climate change – R&R – Reachout and Rebuild

500,00 Climate Actions towards our Million Messages Campaign

David Posnett — Sat, 18 Jun 2022 01:54:19 +0000

Simple. Free. Powerful. Effective. (And Earn Trees!)

Join our July Action Party!

Since January, when I joined the Climate Action Now App, I’ve had fun tapping away for 5 minutes a day, scrolling through actions, choosing my favorites, contacting elected officials with a touch, demanding action, increasing my knowledge, and I love earning trees. I search for actions on oceans, food waste, plastics and NY. And I like thanking people. Today I thanked the Bethlehem NY Central School District for buying electric school buses.

“The Climate Action Now App makes it extremely easy for users to contact their elected officials and be rewarded by earning real trees.” Ken Berlin, CEO Climate Reality Project

Woodside, California-based Climate Action Now was founded by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Brett Walter in partnership with the Climate Reality Project. The company’s mission is to put effective climate action, via the app, at the fingertips of millions of consumers around the world. Each action earns points, and when users earn enough points, the company will plant trees on their behalf. Climate Action Now partners with Eden Restoration Projects, Conserve.org, CarbonFund.org Foundation and VoterVoice.

“The Climate Action Now App is truly a game-changer.” – Climate Reality Hudson Valley Chapter

“A power tool for activism.” – Todd Weber, Chair, Elders Climate Action NorCal Chapter

Hear from Mara Davi of California: “I’ve always wanted to be a more active climate citizen, but it was difficult. With the push of three buttons I’ve completed a call. I can do five actions in as many minutes. In the first six days of using the app, I’ve contacted my State Senator 52 times and planted four trees. Most importantly, he signed on as a co-sponsor of a bill I recommended!”

For me, since January I’ve taken 1,149 actions, earned 117,233 points and planted 43 trees, all neatly calculated on my profile page. And, I advocated for an executive order on heat pumps, which President Biden signed! (See below WE/HE DID IT!)

500,000 Actions. Two Game-Changing Executive Orders. New Million Messages Campaign

Every week I receive a news update on CAN’s climate impact, success stories, action parties and a campaign of the week. Newsletter: Sign up here. Get the app here. I’m excited about the new Million Message Campaign. It’s all outlined below in the latest newsletter. Read on…..

WELCOME

This week we blow past 500,000 actions, we celebrate two game-changing executive orders by President Biden for which we advocated, update our impact, celebrate successes, and more. Next week we’ll update you on Climate Action Now’s debut at Al Gore’s Las Vegas training. (Spoiler alert: it was GREAT!)

ACTION PARTY

The Problem with Plastic

Join our Plastic Action Party in July and we’ll have Q&A with a featured guest expert, plus scores of great actions in the app that will increase your knowledge of the plastic problem and what to do about it. Learn more on our registration page.

Date: July 12, 2022

Time: 4:00 pm PT / 7:00 pm ET

Location: Zoom, pre-registration required

OUR CLIMATE IMPACT

ACTIONS: 511,907

Planet-saving actions taken by our community with the Climate Action Now app — up 22,066 from last week – a new weekly record!

TREES: 16,443

Trees earned by the Climate Action Now community by taking action with the app – up 689 from last week — a new weekly record!

35,085 TREES. 548.0 METRIC TONS CO2 REDUCED. 1871,191 SQ. FT. ECOSYSTEMS.

…purchased by our Planet-Saving Subscribers and Gift Givers.

MILLION MESSAGES CAMPAIGN

As of today, CAN app users have sent 511,907 messages to political, business, and other influencers —half way towards our goal of 1,000,000 messages sent by the end of this year.

Learn about our Millions Message Campaign.
Take our Million Messages Campaign survey.
Touch this link to see the latest count

WE CAN DO IT! Please tell your friends about the Climate Action Now App and our Million Messages Campaign!

WE/HE DID IT!

We Advocated. Biden Delivered.

We all know firsthand how much of an uphill battle advocacy can be. We get behind a worthy cause, shout our message from the rooftops…and hope that our words helped move people with real power one step closer to action.

