CRITTERS AND THE GREAT OUTDOORS
The last monarchs in paradise1 written by tharu1: A few feet from my front door, there is this less than imposing crown flower plant that the Homeowner s association landscapers seem to think should stay under three feet tall. If you look closely at this plant you will find hundreds of very hungry caterpillars eating the leaves and bulking up for metamorphosis. The remarkable thing about these butterflies is that they perpetuate their species without venturing more than a few hundred feet from their birthplace. They have everything they need in all their stages of life and never need fly farther. So, around my house I am thankful that I see monarch butterflies in great numbers no matter the month of the year! These pics were all taken on Thanksgiving day, 2015. The Hilo zoo provides some background2 on the only monarch still ruling in Hawaii.
Choke down on your sand wedge for this shot, says the Egret.
The Daily Bucket: Yo, You Come Here Often?3 written by 6412093: I ve worked part time at a public golf course west of Portland Oregon for almost 20 years. The Great Blue Herons (Ardea herodias) have fished in its three large ponds before it was a golf course, and hopefully they will fish there after I m gone. The herons have their favorite spots. They nip out bluegill and pan fish from an old farmer s stockpond that now is a golf course pond. They nail bullfrogs from several shorelines, often shifting spots to stay away from the golfers. Herons aren t common in Oregon but you can see them if you are paying attention and know where to look. I found it odd that in the winter, the herons shift most of their attention from the ponds to the course s plains of overlong fescue grasses, which the course designates as rough; areas. The fescue is honeycombed with countless vole (large field mice) burrows, upon which the herons feast. Abruptly last year, a lovely white Great Egret (pictured above); heron-sized but with snowy white feathers, showed up on the course in early winter and began chowing down on the voles itself. Much rarer than the Great Blue Heron, there are only about 100 Egrets living near Portland in the Fall. While the Herons are permanent residents, the Egrets only winter in Oregon.
Puget Sound in Fall written by Desert Scientist: I have lived in the deserts along the Mexican border for most of my life, but recently I have moved to the Pacific Northwest, in large degree because of family. I could not have picked a better place to be, from the standpoint of a biologist. Years ago when I first visited the Sea of Cortez (Gulf of California), I fell in love with the sea. I now have Puget Sound within a block or so and can access it quite easily when it is not raining. Not only is it available, but it is also full of life, as I see every time I walk the distance to the overlook. I am an invertebrate zoologist (primarily insects and arachnids) who retired several years ago, while still keeping my finger in the discipline. However I also have a strong interest in birds and flora, so I find plenty to keep me busy anywhere I am. Puget Sound has a lot of opportunities for bird and other wildlife watching and photography. This is evidenced by the fact that I have added several new birds to my life list (I keep one, although I m not fanatic about it) and have observed some fascinating behaviors. There are chances to see marine mammals, but I have mostly seemed to miss them. A pod of about 40 orcas came through just a half hour before I went down to the Sound one day and a gray whale was seen, but missed by me. 4
Yellowstone Park: Firehole Lake Drive (Photo Diary written by Ojibwa: The Firehole Lake Drive in Yellowstone National Park is a one-way, two-mile drive through some interesting thermal features. 5
Surprise Pool
The Daily Bucket–Police Bust Frog Mitigation Area’s Operator written by 6412093: Hear Ye, Hear Ye, the Honorable Minor Matters Court of the Frog Environmental Regulatory Commission (FERC) is now in session, Administrative Law Judge Fremont Wood presiding. Judge Wood: Good Morning, all. We are here for the matter of Re: Sub-agency of the Department of Education vs: John Doe, Operator of Frog Mitigation Area. Do we have a Sub-agency representative here? Please step forward and identify yourself. Lively: Good Morning your honor. I am CE Lively, inspector for the Grammar Police, a sub-agency of the Federal Department of Education. I filed the complaint in this matter. The Defendant in this case has incorrectly captioned his habitat restoration scheme as the Frog Mitigation Area, implying that this area mitigates for the adverse impacts of the presence of frogs. After receiving a referral from the National Security Agency, whose informers monitor a Communist website called The Daily Kos, about this potential violation, I issued a citation under CPC 1538.5, charging the defendant with an ambiguous and misleading construct of this project title, compounded by the misguided usage of this title in the resulting Federal Register notices and the FERC s ultimate Record of Decision. Please note the defendant identifies himself as 6412093 and we d like to substitute that name into the complaint. 6
