Donald Trump, Vladimir Putin and a few career climate change deniers are attempting to profit at the planet’s peril.
While Donald Trump and his crew have been busy waging war on science and screwing over Mother Earth for Mother Russia, the U.S. military has been, for years, openly shoring up our defenses against the effects of climate change, such as super-storms, droughts, and mass population displacement. They even put out a press release about it in 2014.
Fast forward to today. The first season of The Appointee Apprentice is nearly a wrap, and The Donald is still delivering an endless raft of distractions. Hey, this shitshow makes great TV! Trump’s palace intrigue, however, only serves to distract us from the fact that the characters he has appointed – Tillerson, Pruitt, Perry and Zinke – are all willfully intent on cooking the planet for the private gain of a few corporations. Their only interest, it seems, is to make a yuge buck, or ruble, as the case may be.
Let’s not forget what climate disruption means to Vladimir Putin. (more…)
This statement was debated in early November by Bill McKibben, author and founder of 350.org, and Alex Epstein, Founder and President of the Center For Industrial Progress and former Junior Fellow of The Ayn Rand Institute. The debate was ably mediated by Duke University Law Professor, Bill Brown.
Bill McKibben and Alex Epstein square off on fossil fuels — do they make the planet a worse place to live or a better place to live?
Full Audio Version provided by ImproveThePlanet, Center For Industrial Progress.
“My daughter and I were outraged that Epstein is capable of taking such a humanistic, anthropocentric position on the issues regarding the health of our planet,” reports Spear. Her article (which was the most media coverage I could find) and the accompanying comments make for a great debate primer.
Opposing arguments lasted over an hour and a half, but McKibben took the win in the first ten minutes, in his opening statement no less, when he laid out thirteen very good reasons to phase out fossil fuels on the planet, citing references galore:
Energy Evolution Is Required: We should be grateful for Fossil Fuels, even as the transition beyond them has become the “task of our times.”
Risk to Oceans: Coral reefs – the lungs of the ocean – are disappearing. The oceans have become 40% more acidic in recent years.
Risk to Cryosphere: The loss of polar ice caps diminishes the earth’s ability to reflect sunlight.
Risk to Hydrology: A fundamental change in the way water moves around the earth increases destructive deluges and storms.
Risk to Agriculture: We are already seeing dramatic decreases in crop yields, and significant increases in grain prices, as a result of increased global drought. Record numbers of families must now have regular foodless days.
Risk to Other Species: Conservative estimates predict a 70% species reduction as a result of global warming.
Risk to Coastal Cities: Storm surges are expected to rise several feet along with sea-levels, making coastal storms more dangerous.
Risk to Forests: Forests, which are like the lungs of our atmosphere as they absorb CO2 and produce Oxygen, are rapidly disappearing.
Grave Risk to Public Health: 400,000 deaths are already attributed to Global Warming, and 4.5 million to Air Pollution.
Risk to Economies and Development: Numerous studies demonstrate how Global Warming damages GDP.
Risk To National Security: Climate change, and the scarcity it brings, has the potential to de-stabilize governments.
Jeopardizes Political Freedom and Liberty: Climate Change challenges the fundamental beliefs ingrained in the American Conservative Agenda as more victims of extreme weather events turn to a centralized authority for aid and relief.
Risk to Democracy: The fossil fuel industry contributes mightily to political campaigns, with Chevron having made the single largest contribution to a political Super PAC since Citizens United. The result is over $409,000,000,000 in Oil& Gas subsidies.
Serious issues to face! Luckily, some of the best minds are on it. Later in the debate, McKibben shares the good news: “We have the tools we need in order to adapt.“
Protests against unconventional shale gas drilling have been popping up across the United Shale Shocked States of late, and the global List of Fracking Bans and Moratorium, curated by the incomparable Johnny Lineham at Fracking Hell (UK), has grown so long it speaks for itself. More citizens in more countries are demanding serious study of the impacts of unconventional gas production on human health and climate change. Is it a coincidence that the public’s interest in renewables has also been renewed? Given than many of the bans and moratorium are in the US, it’s safe to say most Americans expect an equally high level of environmental accountability from elected officials.
In front of the Convention Center, 13th & Arch Sts., Philadelphia, PA (19107)
Hyperbolic Hippies On The March?
Anti-Fracking Activists will go “toe-to-toe” with gas industry executives who will be present at The Marcellus Shale Coalition‘s second annual Shale Gas Insightconference, held on the very same day. As Protecting Our Waters, the Shale Gas Outrage host organization, states: “Industry will be rubbing elbows with some of our elected officials, their sights set on expanding toxic fracking throughout our region. Their ‘greenwashing’ doesn’t fool anyone: we’ve seen the damage, and even with a few new regulations, the damage is escalating out of control.” (more…)
Keep Tap Water Safe 