What we don’t usually see is the President of the United States take bold, immediate action on not one but two major issues we campaigned for—in the same week.

Last week, President Biden signed a pair of game-changing executive orders on climate. The first invokes the Defense Production Act to accelerate the deployment of heat pumps, solar panels, and other clean energy technologies. The other pauses tariffs on imported solar panel components for two years, bailing out the solar industry after a rogue Department of Commerce investigation sent it into a tailspin.

As Robinson Meyer of The Atlantic writes, these actions aren’t merely “federal-paper shuffling.” Indeed, he says, they are “one of the most aggressive executive actions that the administration has yet taken on climate change.” Together, they will help ensure the continued rapid growth of renewables and, hopefully, significantly reduce our dependence on gas to heat buildings.

They are no accident, either. Both of these specific interventions was pushed relentlessly over the past few months by climate and energy activists across the country, including Bill McKibben—and Climate Action Now users.

You’ve probably guessed the bottom line by now, but we’ll say it anyway: Advocacy matters. It gets results. Each and every time you raise your voice, on the Climate Action Now App or anywhere else, you are making a difference!

CAMPAIGN OF THE WEEK

Climate Leadership NOW!

This week, we’ll charge toward our goal of 1 MILLION MESSAGES in two main ways: thanking the White House for this pair of game-changing executive actions, and advocating for MORE of this kind of bold climate leadership at all levels!

In addition to thanking Biden and Harris—and pushing them to take the next step by declaring a federal Climate Emergency—we’ll also reach out to Congress, corporate leaders, and our state leaders to urge them to follow Biden’s example and lead the charge for bold climate action NOW!

Check the Action of the Day each day this week for a new opportunity to help keep the momentum from Biden’s executive actions going!

SUCCESS STORIES

Another CAN VICTORY! Our users, supporting activists on the ground, helped get Vermont to pass its first-ever Environmental Justice law! Celebrate this win with actor Geraldine Hughes of Rocky Balboa and Gran Torino!

Bags, begone! In an effort to address the plastic pollution plaguing the U.S., the Department of the Interior announced on Wednesday that it would phase out single-use plastics across hundreds of millions of acres of federal land — including national parks, monuments, and wildlife refuges.

Fracking FAIL! California environmental groups scored a big victory last week when a federal court blocked permits for fracking off the state’s coastline. The Court said federal agencies who issued the permits relied on an “inadequate” environmental assessment that failed to take into account the full impacts of fracking.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The fossil fuel industry is the past. And if you can find a way out, then please walk away while there’s still time. Do it now.”

– Shell consultant Caroline Dennett in a farewell resignation addressed to Shell employees

Help the world walk away from fossil fuels NOW with the Climate Action Now app!

Thanks so much for your help and support!

— Matthew, Brett, Tim, and the gang

If you know someone who would enjoy this newsletter, please forward it to them.Was this newsletter forwarded to you? Sign up here. Get the app here.

We have been warned.

David Posnett — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 15:39:32 +0000

https://www.ft.com/content/27c9a6e8-ffb7-11e9-b7bc-f3fa4e77dd47

Rather than denial and political inertia from the Republican party now in power, what if we had acted immediately on what our science community understood and warned us about, the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic? The resulting health, economic, and social distortions could have been limited and we might now not be facing the terrible long lasting effects of that stubborn denialism.

Well, it may be that Covid-19 is an unfortunately dark, albeit resolvable, prequel to the vastly more all encompassing and dangerous “monster in the garden”—global warming. It’s that dangerous and just that close.We have understood and been warned by scientists of global warming for over a century. We understand the long term consequences: the advancing irreversible tipping points, melting polar regions which cool our planet, desertification of global farmlands, dying coral reefs, ocean pollution, acidification and ‘’hot zones” which toxify its organic life— impairing its CO2 uptake and oxygen generation.