Daily Bucket: Serendipitous Discovery – Fungi Flourish After Wildfire7 written by Besame: What do you do when wildfire torches the area you ve been studying for two years as part of your PhD research? Recognize the unique opportunity to have both pre- and post-fire data and examine fire s effects, of course! Scientific understanding of what comprises the soil biota, how it interacts, relationship with plants, and consequences of wildfire on soil is full of assumptions, information gaps, and myths. There s a lot of soil and, until recently, inadequate means to closely examine all its details. Think about how much soil surface there is, and then consider depth. Some areas have a thin layer of soil atop bedrock or impervious clay; other areas such as California s Central Valley can have 20 feet of topsoil. The soil biota includes both micro- and macroscopic life forms. Sampling to capture the range of soil life has been as difficult as the effort required to identify the organisms in the sample. But new robotic and software technologies can identify large numbers of genetic material quickly, including microscopic organisms and fragments, and are revealing soil s mysteries.
To me it looks like a tree branch encased in a lava cinder.
The Daily Bucket–Amateur Discovers Shocking Fossil That Could Stagger Evolutionary Science written by 6412093: I was just rearranging a lava rock in my back yard when I noticed the anomaly. When I hosed it off and scrubbed it with the barbeque grille brush I knew I had something! … According to authoritative scientific sources (See, for instance What are Fossils Continued Dinosaurs for Kids) … Only sedimentary rocks can hold fossils. That assumption could underlie many of our theories about the age of our world, that are based on layers of fossils in sedimentary rock. We assume it took, in some cases, hundreds of millions of years to form fossils. But what if fossils could actually be formed in a few thousand years? Could we really be living on a much younger earth? Dramatic claims demand dramatic evidence. So here is my photographic proof of a fossil in igneous rock!! I firmly believe this unique discovery will provide the same font of new knowledge as did discovery of Piltdown Man! 8
Surfbird
Dawn Chorus: Well Everybody’s Heard .written by matching mole: One of the things you learn in any area of endeavor that requires careful observation is how easily preconceptions can affect your impression of what you see. Case in point: on Monday of this week I made what might be my final visit to Discovery Park here in Seattle. Late in my visit I stumbled across some vaguely pigeon-like birds hopping about on the rocks of the shoreline and making a fair amount of noise. For some reason, although I had seen Black Turnstones before and there were significant differences in size and coloration, I decided these were Black Turnstones. That evening I compared the photos to images in Sibley and found that what I had seen was a flock of surfbirds, a new species for me. Surfbirds breed in the mountainous interior of the Yukon and Alaska and spend the non-breeding season on the rocky shores of western North America. I had never seen a surfbird and had gotten the impression (from where I now couldn t say) that they were uncommon and difficult birds to see. 9
CLIMATE CHAOS
Climate finance mix up10 written by Mattias: Money. Nothing creates as many tensions in the UN climate talks as negotiations about money. It is obvious for any negotiator that money is needed, and that the growing challenges of climate change come with a price. However, nobody wants to pay, and thus it becomes almost impossible to reach an agreement. If discussions were straightforward, about a concrete amount of funds, it might be easier. However, discussions about climate finance have little to do with the actual amount, and much more about when to expect the funds, where they should come from, and how they should be used. And one of the biggest challenges is that negotiators from different countries have very different views and understandings. From an observers view, while the parties think they are talking about the same thing, they are in fact talking about different things when it comes to climate finance. Here are a few examples. For developing countries, climate finance is an agreed amount of money, following agreed principles, with global ownership. UN agreements constitute the frames, and thus all countries, both donors and recipients, should have influence on how money is handled and spent. Concretely it means that the agreement to mobilize 100 billion USD by 2020 should be fulfilled by developed countries, that the funds should be additional to existing flows of development aid, and that these funds should answer to a need in developing countries.
