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FN24 / The Senate Takes on Climate
July 21, 2009 11:39 PM PDT
Hardly anyone bothers to listen to Senate hearings, and some of them are really important. In this special episode of Futurism Now you can hear Part 2 of the highlights of the Senate hearing from the committee Environment and Public works from July 7th, 2009. You can listen to all 3+ hours of it from links on the committee website here. Many other hearings they have held recently are available there too. It's clear that Barbara Boxer, the chairwoman, is too willing to make concessions and compromises even at this early date in the senate process, and it's also clear that she believes big business has a big role to play in shaping our climate legislation. USCAP is not only comprised of big business but also Big Oil and Big Chemical. And these people are writing our jobs-energy bills for us and then calling it a "climate bill". (Is anyone reminded of another administration who let big business interests write our energy policy?) It's interesting that the only scientist at this hearing was our energy secretary, Steven Chu. Everyone there seemed to be a believer in the idea of "clean coal". This senate committee is all too willing to believe that the dirtiest fossil fuel can or should be cleaned up, even at a cost of trillions of dollars. It was only a very short time ago that Al Gore and climate scientist James Hansen and many others were telling the world that there is no such thing as clean coal -- because there isn't. We really have to keep speaking out against this "clean coal" idea before we are deeply invested in it with this legislation. There is no time to waste. The senate will move forward on these ideas unless they hear from us. At the end, a few words of inspiration, some of them about our first moon landing 40 years ago. They are the type of inspiring words that we need to hear from our president now. Speakers include: Energy Sec. Steven Chu, EPA head Lisa Jackson, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, and Sec. Interior Ken Salazar. Salazar believes we can produce 29% of our electricity needs from solar power. In Part II, Rich Wells, Dow Chemical; David Hawkins, NRDC; and John Fettererman, the mayor of Braddock, Pennsylvania. FN 23 / Solutions or Collapse?
July 16, 2009 10:19 PM PDT
Could climate change lead to the end of civilization, a real collapse, like what happened to the Romans, the Aztecs, the Mayans? It's not inconceivable. This ep. contains Part 1 of the Senate hearings on climate legislation from the Environment and Public Works committee. The initial hearing has taken on new meaning, because since this happened in early July there has been a delay, and the vote and hearings have been put off. They have put off the vote until probably September, though behind closed doors deliberations probably continue, and public debate begins again in August. This means we might not have a climate bill by the time of the Copenhagen meeting in December. According to some people, we might be in a better bargaining position if we don't. Giving the Senate more time to work on this bill could be a good thing if we can get them to consider other methods of reducing greenhouse emissions, like a revenue-neutral carbon tax, something that has my full support. In fact, many environmental groups are coming out for a revenue-neutral carbon tax versus a cap and trade system. You can read more about the revenue neutral carbon tax at FuturismNow.com So what do you think, will our excuse for a civilization collapse or will we find a solution for climate change? Here's the article from the Independent. Climate Scientist Jim Hansen's new paper: Strategies to Address Global Warming 30 years ago we had a president, Jimmy Carter, who leveled with the American people, actually told them the truth and wasn't afraid to talk to the American public as adults who think in more than sound bites. He told us we needed to conserve energy and even change our way of life to make it more sustainable. We need honest leadership like that again from President Obama on the issue of climate change. Obama is forceful on health care, which is great, but we need him on climate change. He seems to be leaving the issue to Congress and that's not turning out so well. Two recent articles about Jimmy Carter's energy speech from 1979:
Music: Middle: Out Of Space, Kasabian, End: Look at Us Now, Joe Walsh (look up those lyrics)
July 11, 2009 12:07 PM PDT
What happened at the G8 summit, why is T. Boone Pickens giving up on the world's biggest wind farm in Texas, and what happened to the climate bill in the Senate? The summit ended with a tepid agreement and no practical way to get there. Even UN chief Ban ki-Moon said the G8 didn't do enough to find answers to the worsening global climate changes. "The policies that they have stated so far are not enough," Reuters quoted Ban as saying in Italy on Thursday. "This is politically and morally (an) imperative and historic responsibility... for the future of humanity, even for the future of the planet Earth." That pretty much sums it up. Then Canada announced it can't do much to fight climate change due to their extreme cold weather. (Bloomberg) It's also cold in Sweden! See a video on their passive houses here. Info. on the July 13th Carbon Pricing Meeting is here. There is new legislation against Halliburton and the fracturing they do to get natural gas, to protect drinking water. The story is here. Sign the RAN petition to tell JPMorgan Chase to stop funding mountain top removal!.