We’ve been warned of rain forest destruction, loss of permafrost ecosystems, methane spikes, rising sea levels, ubiquitous record high global temperatures, year round multiple mega-hurricane systems, fires in the Arctic, fire tornadoes, fires everywhere, evaporating fresh water supplies, drought, famine, war…

We have been warned of this global climate emergency.Lacking a collective carbon conscience and oblivious to long term consequences we continue, blindly, pumping heat trapping gasses into the atmosphere, rapidly drawing down our allowable carbon emissions budget which at this rate will be dangerously overdrawn in less that 15 years. By then we may have lost control with tipping points falling like dominoes unfolding into the unimaginable horror of a planetary “hothouse” with all the anticipated dystopia.

Like the pandemic warning this year we have been warned of the years still to come. The time is calling for radical dependence on science. We have the knowledge and technologies to meaningfully overcome the climate challenges which actually can ultimately improve our lives. We have the science but not the will for what is demanded of us now to literally save the very life sustaining capacities of our planet.

Facing a global climate emergency, with high risks and little time, we need science, expertise and wise, brave leadership. Our voices in government must soon be guided by alert visionary science making smart science-based decisions.

Let’s fire Lee Zeldin(R) whose dismal environmental record earns him a dreadful 13% positive lifetime enviro-score from The League of Conservation Voters and elect Nancy Goroff, PHD, who will represent CD1 consciously and undertake the heavy lifting of crafting the complex actionable policies needed to meet the enormous climate challenges we can no longer reasonably push aside. We’ve been warned.

James Ewing, Water Mill NY

We Can Reverse Climate Change

David Posnett — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 17:32:13 +0000

By Cate Rogers, East Hampton, NY

(Copyright: Peter Weber Shutterstock)

I was thrilled to participate in a free showing at my local library of the film “An Inconvenient Truth”, being a new pinned Climate Leader of The Climate Reality Project, and having just completed training led by The Climate Reality Project’s Founder and Charman, Mr. Al Gore.

Then I was surprised to hear an opinion from members of a sponsoring group that perhaps there are other films to consider. Mr. Gore may be an “icon to us” in the movement, but, as they stated, he is a “lightning rod” to others. This was a political statement and I was saddened to see that colleagues in the effort let politics come into play regarding the science of climate reality. However, this is now common in our daily discourse. We attack the messenger and ignore the message. This is also a form of climate change denier tactics. We could be having a much better conversation.

It is ironic, because that is the exact message of The Climate Reality Project. There are simply three questions to be considered when discussing climate reality:

Must we change? Can we change? Will we change?

Mr. Gore’s work and his decades long dedication to acknowledging and adapting to climate change reality go as far back as his natural curiosity of his world. I think that feeling is one to which we all can relate. He was inspired by a science teacher, like many of us, in college who happened to be keeping his own climate record by hand and doing his own historical research with other scientists. The result was defined by the scientific method and it were clear. Our climate has changed since the Industrial Revolution as our worldwide dependence on fossil fuels began in earnest. We are heating up our atmosphere by the release of CO2. This was shown to Mr. Gore and others in the 1970’s and even earlier, and this research has been borne out over the decades.

After decades of speaking on Global Warming, Mr. Gore has become a world leader in the effort to acknowledge the scientific facts and adapt our ways for our own future. Climate Change is not simply a political issue. It is important for our survival that we do not give in to the current trends of discourse and that we remove distortion and manipulation from our discussion. There will always be a great effort to silence the truth tellers.

The fact is that The Climate Reality Project organization is one of the best collections of the top climatologists and top scientists in all fields sharing without boundaries the most up to date scientific research. The effects are happening globally and are often not shown in the media. These scientists are presenting solutions that are available and being implemented throughout the world regarding our climate. It is about the work of hundreds of scientists, world leaders, business leaders, and people who share a commitment to sustaining our planet…and us.

Locally in East Hampton, NY, there is a discussion about a Wind Farm. Many groups are coming to the table. I hope folks can get past partisan politics to come together to work to sustain the fisheries which might be affected by the wind farm.

Must we change? Can we change? Will we change? The very good news is that the answers are Yes. Yes. Yes.