Climate Change Is NOT the #1 Issue written by johnnygunn: Not for millions of people in France today. Not for tens of millions of people across Europe. Marine Le Pen s right-populist National Front appears to have received the highest number of votes in the first round of regional elections in France today. Exit polls suggest that the National Front received more than 30%. Former President Sarkozy s conservative bloc received 27%. And current President Hollande s Socialists received only 22%. In the Nord-Pas de Calais region, which Marine Le Pen seeks to lead, the National Front received more than 40%. In the south, her niece, Marion Mar chal-Le Pen, leads with almost 50%. … The contrast could not be greater. While 40,000 delegates and staff debate the importance of climate, voters in France and across Europe are ignoring them. And, in the process, leftist parties are being decimated. Climate change is important, but it is NOT the most important issue, Certainly, it is not among French voters and French voters are some of the most informed in the world. It is past time for progressives to recognize this and to refocus upon core economic issues. 11
GOP s Decades-Long Descent Into Denial12 written by ClimateDenierRoundup: Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX) has retreated slightly in his witch-hunt13 after intense criticism14 from fellow committee members and a letter from eight major scientific groups15. Now, instead of demanding the emails of the scientists who wrote the study, he s only demanding the communications of non-scientists at NOAA. Smith s shenanigans have caught the attention of top-tier papers, with write ups in the LA Times16 and The Washington Post,17 as well as commentary from the New York Times editorial board18. They point out that while this attack on science is nothing new for Republicans, this display is especially disturbing. That’s because Smith by attacking a reanalysis that corrects past data doesn t seem to understand the very basic scientific principle of reproducibility19, which is pretty problematic given that he’s the Chair of the Science Committee. The GOP s past position on the environment and climate was much different. The Washington Post has a piece on memos20 from the Reagan and H.W. Bush presidencies showing that senior officials were pushing hard for US leadership on environmental protection. With talk about the profound consequences of climate change and the need to act even before all the uncertainties have been resolved, the past position is a far cry from the current denial endemic to the GOP.
Paris COP21
Trust, but Verify: Climate Edition21 written by Michael G. Williams via bgalliance: Following up on yesterday s post22 on just transition, today I d like to go over transparency and verification, which is indispensable if we are to ensure a level playing field for American manufacturing while taking action on climate change at the United Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and through other multi- and bi-lateral efforts.Agreements to act on climate change are only effective when they are implemented properly and transparently, and they include the necessary means for measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV). We all want transparency and verification to make sure countries are cutting the requisite pollution to scientifically address the climate crisis, but it is equally necessary to ensure that lower-emitting domestic manufacturing remains competitive. To put this in perspective, on a per ton of product basis the Chinese aluminum industry produces more than double the carbon dioxide of the U.S. industry.1 As of data from 2009, the steel industry in China similarly produces twice the amount23 of carbon. This is occurring while China faces a steel antidumping probe24 from the U.S. and the European Union25, and global aluminum prices have tanked over 25 percent in 2015 alone mostly due to a recent surge in Chinese exports.
