Tag: The Climate Reality Project

It is no surprise the Heartland Institute hosted a conference called “The America First Energy Conference” for climate change deniers on Aug. 7 in New Orleans.

Heartland is the libertarian think tank that teamed up with Philip Morris to deny the health impacts of tobacco use. Climate change denial is high on their priority list.

“The day-long conference reflected the political rise of global warming skeptics in Donald Trump’s America that is occurring despite mounting scientific evidence, including from U.S. government agencies,” Reuters correspondent Collin Eaton wrote, “that burning oil, coal, and natural gas is heating the planet and leading to drought, floods, wildfires, and more frequent powerful storms.”

“The leftist claims about sea level rise are overblown, overstated or frankly just wrong,” Heartland president and CEO Tim Huelskamp said in an interview with Reuters. Regarding the United Nations’ findings on climate change, he said it was “fake science” motivated by a desire for “power and control.”

An irony is the conference is being held in the American city most impacted by extreme weather made worse by climate change. New Orleans has not recovered and may never recover from the August 2005 Hurricane Katrina.

“One of the country’s largest credit rating agencies has put New Orleans and other coastal cities on notice: prepare for the effects of climate change or risk a hit on your credit score,” according to Tristan Baurick at the New Orleans Times-Picayune. When the risk analysis community says it, it must be real.

Climate change is real, it’s happening now, and human activity is a primary contributor to extreme weather events like New Orleans experienced.

The rise of a conference like this is attributable almost entirely to the rise in prominence of libertarian billionaires with a long range plans to re-make American society to their liking. They believe their liberties have been infringed upon by government regulations and the Trump administration has been removing barriers to the practice of unfettered capitalism. That’s not good for you, me, or the people of New Orleans.

It is shocking how much the Trump administration has deregulated government in less than two years. The fact the Environmental Protection Agency is deregulating asbestos, a known carcinogen banned in 55 countries, is a sign of how far they will go. The only check on such behavior is for Democrats to win a majority in at least one chamber of the next Congress during the 2018 midterm elections, or to vote Trump out in the 2020 general election. Much damage has already been done. Some of it can’t be reversed.

I met a nine-year-old from Saudi Arabia recently. He lives with his extended family on the Arabian Peninsula and has come to Iowa the last couple of years to visit his mother before school starts in September. We talked about the weather.

“It sure is hot,” I said.

“Yes, but I don’t believe it is climate change,” he replied.

“No, probably not,” I said. “It’s August in Iowa.”

It is one thing for children to learn the difference between weather and climate change. When adults in the room deny the science of climate change, it’s something else. It’s clear there were few adults at the conference in New Orleans.

~ First posted on Blog for Iowa

You may have seen David Wallace-Wells’ New York Magazine article titled, “The Uninhabitable Earth.”

It’s a scary article with frightful truths circulating on social media.

Half truths according to Michael E. Mann, director of Earth System Science Center at Penn State. Mann wrote onFacebook:

Since this New York Magazine article (“The Uninhabitable Earth”) is getting so much play this morning, I figured I should comment on it, especially as I was interviewed by the author (though not quoted or mentioned).

I have to say that I am not a fan of this sort of doomist framing. It is important to be up front about the risks of unmitigated climate change, and I frequently criticize those who understate the risks. But there is also a danger in overstating the science in a way that presents the problem as unsolvable, and feeds a sense of doom, inevitability and hopelessness.

The article argues that climate change will render the Earth uninhabitable by the end of this century. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. The article fails to produce it.

Read Mann’s full take-down here.

If we are clicking on New York Magazine for our information about the threats of climate change then now, more than ever, it’s clear mental health care is needed in whatever healthcare bill Congress passes this year.

Taking action on climate (or anything else) based on fear would be as scary as Wallace-Wells’ article.

On Sunday, Al Gore was in the news about his climate work.

“Those who feel despair should be of good cheer as the Bible says,” Gore told Lee Cowan of CBS News. “Have faith, have hope. We are going to win this.”

The need to act on climate is all around us according to Gore.

“It’s no longer just the virtually unanimous scientific community telling us we’ve got to change,” he said. “Now Mother Nature has entered the debate. Every night now on the television news is like a nature hike through the Book of Revelation. People who don’t want to use the phrase ‘global warming’ or ‘climate crisis’ are saying, ‘Wait a minute. Something’s going on here that’s not right.'”

Gore is right. Don’t despair. Act on climate.

If you don’t know what to do, The Climate Reality Project provides an action kit to get you started. Click here to find it.

While in Europe, Pope Francis and the G7 leaders bent President Trump’s ears about climate change.

The Pope presented a copy of Laudato Sí: On Care For Our Common Home, his encyclical on consumerism, irresponsible development, environmental degradation and global warming to the U.S. president. He told Pope Francis he would read it.

Reports indicate the six other G7 leaders presented arguments for the United States to stay in the 2015 Paris Agreement on mitigating the effects of climate change. Trump would not commit to doing so by the time he boarded Air Force One for the trip home.

“The entire discussion about climate was very difficult, if not to say very dissatisfying,” German Chancellor Angela Merkel said. “There are no indications whether the United States will stay in the Paris Agreement or not.”

That Trump failed to be part of the G7 consensus on climate may or may not be a sign of his intent. One never can tell with this president.

“I will make my final decision on the Paris Accord next week!” Trump tweeted.

That Trump was willing to listen to his European peers and the Pope indicates he may have an open mind about the accord. However, late yesterday, Jonathan Swan and Amy Harder of Axios reported, “President Trump has privately told multiple people, including EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, that he plans to leave the Paris agreement on climate change.”

Despite the advocacy workshop for exiting the agreement EPA has become, the result of the president’s decision-making process may be more complicated than making a simple announcement.

Exiting the Paris Agreement would take at least four years. The agreement does not permit states to exit until three years after entry into force (Nov. 4, 2019). It would then take at least a year to finish the process.  In that time, Trump could change his mind.

If Trump decides to exit, he would be “willfully, nonchalantly vacating leadership of the world,” former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Samantha Power said. Another country will step in to fill the leadership vacuum, presumably China with the world’s second largest economy.

A bone of contention with Pruitt and advocates in the hydrocarbon business is the existence of the Clean Power Plan first published by the EPA in the Federal Register Oct. 23, 2015. On March 28, President Trump signed an executive order mandating EPA review the plan. Unraveling the Clean Power Plan is not as simple as signing an executive order. Whether or not the U.S. exits the Paris Agreement, the regulation may stand.

It is significant the first nation Trump visited in his presidency was Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has almost one-fifth of the world’s proven oil reserves and ranks as the largest producer and exporter of oil in the world. Despite concerns about human rights and the treatment of women in the kingdom, Trump seemed elated about the arms deal he made during his visit. His rhetoric isolating Iran may be no more complicated than wanting to take their oil. Iran ranks fourth in proven oil reserves behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia and Canada.

That 195 states could enter the Paris Agreement was remarkable. Whether it will hold if the U.S. exits is uncertain. Regardless of politics the science on global warming has been identified since the 19th century.

On the morning after the 45th President’s first foreign trip the direction of his administration on climate change is obvious. Government climate change web sites and regulations are officially “under review” in multiple agencies. At the same time the hydrocarbon business is moving to roll back regulations that seek to reduce carbon emissions. The idea of leaving fossil fuels in the ground is not embraced in this White House.

“I think there is a better than 50/50 chance that the Trump administration will stay in the Paris agreement,” Nobel Prize winner Al Gore said. “I think odds are they will stay in.”

Time will tell.