Read the Memo of Understanding about Mountain top Removal between the Army Corp of Engineers and the Government here (pdf download). Then there is the matter of coal. We have to get off coal anyway, so why are they doing permanent damage to the mountains of several states by blowing off the tops and killing the streams below? It's like politicians are trying really hard to kill off any possibility of future tourism and business in these states; not to mention kill off wildlife, destroy entire ecosystems, make the water toxic, etc. Mountain top removal is the most destructive and toxic mining practice every invented, and it destroys jobs, it doesn't create them. Testimony in the Senate the last week in June played in this episode includes Maria Gunnoe. (I didn't discuss James Hansen's new article like I had intended, but you can read his latest article about the climate bill here.) Photo at top: Flooding in the community of Lyburn, which was caused as a direct result of the mountain-top removal process of valley fill, and Massey Energy's Bandmill Coal Company's failure to keep their sediment pond cleaned out, which they were written up for by the West Virginia EPA. From a video by Bob Gates. Photo of Maria Gunnoe, winner of the 2009 Goldman Environmental Prize, speaking with media about her testimony, by Jamie Goodman. FN21 / Greening Suzuki
July 03, 2009 01:19 AM PDT
David Suzuki talks at Greening the Heartland in Detroit. Also news and info from people trying to kick the Senate in the pants on climate change. There was a Mountain Top Removal protest last week at Marsh Fork Elementary School at Coal Mountain West Virginia, attended by some very well known people including Dr. James Hansen, NASA climate scientist, and actress and environmental activist Darryl Hannah. Hannah wrote an article for the Huffington Post about why she deliberately got arrested with several others at Coal Mountain, making a statement about the Marsh Fork elementary school there which is threatened by 2.8 billion gallons of coal sludge which is in a holding pond above the school. Listen here and read her story at the Huffington Post. More on mountaintop removal next time. To take action, visit http://www.ilovemountains.org and RAN.org Autism and coal burning link -- Study Says Autism Linked To Coal Power Plants Arctic Sea Ice is at Lowest Point in 800 Years Canada and Russia, the new Bad Boys of Oil, are making the least progress in cutting carbon- dioxide emissions among the major economies, a new study shows. Check out The Nature of Things, the show that David Suzuki created in Canada at the CBC. David Suzuki is presented with audio from the Greening the Heartland conference.
June 21, 2009 11:27 AM PDT
Last Thursday, June 18, the U.S. government released a report, the work of 13 government agencies, that gives us a serious picture of climate change. It is called Global Climate Change Impacts in the U.S, and this episode contains the findings. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which called for "a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change." Changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life. (from the Global Change Research Act of 1990) Download the report here from USGCRP. (takes you to their website) Shading earth as a climate fix? Since the news is so dire, scientists are seriously thinking about geoengineering to save as much life on the planet as possible from the effects of global heating and climate change. The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is even getting serious about geoengineering. Some scientists are considering manipulating the Earth's atmosphere to counteract climate change. There is definitely something to eyewitness reports of "hazing" because the government now admits they are considering using chemicals to "fix" global heating and more discussions of it are ongoing. The NAS held a panel on geoengineering ideas last week. The panel asked the question: "What can be done to limit the magnitude of future climate change?" The panel focused on actions to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions and other human drivers of climate change, such as changes in land use, and also considered the international dimensions of climate stabilization, the costs, benefits, limitations, tradeoffs, and uncertainties. There were 18 members of the panel called Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change. Second audio clip from NPR
June 17, 2009 09:34 PM PDT
We have at most 10 years to decide which types of energy will replace the ones we have. Fossil fuel use has to end.
It's more than a problem of political will. It's what is physically and scientifically possible. This is where research and development and technology come in. News covered: Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann reports that Republicans have come up with a new energy plan that is just like their old energy plan. It includes lots and lots of fossil fuels, so it's completely unacceptable and inappropriate. No surprise there. Biofuel is the fuel that won't die, and even though it's getting a bad rap lately, I agree that it has to be developed at least to some extent. I think you'll agree that it has better potential than CCS, (carbon capture and storage). Read more about different kinds of new biofuels here on the Futurism Now news blog. There are several articles about new forms of biofuels that are being researched this year and late last year that sound pretty promising. Steven Chu was featured in last week's Rolling Stone magazine -- a very revealing interview. It's called The Secretary of Saving the Planet -- try to find it online (not available without a subscription). This episode discusses the article. Steven Chu is a big fan of cap and trade legislation, unfortunately. He also makes some revealing statements in this article. New report: Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Download the report in full or in segments on this page. Jane Lubchenco, the Undersecretary of Commerce makes a statement that is played in this episode, announcing the report. (The entire press conference will be a separate podcast to come.) She is also the head of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Coal broadcast from ABC Environment -- Australian Broadcast Corp., Environmental show Oil Shale is being pushed by Republicans. Here's how bad it is for the environment.