Denial s Big Day in Paris a Bust26 written by ClimateDenierRoundup: Yesterday, in addition to it being the COP s Gender Day, it was Heartland s Bringing Climate Realism to Paris at COP-2127 conference the deniers’ best shot at getting their views heard. The day-long event featured the usual cast of characters, from men who are retired scientists (Singer), to men whose research is funded by the fossil fuel industry (Soon), to men who aren t scientists at all (Monckton). No women were present among the speakers, as pointed out by DeSmog s Kyla Mandel, who was unceremoniously booted28 from the Heartland event, an act that cut down the number of women present by a third. (Apparently, when Heartland says open to the public, they really mean only the public that doesn t ask uncomfortable questions. ) The denier conference culminated with the debut of Climate Hustle29, Marc Morano s climate change documentary. So, how much press were deniers able to get with their big day? To their credit, they did manage to break into the New York Times, sort of. The NYT Paris blog covered the efforts of Avaaz30 an environmental activist group which printed wanted posters to call out deniers. The posters, which were plastered all over Paris, featured seven of the most notable deniers at COP21. However, Avaaz s effort had the unintended consequence of giving deniers something they desperately crave: attention.
Chances improve for a 1.5 C goal being included in the Paris climate pact. But will it be serious?31 written by Meteor Blades: At the beginning of the second week of climate negotiations in Paris, there s some optimism in the air with good reason, although there is still a long way to go in settling major issues before a climate agreement is produced. And, of course, even the best climate agreement that comes out of the COP21 talks only matters if the signatories take it seriously, enforcing whatever parts are binding which might be none and sticking to their pledges to cut CO2 emissions as stated in their Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC)32.Optimism is certainly not everyone s view, as you can see in this highly critical essay33. But even with the hundred or more caveats that can be raised, we re not where we were at this stage of the Copenhagen talks.
Paris Climate Talks and the Elephant in the Room written by Robocop: The front page of Le Monde on Wednesday showed a picture of President Obama shaking hands with Bill Gates during the United Nations Conference on Climate Change. As the owner of 500,000 shares of Monsanto stock and as one who has teamed up with Cargill, one of the largest agribusiness companies on the planet, he shouldn t even be there. It has been shown that the genetic engineering Monsanto purports and the large scale industrial beef processing conducted by Cargill are major causes of global warming. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that animal agriculture is responsible for 18% of all man made greenhouse gases as well as 37% of methane emissions and 65% of nitrous oxide emissions. The monocrop structure of agriculture espoused by Monsanto also leads to climate change by deforestation, draining of wetlands and the nitrous oxide emissions released by the vast amount of pesticides required to grow GMOs. Given the control these multinational corporations have over our governments, it seems doubtful that the Conference will consider the damage done to our climate by these agricultural methods. 34
Climate Hope: Canada fights for 1.5 at COP2135 written by newusername: Conservative intransigence had Canada behaving as a climate criminal for a decade, and the new Trudeau Government is turning that completely around; Canada s Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna told a stunned crowd that she wants the Paris agreement to restrict planetary warming to just 1.5 Celsius warming not two degrees. If we want to have a reasonable prospect of not having the Greenland ice sheet create five- to eight-metre sea level rise, it s what s required.
Heading to Paris to Stop Global Warming: Can Capitalism Save Itself?36 written by billofrights. Dear Citizens and Elected Officials:I dashed off this brief note to some Email colleagues of mine last night after reading a prominent scientist s a long article at the Huffington Post. I found this James Hansen piece very interesting and not politically correct at all, dissing Big Green (and Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein, unnamed but clear) and saying we can do an easier more effective business with the Chinese. For those like William Nordhaus, the economist go to fixer for the establishment in the NY Review of Books, who believes that capitalism got us into this mess and only capitalism can get us out, via cap and trade, a big import tariff against carbon heavy products imposed by the Club of advanced nations, or a carbon tax well then, I keep waiting for the leaders of capitalism to act. Hansen says he hears them and sees them moving this way behind the scenes. Like the democracy in action of the TPP, I guess. Also from the Review, in the actual book review of the bio of high-tech hero Elon Musk, I heard a sigh expressing relief that he has proven with Tesla cars and Solar City financing packages that we don’t have to lower our living standards to save the planet: technology in the hands of new Henry Ford types will spare us. Oh spare me, please.
