the pipeline or oppose it outright, breaking with Obama’s decision to reserve judgment on the project until federal regulators conduct a full review.
Republican Senate hopefuls have made the pipeline — which would carry oil sands crude from Alberta, Canada, to refineries on the Gulf Coast — a top campaign issue. The emphasis on the pipeline has forced many Democratic candidates to stake out a clear position on the project, whether they like it or not.
Global warming: Polar regions changing faster than expected
Global warming is changing Earth’s polar regions faster than expected, according to the U.S. National Research Council.
Ice sheets around the poles are showing evidence of serious retreat, which is expected to continue, and perhaps accelerate over coming centuries as warm ocean currents melt the ice front faster than anyone had grasped before. As, well, sea level rise from melting polar ice sheets is today slowly affecting every shoreline on the planet.
The findings were compiled in a synthesis of reports from thousands of scientists in 60 countries who took part in the International Polar Year 2007–08. The studies offer a benchmark for environmental conditions and new discoveries in the polar regions.
Climate change threat brings mountain countries together
Threat posed by global warming and the need to have a collective voice in climate change negotiations have brought mountain countries from across the world to one platform.
Representatives from government and organization from over two dozen countries having peaks with heights of 4,000
metres or more have gathered here to deliberate on the way ahead.
Initiated by Nepal government, the two-day conference will discuss effects of climate change on 25% of land Earth’s surface covered by mountains and nearly 13% world population residing there.
Faith Leaders to Congress: Enough Is Enough on Climate
As a seductively early spring brings premature cherry blossoms to our nation’s capital and while cruel storms and floods pound the Midwest, our Congress seems to have forgotten about the climate crisis. Nevertheless, a recent article in Scientific American underscores these disasters by warning that we are rapidly reaching the point of irreversible global warming.
As a more hopeful harbinger of spring, a dynamic new multi-faith collaborative initiative is planning creative actions in Washington to awaken the lawmakers, the administration and the American people to the moral and spiritual imperative of this issue.