Find out more information here: www.climaterealityproject.org. Please contact me for a free presentation to your group, class, club, and office at rogerscate@gmail.com or my fellow Climate Leader Afton DiSunno at aftondis26@optonline.net

(All photos are used by permission of the Climate Reality Project)

Sincerely and respectfully, Cate Rogers

Miami under Water – for Good!

David Posnett — Sat, 04 Nov 2017 13:24:16 +0000

Just heard from a friend regarding United Nations conference in Geneva (Switzerland).

Pretty devastating UN report. Even action on climate change NOW will not prevent the predicted devastation as the lag time is too great. Here is the link. You can download the entire report if you are interested. It is actually a periodic report put out by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that checks the gap between commitments and actual implementation! The “Emissions, Gap Report”.

In the meantime, Trump is going his merry way, doing the very opposite of what is recommended, drilling on protected land, giving incentives to fossil fuel companies, devastating the EPA and trying to place the least qualified people in critical technical and scientific posts.

Take a look at the “three-degree world”: the numerous large cities that will be drowned by global warming, including Miami, Alexndria in Egypt, Rio in Brazil, Osaka in Japan and Shanghai in China:
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/ng-interactive/2017/nov/03/three-degree-world-cities-drowned-global-warming?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

Miami post “three-degree world” Miami pre “three-degree world”

Bottom graph: predictions of global temperature change by 2100.

Shame on duplicitous Lee Zeldin for not standing up against this!

Oceans in Peril

David Posnett — Tue, 19 Sep 2017 14:06:31 +0000

Title image from Oceans of Acid.

By Judith S. Weis OpEd in the East Hampton Star Sept. 14, 2017

While some politicians claim that climate change is a hoax, and climate scientists try to refine their models and forecasts of exactly how much warming will take place in the next few decades, marine scientists can see clearly the evidence of what has already happened.

Everyone has heard about melting glaciers and dying coral reefs, but climate change is doing something else that is equally dangerous. The oceans absorb about a third of the carbon dioxide emitted from burning fossil fuels. In one way that’s good, because it slows down the warming, but it is making the seawater more acidic. CO2 in the ocean combines with water to form carbonic acid and makes the water more acidic — in fact 30 percent more acidic in recent decades.

This affects marine animals; the most severe effect is impairing shell formation in animals with calcium carbonate shells, such as clams and mussels. This has already occurred: In the Pacific Northwest, oyster larvae in hatcheries are unable to make their shells properly. Tiny planktonic snails are showing eroded shells. Acidified water poses an additional stress to corals already suffering from rising temperatures. Another effect is on behavior. Acidified waters impair the sense of smell of fish, causing them to be unable to find their home reef and to move toward, rather than away from, the odor of a predator.

Another reason global warming has not been too bad yet is because the ocean absorbs most of the earth’s excess heat. But oceans are warming due to greenhouse gas emissions. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, half of the increase in ocean heat content since 1865 has occurred over the past two decades. Warmer water holds less oxygen, but the respiration rate of animals (except for marine mammals) increases with temperature, so they need more oxygen at the same time that less is available. A warmer ocean has less turnover (vertical water movements), which normally brings nutrient-rich water up from deep water to the plankton that photosynthesize near the surface. With fewer nutrients, they photosynthesize less and animals can’t get enough food.

Many species are moving north to find more suitable environments, including species of commercial importance. Lobsters are disappearing from Long Island and southern New England, but increasing in the Gulf of Maine and Canada. Commercial catches are regulated by regional management agencies, but now these animals are fewer where they had been, and are increasing in places where they weren’t important before.

The most dramatic responses to warming oceans are in corals. When stressed, corals eject the single-celled symbiotic algae that live in their tissues, which normally photosynthesize and provide the coral with most of its nutrition. When they are ejected, the coral is “bleached” and appears white. While they can still get some nutrition by catching plankton with their tentacles, most species get less than half of their nutrition this way, so if the stress persists and zooxanthellae do not return, corals die. About 30 percent of the Great Barrier Reef of Australia died in 2016-17. This is devastating not only for the corals, but also for the thousands of other species that depend on the reef, including humans, who depend on it for $6 billion in tourism revenue annually. An excellent documentary about this tragedy, called “Chasing Coral,” is available on Netflix.