Exporting Denial During the Paris Climate Conference37 written by Michael Brune and Bill McKibben: Talk about irony. As the world struggles this week in Paris to finally do something meaningful about climate change, American environmentalists around the convention hall are suddenly having to divert their energy to deal with a threat from politicians back home. Behind closed doors in Washington, Republican leaders are trying once again to commandeer the federal budget to the benefit of their fossil fuel benefactors — and they are getting an assist from some leading Democrats as well. They are apparently negotiating with the GOP to end the long-standing ban on crude oil exports, a move that would dramatically undercut America’s negotiation position, and demonstrate that the oil industry maintains a firm grip on both our political parties. A vote on lifting the ban could come as early as Friday — the very day that the world is supposed to be reaching its final climate pact. Ending the oil export ban is a poor idea on many grounds: Unions oppose it because it will cost refinery jobs, conservationists oppose it because it will lead to more drilling in sensitive areas and increased pollution in communities of color. It makes a mockery of the idea that we’re actually interested in energy independence. We’d get 4,500 more rail cars a day full of explosive oil. It’s such bad policy that 69 percent of Americans, across both parties, oppose lifting the ban.
Extreme Weather
India’s Katrina: a city of nearly 7 million is “a virtual island”, death toll crosses 280 written by flitedoccnm: A confluence of the warmest El Ni o ever, the warmest November on record, and poor urban planning and development, has brought disaster to the city of Chennai (also known as Madras), the fifth largest city in India, the capital city of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, off the Bay of Bengal, a city of 6.7 million, the largest industrial and commercial center in South India, and a major cultural, economic and education center. The Indian Express has the story: Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Thursday said Chennai has turned into an island. It would not be an exaggeration to say that. Since the day before, Chennai has been cut off from all national and state highways. The minister added that in the 24 hours beginning December 1, 8.30 pm, Chennai has received 330 mm of rain, which exceeds the rain the city receives for the entire month of December, thereby breaking a 100-year record. 38394041
ENERGY
Nuclear, Coal, Oil and Gas
Peak Carbon?42 written by FrustratedProgressive: Maybe, don’t break out the Champagne. A study published in Nature43 suggests that the world might have reached the point where reductions in carbon emissions are being made despite the global economy continuing to grow. If this turns out to be true, that’s wonderful. Republicans have long kvetched that doing anything to actually reduce emissions would cripple the economy, yet this reduction comes at a time when the global economy is growing. This is in contrast to a reduction seen in 2009 which is believed to have been caused by the Great Recession. So why are we holding the bubbly? I can think of at least three reasons. First of all, the drop in emissions is very small, about 200 million tonnes out of a global annual emission (2014) total of 35.9 billion tonnes (As reported here44). At just 0.6%, the signal actually falls inside the study’s error bars. There might actually have been an increase in emissions of up to 0.5% or a larger decrease of up 1.6%.
the COP-21 and OPEC meetings; increases in US oil imports, refining, and our oil glut written by rjsigmund: COP-21 started on Monday and still has a week to go, and if any agreement comes out of it, we’ll have to wait years to find out if the promised emission reductions have been met right now, it doesn’t look good; China has already approved construction of an additional 155 coal generation power plants in the first 9 months of this year; India has permitted a similar number of new plants, as their coal-fired electric generating capacity grew 9.4% this year, Japan is building an additional 40 coal fired plants to replace their mothballed nuclear generating capacity, and Germany has also increased coal generation as they’ve shut down their nuclear plants all told, the countries meeting in Paris are currently planning to build 2,440 coal-fired power stations in the not too distant future; so by 2030, plants now planned or under construction will increase global coal generating capacity by 40%…most of these new plants have 40-year life spans, which will at least serve to keep private coal mining from Federal lands in Wyoming and Warren Buffett’s oil & coal hauling railroads in business for years… 454647484950515253
Renewables & Conservation
The nuclear industry s COP 21 dilemma: 100% renewables is attainable54 written by nirsnet: If you think you ve been seeing a lot more pro-nuclear propaganda in the media than usual in the past couple of weeks, well, it s not your imagination. The nuclear industry and its champions are out in force, publishing articles and appearing in the media wherever and whenever they can in what may be a last-ditch effort to convince the world or at least its leaders that nuclear power is the answer, or one answer, to our climate crisis. As one writer put it Sunday55, At the Paris Climate Summit (COP21), the global nuclear lobby is in overdrive. If it all smacks a bit of desperation and a lot of the pro-nuke pieces out there right now verge on the hysterical, with blatant attacks56 on those of us who envision a clean energy future well, that s not your imagination either. That s because there is no global consensus on nuclear power. Some nations are against it entirely while a relatively few others are ardently pro-nuclear, with most including the U.S. somewhere in-between. And that means, by the very nature of the COP 21 talks, that nuclear isn t getting what the industry needs; indeed, so far at least, nuclear is simply a non-factor57.