The average total energy consumption rate is 13 trillion watts in 2001, last year it was well over 14 trillion watts. You have to solve this problem, not just get a few cars off the road. The U.S. consumes 96 quadrillion British thermal units in a year or 3.2 terawatts. 85% of it is fossil fuels. How can renewable energies make up for this? The speaker, Nate Lewis, points out the challenges we are facing, and it is extremely daunting, but he also offers solutions. FNU1 / Climate Change Scientist Talks
June 11, 2009 11:47 PM PDT
With this episode you are beginning Climatology 'classes' at Futurism Now University. Along with politics, upcoming episodes will also deal with the cold, hard scientific facts of climate change. It's important that people know why strong climate legislation is important. We have about two weeks to strengthen the Waxman-Markey bill (aka the American clean energy bill or ACES) so please call your Congressman. There is also a Fax and letter campaign through CCAN. Sign here (takes you to the CCAN website) to strengthen the current climate bill! Mountaintop removal, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental degredation all keep happening because there is no huge public outcry. You can't have a public outcry if the public doesn't know what is happening. And the denial movement is still going strong, thanks to the huge disinformation campaign funded by big energy corporations and lobbyists. That's where this podcast, and everyone listening comes in. We need to make a climate change movement happen that is bigger and more powerful than the oil and coal lobby. Bigger than the disinformation campaign. We need to be armed with facts. It will support the growing climate movement that's already been started. Bill McKibben discusses that here: Can 350.org save the world? How bad is our climate crisis? You will find out in this episode. From the University of San Diego, today's science talk is called, "Climate Change and Roles for Scientists". Don't be intimidated, it's presented so that everyone can understand it with minimal science lingo. The speaker is Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences. He outlines the challenges of climate change and the roles that science and scientists must play in meeting them. FN16 / Peak Consequences
June 06, 2009 05:45 AM PDT
Water shortages, mountaintop removal, continued use of coal, and a watered down climate/energy bill. This is the current reality. My state, like some others, is in a drought in what is supposed to be the wettest month of the summer. Is this a possible result of climate change? Peak oil and water shortages are only two of the problems we will face as climate change advances in the future. Another is what to do about energy and how to convince our leaders that we need to phase out the use of coal. And, we need to strengthen the Waxman-Markey (ACES) bill and we don't have much time to do that. ACTION: You can help by calling Congress and by signing a message to Congress. Sign here (takes you to the CCAN website) to strengthen the current climate bill! In this episode you hear from Greentv. and Jim Hightower, a short excerpt from the documentary Blind Spot, directed, photographed and edited by Adolfo Doring. You will also hear from the new book that's a collection of scientific essays called What's Next? on climate change and where the human race will be moving when climate change starts making certain parts of the world uninhabitable. Most of the speakers you will hear in the Blind Spot doc are PhDs, and you can see a list of them here.
From the movie cover:
CALL CONGRESS and tell them to strengthen the American Clean Energy bill. Specifically, we are being told (by insiders): Ask your Congressman to urge Ways & Means to act and not to let the leadership rush the bill to the floor. . . . . the huge offsets are probably the most egregious in the parade of horribles -- to the extent that you believe in "caps" (I do not) the offsets destroy their integrity. But the giveaways to utilities are indefensible -- households should get that money directly. [I totally agree with that] Here is the main number for Congress - the Senate and House - in Washington, DC. -- (202) 225-3121 FN 16 / Peak Consequences
June 06, 2009 01:12 AM PDT
Water shortages, mountaintop removal, continued use of coal, and a watered down climate/energy bill. This is the current reality. My state, like some others, is in a drought in what is supposed to be the wettest month of the summer. Is this a possible result of climate change? Peak oil and water shortages are only two of the problems we will face as climate change advances in the future. Another is what to do about energy and how to convince our leaders that we need to phase out the use of coal. And, we need to strengthen the Waxman-Markey (ACES) bill and we don't have much time to do that. ACTION: You can help by calling Congress and by signing a message to Congress. Sign here (takes you to the CCAN website) to strengthen the current climate bill! In this episode you hear from Greentv. and Jim Hightower, a short excerpt from the documentary Blind Spot, directed, photographed and edited by Adolfo Doring. You will also hear from the new book that's a collection of scientific essays called What's Next? on climate change and where the human race will be moving when climate change starts making certain parts of the world uninhabitable. Most of the speakers you will hear in the Blind Spot doc are PhDs, and you can see a list of them here.