Major changes are occurring in the polar regions, where the extent of sea ice is diminishing rapidly. As ice melts, the water gets fresher and normal algal blooms diminish, providing less food at the bottom of the food chain on which the rest of the ecosystem depends. Some species that rely on sea ice, like Adelie penguins in Antarctica and polar bears in the Arctic, are in trouble.

Closer to home, sea level rise is one effect that is apparent in coastal regions. Sea level rise results from water expanding when it warms plus addition of new water from melting glaciers. It is happening faster than was predicted. Increased flooding from storms is common, and many areas (e.g., South Florida) have flooded streets even on sunny days. Since much of the world’s population lives in coastal areas, threats to human lives and well-being are becoming apparent.

In Bristol Bay, Alaska, the ability of local communities to access subsistence resources is impaired. Changes in the timing of ice freeze and melt are affecting safety, making it difficult to travel to neighboring villages and in some cases causing loss of life. Residents of some small low-lying Pacific islands have already moved elsewhere, and such “climate refugees” will increase in the future, which can cause political and social problems. Despite this, the Trump administration has recently undone a regulation that required that development near the coast take sea level rise into consideration, to reduce the risk of future damage.

Natural communities are also at risk. Coastal salt marshes in the intertidal zone are very important ecosystems that reduce storm surge and winds, absorb pollutants, and provide habitat for a variety of crabs, shrimp, fishes, birds, and mammals. In the face of rising seas, marshes must either increase their elevation or move inland. Increase in elevation results from new sediments being deposited and organic matter accumulation from marsh plants. Many marshes in the Northeast do not have adequate input of new sediments to increase their elevation, so moving back is the only option. (The marshes in Accabonac Harbor are increasing with sediments but not organic matter from plants, and have not been keeping up with sea level rise over the past decade.)

In developed regions, there are roads, sidewalks, etc., immediately inland, so there is no place for the marshes to go. Subject to “coastal squeeze,” many marshes that protect us from storm surge and winds will disappear. Recently, the East Hampton Town Board very wisely used the community preservation fund to buy some properties adjacent to marshes to allow for migration.

Another component of forecasted climate change is increased rainfall in the Northeast. This will intensify the nitrogen problem in estuaries, since more rain means more runoff and nitrogen going into the water. Much of our local nitrogen problem is due primarily to leaching from septic systems, but the expansive green lawns in the Hamptons suggest there is a lot of fertilizer runoff also. Warmer water in the future will also accelerate algal blooms.

What can be done? We need rapid decreases in emissions of greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide. While governmental actions are vital, and it is important to keep up the pressure on elected officials to do more, collectively individuals can make a difference. Examine your “carbon footprint.” Does your car use a lot of gas? Next time, buy a hybrid or electric. Do you drive short distances that you could walk or bike or take public transportation? How high is your electric bill? Could you keep your house a bit warmer in the summer and a bit cooler in the winter to save energy?

I am surprised and saddened to see so few houses around here with solar panels. Solar technology has improved greatly and the price has gone down. Could you eat less meat and more vegetables? Animal agriculture, especially beef, creates a huge amount of greenhouse gases. Studies indicate that the most important thing you can do — if you are still in a position to do this — is reduce the number of children you have.

All these actions will make the quality of life better for the children and grandchildren you do have.

Judith S. Weis is a professor emerita at Rutgers University. She has a house in Springs.

Trump has damaged America, not the environment

David Posnett — Sat, 03 Jun 2017 13:08:01 +0000

Tobias Stone

Posted on The Medium

Jun 2

Trump has spent his life being powerful just because he is rich. And in America, wealth is everything. If you’re rich you are powerful and revered. The American Dream was never about becoming a professor or scientist, it is about becoming rich. That was the crux of his campaign message — I am rich, therefore I am successful and clever.