Fracking
To Frack Or Not To Frack (a Fracklet)58 written by Dave Elder: (To all my fractivist friends, please accept this early Christmas gift. I hope you enjoy it. To Frack Or Not To Frack (a Fracklet) To frack, or not to frack: that is the question: Whether it s wiser in this time to suffer / The stink and catastrophic errors of outrageous drilling, / Or to lock arms against an endless convoy of trucks, / And by opposing stop them. To frack, to extract No more and by extraction to say that we greatly / Fatten the wallet, and get natural gas for our neighbors / And/or China! That s a monetary inflation / To be righteously celebrated. To frack, to extract To extract perhaps to pollute: ah, there s the catch, / For in that extraction of fracking what chemicals may come up / When we have cracked that ancient shale /Should make us pause. Then there s the radon / With such a long half-life … (More of the fracklet at the link].
TRASH, TOXIC & RADIOACTIVE WASTE
Is the U.S. government punishing a USDA scientist for his pesticide findings?59 written by Walter Einenkel: The United States government being influenced by big business interests is not a new phenomenon. For every positive step forward, there are very frequently disturbing steps backwards. A few months ago the EPA offered up steps in the right direction60 in regards to the use of pesticides around honeybees. Around the same time, Dr. Jonathan Lundgren, a successful Senior Research Entomologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Research Service (USDA-ARS), says his research pointing out potentially serious problems with big agricultural pesticides has led to unprecedented harassment from his superiors.61
Coal, Petcoke, and “Sludge Fields,” oh my! Koch Industries is BAD for the Neighborhood written by WeAreKochs: Though the drama around Koch-affiliate KCBX s gigantic uncovered petroleum coke (petcoke) pile in Chicago has received attention in the mainstream media, Koch Industries dirty habit of making life uncomfortable for those unfortunate enough to live near its facilities extends far beyond Chicago. From petcoke dust63 in Chicago, to Koch Industries subsidiary Georgia-Pacific s hydrogen sulfide sludge fields64 in Savannah that allegedly smell like rotten eggs and damaged neighbors property, to dust from Koch Industries subsidiary C. Reiss Coal s enormous coal piles on the Green Bay waterfront65, Koch Industries has shown itself to be a bad neighbor. In 2014, the EPA found Koch-subsidiary KCBX, which had been storing uncovered piles of petcoke in Chicago’s southeast side, to be in violation of the Clean Air Act66. The same facility was subsequently found to be in violation of the Clean Air Act again in April, 201567. KCBX’s petcoke piles in Chicago have sparked protests68 and complaints from community members, who allege that petcoke dust from the facility is a public nuisance and potential health hazard69. Such complaints regarding KCBX petcoke dust prompted at least two lawsuits that were filed by the Illinois Attorney General against KCBX70. 62
ECO-ACTION & ECO JUSTICE
Indigenous activists challenge Governor Brown, UN for backing genocidal carbon trading policies71 written by Dan Bacher: At the end of his keynote address at the World Climate Summit in Paris yesterday, Indigenous activists heckled Governor Jerry Brown, challenging him on his support of controversial carbon trading polices that could potentially cause genocide. Brown had just finished his brief remarks when protesters, including Penny Opal Plant of Idle No More, started yelling NO REDD! REDD is the acronym for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation. It is used by the Governors Climate and Forest Task Force, including California officials, to describe programs to promote reduced emissions from deforestation and land use. California officials have considered ways to link the state s cap-and-trade program, in which polluters pay to offset carbon emissions, to tropical rainforests in Chiapas, Mexico and Acre, Brazil, the Sacramento Bee explained.