From the movie cover:
CALL CONGRESS and tell them to strengthen the American Clean Energy bill. Specifically, we are being told (by insiders): "Ask your Congressman to urge Ways & Means to act and not to let the leadership rush the bill to the floor. . . . . the huge offsets are probably the most egregious in the parade of horribles -- to the extent that you believe in "caps" (I do not) the offsets destroy their integrity. But the giveaways to utilities are indefensible -- households should get that money directly." [I totally agree with that] Here is the main number for Congress - the Senate and House - in Washington, DC. -- (202) 225-3121 FN15 / Time for Pressure
June 02, 2009 02:09 PM PDT
Forums, conferences, and the EPA -- what's going on? This episode lets you in on what is happening in Bonn, the World Humanitarian forum, and what came out of the Paris meeting. Also, the EPA is not doing what we want -- your input is needed to save our forests and mountains. It's time to pressure those in power. Call Congress and let them know they need to strengthen the Waxman-Markey bill, or approve one of the cap and dividend bills instead. The World Environment Day is only a couple of days away, it's on Friday, June 5th! Read up about some of the events that will take place around the world. Daily Kos story on mountaintop removal here. "Climate change is here. It has a human face. This report details the nevertheless silent crisis
-- Report, The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis (link below) Think China isn't doing enough? "Greenhouse gas emissions are rising because consumption is rising. Unless we address this, we cannot prevent climate breakdown. It doesn't matter where production takes place: the problem is that we are consuming too much." -- the Guardian
Climate Change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year. You can find the Global Humanitarian report, Anatomy of a Silent Crisis, (pdf) and download it on this page. See information on the Bonn Climate talks here. They are ongoing until June 12. NASF and others urge Congress to consider forest biomass in energy legislation. Read more here. CONTACT CONGRESS Here is the main number for Congress - the Senate and House - in Washington, DC. 202 225-3121
The Potential of Nuclear Power
May 26, 2009 04:16 AM PDT
It's believed by some people that environmentalists should be against nuclear power -- I completely disagree. We are trying to find ways to solve and stop climate change, not fight the possibilities and the ideas for doing that. Nuclear power has improved a lot since the 1970's, and it's a strong source of nearly CO2-free power. Nuclear energy is not a political issue, it's just a form of energy, and for the near future at least, a necessary one. There are many environmentalists who are for the development of new nuclear power, Generation IV or IFR -- Integral Fast Reactors. This episode discusses nuclear power, why it may be necessary, why new ones are safer, and why it might be a good source of heavy-duty power for many years to come. Read chapter 4 on nuclear power from the new book Prescription for the Planet, -- “Newclear Power” -- by downloading it here. Author Tom Blees has generously decided to put this chapter (pg 117 — 139) on the web to allow a more rapid dissemination of the basic facts about IFR to everyone you know (family, friends, fellow environmentalists, politicians, the media) — so please do pass on the link: http://tinyurl.com/cwvn8n Also visit the site for the book and download chapter 1. This notification came from a very good spot online for energy information: Brave New Climate. More on the The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) project here. Also interesting: George Monbiot does not reject nuclear power. Neither does climate scientist James Hansen, or UK scientist James Lovelock. Neither does Energy Secretary Steven Chu. If nuclear will be a necessary power source for the future, when can we start building them? Nuclear Energy Must Power Our Future -- an Intelligence Squared debate, and two viewpoints on nuclear energy are in this episode. The graphic for this episode is from the COP15 logo. You can sign up and submit your thoughts to the UN's "Climate Thoughts". A very cool globe of thoughts from all over the world.
May 18, 2009 03:08 PM PDT
The cap and trade bill is rushing through Congress yet it provides huge giveaways for polluters and focuses an awful lot on coal funding and the myth of clean coal. Will carbon capture and sequestration ever work? Steven Chu is betting 2.4 billion that it will. Many scientists say it's just not feasible. There is no such thing as clean coal!