We are now in no doubt that rich is all he is. Any idea that after election a hidden clever Trump would emerge from behind the bombastic facade is long gone.

Trump knows that at the level of his personal experience (and his knowledge seems to be almost entirely limited to his personal experience) his wealth has given him clout and made him powerful. As he said himself (about grabbing women), in his world when you’re rich you can get away with anything. He has taken this idea into his Presidency, assuming that because America is the largest economy in the world, it will also by default be the most powerful and influential.

With his withdrawal from the Paris accord he has discovered that wealth alone does not equate to power or influence on the global stage. America under Trump has given up its position of moral leadership, and has shown the world it no longer wants to occupy that position. Overnight, Trump created a power vacuum at a global level. It looks like China and Europe are stepping in to fill it. This could, in the future, be seen as a turning point in the decline of America; the point at which America went it alone, and stepped out of the most important global movement of our times, and of future times.

Despite the rage burning in the stomach of any thinking person, anyone who believes the earth is round and the future is bleak, this could be a good thing in the long term.

America produces 14% of global emissions, so the remainder is still being addressed by other nations. Meanwhile, America’s abdication from the throne of Global Leader seems to have inspired China to make a grab for the crown, possibly triggering something of a competition to out-Green America, and become a global clean-energy leader. This is a good thing.

America will take 4 years to drop out of the Accord, and will finish the process the day after the next American Election, so in fact this may just be an even shorter term vision than we realised, one intended to appeal to Trump’s coal-digging, truck-driving, oil-drilling constituency as a great soundbite, but which will actually not affect anything. One can hope.

Otherwise, If Trump actually manages to make any of this happen, it is clear that any revival of the Coal industry that he somehow brings around will be undermined by the fact that clean energy will become cheaper than coal, and that clean energy race will now more likely be won by China, further undermining Trump’s goals of a stronger economy and more balance of trade. There will come a time when his broke coal miners will have to buy Chinese solar panels.

In fact, provided the global coalition around the Paris Accord holds together, which it shows surprising signs of doing, then America dropping out will not be a trigger for its collapse. And if American States and companies continue to honour the Accord, then Trump’s move may have very little negative impact. However, it has totally undermined American supremacy globally.

His recent foreign trip made America less relevant in Europe and with NATO, not only because of the message he delivered, but because of the way he delivered it. He has left Europe and NATO in no doubt that he is an incompetent fool, so for now at least they will not bother with him. America is therefore less relevant globally. Trump has failed to realise that just turning up as the richest guy in the room doesn’t win you power or influence on the global stage. Being wise and mixing might with genuine leadership has made America significant up until now. Trump has blown that in a very short time.

Trump has left the world wide open for new countries and leaders to step into the role America has enjoyed since the war. That global leadership not only cost America money, it also won it influence and made it matter in a way that made it money — American goods, American films, America as a destination, all of these things were the pay-back.

One imagines that global leaders, apart from a few of the worst dictators, are now just putting America on hold until it removes Trump. China has stepped in to show leadership in climate change, alongside Merkel, who is now seen by most as the Leader of the Free World.

Trump is doing incredible damage to his own country, and most of all to his own voters. The extent of his narcissism and egotism is shown in this latest move, as it will bring him benefit in the short term, by shoring up his core vote, but will damage America and his voter base in the long term — but by then he’ll be dead, so he clearly doesn’t care.

As for those around him, the real blame falls at the feet of Fox News and the Republicans who are still supporting him. Surely they can’t all be as stupid and egocentric as Trump. Some of them must know what they are doing. Or are they all in fact ignorant, uneducated, and uncaring about anyone other than themselves?

Either way, they have blown it. The Paris accord will carry on, and the rest of the world will continue to fight global warming. They will be led by China, Germany, and France. China does incredibly well being able to stand on the same stage as respected, mature, leaders like Merkel, and be so associated with Europe as a partner in an honourable cause. America meanwhile will continue to decline under Trump. The democracy continues to be weakened, and with it America’s ability to be a relevant and significant country globally. The impact of climate change, and the leadership now shown by China and Europe will damage American businesses, in a country built on oil and petrol cars. They may still have a lot of bombs, and lots of money, but America is no longer taken seriously globally. Trump’s voters wanted isolationism, and now they have it. But it’s not protectionism, it’s just self-harm.