CANDIDATES, STATE AND DC ECO-RELATED POLITICS
Friends of the Earth endorses Bernie Sanders written by dawnlaughlin: From a Bernie Sanders.com press release: Winning the first major endorsement for any presidential candidate by a national environmental group, US Senator Bernie Sanders on Saturday welcomed Friends of the Earth s backing for his White House campaign. According to the group s website, they have a more than 40-year legacy of scoring important victories on behalf of the planet and the people who live on it. 72
.@SenSanders releases climate plan: lots of great material but … written by A Siegel: Senator Bernie Sanders’ campaign has released his climate change plan, advertised as People before Polluters. Several upfront comments. To be clear, there is much of real and substantive value in the Sanders’ plan despite some critical comments to follow. With whatever faults it may (or may not) have, adopting (and executing) this plan would put the United States on a much stronger footing economically and help lead the world toward meaningful engagement / progress toward climate mitigation. … A far more sensible target if we wish to reduce climate catastrophe impacts and risks would be a carbon negative economy by 2050 (or by 2040 …) Bernie Sanders is the ‘far left’ of the ‘viable’ political discussion in US electoral discussions. (It is about as far ‘left’ as the Village’s VSP’s (Very Serious People) are willing to go.) It would have been valuable, in my opinion, for the Sanders’s campaign to be pushing the Overton Window toward a stronger policy discussion space. Instead, 80% by 2050 is still defined as the ‘extreme’ rather than a baseline minimum. 737475
Bernie Sanders proposes to cut U.S. carbon pollution 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050 written by VL Baker. Sanders: Sadly, we now have a Republican Party that is more concerned about protecting the profits of Exxon, BP and Shell and the coal industry than protecting the planet. While fossil fuel companies are raking in record profits, climate change ravages our planet and our people all because the wealthiest industry in the history of our planet has bribed politicians into ignoring science. Sanders comprehensive plan which will be released soon will: Cut U.S. carbon pollution by 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050 by putting a tax on carbon pollution, repealing fossil fuel subsidies and making massive investments in energy efficiency and clean, sustainable energy such as wind and solar power. Create a Clean-Energy Workforce of 10 million good-paying jobs by creating a 100% clean energy system. Protect low income and minority communities, who are hit first and worst by the causes and impacts of climate change, while also protecting existing energy-sector workers as they transition into clean energy and other jobs. 76
Sanders unveils climate plan to end U.S. oil, coal, and nuclear dependence written by geebeebee: First, the Goals of Bernie s plan: Bernie s comprehensive plan to combat climate change and make sure our planet is habitable and safe for our kids and grandkids will: Cut U.S. carbon pollution by 40 percent by 2030 and by over 80 percent by 2050 by putting a tax on carbon pollution, repealing fossil fuel subsidies and making massive investments in energy efficiency and clean, sustainable energy such as wind and solar power. Create a Clean-Energy Workforce of 10 million good-paying jobs by creating a 100% clean energy system. Transitioning toward a completely nuclear-free clean energy system for electricity, heating, and transportation is not only possible and affordable it will create millions of good jobs, clean up our air and water, and decrease our dependence on foreign oil. Return billions of dollars to consumers impacted by the transformation of our energy system and protect the most vulnerable communities in the country suffering the ravages of climate change. Bernie will tax polluters causing the climate crisis, and return billions of dollars to working families to ensure the fossil fuel companies don t subject us to unfair rate hikes. Bernie knows that climate change will not affect everyone equally disenfranchised minority communities and the working poor will be hardest hit. The carbon tax will also protect those most impacted by the transformation of our energy system and protect the most vulnerable communities in the country suffering the ravages of climate change. 77
McKibben: BernieSanders is at it again, insisting on saving the planet. Pretty damned good plan78 written by VL Baker: Bernie s new climate plan is getting accolades from those who matter. Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org and Annie Leonard, director of Greenpeace have both issued statements in support of Bernie s climate initiative.