Disturbing news about the EPA approving 42 out of 48 permits for mountain top removal in Appalachia and their response, which is lame. Two interviews are played in this episode; one with John Berger of Standard Renewable Energy, and the other with Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, during the Energy Efficiency Global Forum. You can find more news and interviews at E&ETV. You will also hear from Kevin Knoblach, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists. There are a lot of myths about what is happening in the rest of the world -- one myth is that the EU's emissions trading is not working and it is (reportedly) working. And yes, China is doing a lot on climate change. China is in the process of greening up their country, and spending a lot on doing it too. Spending more than the U.S. in fact. China and India should not be used as an excuse for the U.S. to not act aggressively on climate change! Various news stories on the climate bill that might be of interest. An analysis of the cap and trade bill from the Wall Street Journal article that I discussed is here: "Panel Adds Free Permits to CO2 Bill" This cap and trade bill does not go far enough on emissions and it makes too many allowances, especially for coal. Why? The top 3-takers of coal money, are Democrats -- Dingell, Boucher, & Hoyer. Follow the coal money. FN12 / Take Action / A Republican Mis-Leader
May 06, 2009 01:39 PM PDT
We need climate legislation before it's too late. According to a new May 5th CNN poll a majority of Americans DO want something done about climate change. Congress, are you listening? They need to hear from us. May 6th and every day is CALL IN day to Congress. But there are several key Democrats that really need some pushing on a climate bill. You can read about this action here and get the list of congressmen to call, their phone numbers, and even a script. So Today --Take action on climate change legislation today and every day until legislation passes. See the recent action alert at
See more at the Futurism Now blog -- Action Day on Climate Legislation Newt Gingrich spent some time in Congress last month misleading the American people and Congress on the economics of climate legislation. There were some mild fireworks, but there need to be more. I play a segment of that. The government can fund all the new energy it wants, but people need to get those dividend checks from the tax and dividend or cap and trade legislation that is passed. That is what the Larsen bill and the Van Hollen bill describe. So mention those two bills when you call your Congressmen and it doesn't have to be today that you call, you can and hopefully will call them at any point from now until we get some legislation, So, please visit my website for the links to get the names and phone numbers of these key democrats who should be contacted. Good climate bills: Larsen Bill H.R. 1337 -- America's Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 Van Hollen Bill H.R. 1862: -- Cap and Dividend Act of 2009 Read these two bills, they are better than the cap and trade bill! China IS studying carbon tax ideas, despite what Newt Claims. CSPAN energy meetings can be found here. (Look under "Energy"). There were 3 days of debate and discussion in April, starring Al Gore and Steven Chu and Lisa Jackson and many others. The sad melted Bolivian glacier story is here. It lasted 18,000 years... and mere mortals finished it off. FN10 -- Window of Opportunity!
April 24, 2009 09:57 PM PDT
This episode gets back to basics and includes a recent talk from Bill McKibben, environmental activist, and Co-founder and Director of 350.org. He wrote the first book about global warming--"The End of Nature." His speech was given on April 09, 2009, and was titled, "350 The Most Important Number in the World". Thanks for the media file to Active Ingredients Media. Here's one of those CO2 papers that Rep. Bachmann claims doesn't exist:
1 Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme: Australia’s low pollution future, White Paper, downloaded from http://www.climatechange.gov.au/whitepaper/report/pubs/pdf/V100eExecutiveSummary.pdf. You can read the rest of Hansen’s letter here. (download pdf) Thomas L. Friedman, “Show Me the Ball,” The New York Times, Music: Mean Ol' Wind Died Down by North Mississippi Allstars
FN09 / The EPA Rules
April 20, 2009 02:51 PM PDT
A portion of an interview about cap and dividend is included, from Congressman Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat representing Maryland’s Eighth District, who was interviewed on Earthbeat Radio. Here are the bills discussed: H.R. 1862-- Cap and Dividend Act of 2009 (Van Hollen's bill) and H.R. 1337 -- America's Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009 (Larsen's bill). You will also hear from Friends of the Earth -- Michelle Chan -- on the subject of why cap and trade isn't so great.
European cap and trade works, a little bit at least -- they have cut emissions 4-5%, but that's not enough.
Climate Change Congress -- where you can find videos there of all three days of the conference, including a transcript of Sir Nicolas Stern's speech that is played in this episode.
LA Times story -- What will global warming look like? Look to Australia. They are seeing droughts, wildfires, and floods, just like what is starting in the U.S. Cap and trade problems are abundant -- From Counterpunch.org The Stern Report -- The Economics of Climate Change -- can be found here. Previous Page | Next Page |
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