Watch this climate denier freak out at a Senate hearing79 written by Mike Stark: Greenpeace s EnergyDesk broke a huge story80 yesterday that exposed a giant knot of maleficence. The investigators masterfully unwound a scrum of tangled threads to reveal a network of bad actors that included: a crucially important dark money launderer complicit in recruiting foreign money to influence domestic affairs, an academic fraudster selling denial while making assurances that the identity of the research purchaser would remain secret, and a highly influential journalist defrauding his employer and readers by willfully using his position to propagate research he knew to be fraudulent. The investigation involved a series of emails that had the GP investigators posing as a Beirut-based business agent for an unnamed middle-eastern energy company with an interest in undermining the climate talks currently underway in Paris.
How Trump can become a Climate Hero written by Climate Coach: Ever since Obama’s election in 2008, the GOP has moved lockstep against addressing climate. But an outsider’s candidacy may derail GOP efforts to take back the White House next year and undo all the important work Obama has done on climate. His name is Donald Trump. GOP leaders are worried that a Trump candidacy will be a disaster that will prevent them from taking the country backward on climate. I agree with them. Trump will do very poorly with women, Latinos and all people of color, young people, educated people. He may even alienate interests that traditionally support the GOP like Wall Street and corporate interests. … GOP leaders, including the Koch Brothers, are looking for a way to sabotage the Trump candidacy because they fear he will lose in a landslide and by doing so, endanger the GOP’s Senate majority. This is will be bad news for a party dead set on reversing Obama’s efforts to address climate, but good news for the planet and everyone that lives on it. 81828384
OCEANS, WATER, DROUGHT
State Water Board issues Draft Order Regarding Temporary Urgency Change Petitions85 written by Dan Bacher: The State Water Resources Control Board has just issued their draft order regarding the temporary urgency change petitions for the State Water Project and Central Valley Project. This comes after the California Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation have systematically drained and mismanaged Trinity, Shasta, Oroville and Folsom reservoirs every year during the current record drought, driving Sacramento River winter-run Chinook salmon, Central Valley steelhead, Delta and longfin smelt and other fish species to the precipice of extinction. There are two key components of this draft order: First, the draft order includes a minimum carryover storage requirement for Shasta Reservoir of at least 1.6 million acre-feet or more at the end of October, 2016, or equivalent protective measures, to ensure stored cold water supplies are not depleted to dangerous levels and winter-run-Chinook salmon are protected if another drought year occurs. Second, the draft Order also includes a minimum carryover storage requirement for Folsom Reservoir of 200,000 acre-feet at the end of October, 2016 to ensure that minimum health and safety supplies for hundreds of thousands of residents in the Sacramento metropolitan area are available and some minimal protection for fish species is provided on the American River.
Yurok Tribe ‘strongly opposes’ Walden Klamath legislation86 written by Dan Bacher: The Yurok Tribe, the largest Indian Tribe in California, on December 4 issued a press release saying it strongly opposes draft legislation to address Klamath River Basin water issues. The tribe points out that the bill doesn’t address Klamath Dam removal and criticizes the legislation for proposing the transfer of significant land acreage from federal to county control that would harm fisheries resources in the Klamath Basin. The tribe recently withdrew its support for the controversial Klamath Agreements, including the Klamath Basin Restoration Agreement (KBRA).
MISCELLANY
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