President Trump’s Paris decision will live in infamy

David Posnett — Thu, 01 Jun 2017 21:01:11 +0000

Slamming the global environment

BY FRED KRUPP

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, June 1, 2017, 3:30 PM

President Trump’s reckless decision to leave the Paris climate agreement will live in infamy.

This is a retreat from America’s role as world leader — one that ignores overwhelming scientific evidence and the advice of more than 1,000 business leaders who urged him stand up for our clean energy economy.

It will hurt the U.S. far more than it hurts the rest of the world. And that’s saying a lot, because the global damage will indeed be considerable.

The most obvious consequence, for people everywhere, will be a slowdown in the fight to reduce the pollution that causes climate change — at the very moment we need to step up. That will mean more deaths from heat waves, extreme weather and disease; a deepening refugee crisis as populations shift in reaction to weather and agricultural changes, and an increase in the price we must pay to solve this problem.

Such pollution already take a toll on public health. The President’s retreat in the face of climate change means Americans must now continue to breathe dirty emissions from power plants and cars.

What will we say to our children and grandchildren when they ask: “Why did you do so little to avert a crisis you could have prevented?”

Trump’s misguided decision will also fuel resentment toward the United States and make things more difficult for American business.

Businesses want to locate where their markets are. By pulling out of the Paris climate accord, Trump sends them a clear signal that clean energy companies should look elsewhere.

We’ll be hobbled in the global race for clean energy businesses and jobs, potentially the most important economic prize of the 21st century. China and Europe are already vying for the leadership role on clean energy that the president just ceded. That’s why so many investors and CEOs were urging the president to stay in. Fortunately, the Paris Agreement is strong enough to withstand this blow. Other world leaders have made it clear they will move ahead on their Paris commitments with our without the U.S.

The European Union and China are reportedly preparing to announce new joint climate actions as I write. By pulling out of the deal, we are isolating ourselves diplomatically and economically while siding with the only two outlier nations — Syria and Nicaragua — that refused to sign the climate pact.

It did not have to be this way.

For decades, the world struggled to come together to face the threat of climate change. Nations argued over who was responsible and who should contribute to the solution. Developing nations pointed the finger at the advanced economies that had already emitted so much. Those countries, in turn, demanded that the fastest-growing developing countries also do their part.

Finally, in 2015, virtually every country in the world — big and small, rich and poor — came together in an unprecedented show of global unity and made a deal that allowed each country to make its own plan, but also held them accountable for reducing pollution.

This historic breakthrough brought tremendous international credit to the country that helped pull the world together: the United States.

Now that Trump has turned his back on all of that, his decision to shirk U.S. leadership responsibilities will hover over diplomatic discussions, trade negotiations and major business deals. We will be the only major nation dodging our duties, something other countries won’t forget.

Our President has made a reckless, unforced error.

This is the latest in a series of administration decisions that move us backward on climate, public health and the environment.

The President wants to slash the U.S. Environmental Protection Administration’s budget by almost one-third, and his EPA chief — who advocated for withdrawal from Paris — is busy dismantling the environmental standards that keep our air and water clean and safe.

Trump’s announcement must not, and will not, be the last word on whether America leads or retreats on climate change.

Companies such as Citigroup are already saying the private sector should be able to participate in the Paris climate deal. Many of them have emissions reductions targets similar to the Paris commitments made by nations.

Businesses, engineers, entrepreneurs, scientists — indeed, all of us — must continue to pursue practical solutions to reduce the pollution that is driving climate change at such a dangerous pace.

If there can be a silver lining to this day, it will be that Trump’s retreat from the Paris climate accord becomes a galvanizing moment for the majority of Americans who support clean energy and climate action.

As these women and men stand up for their children and adopt clean energy in their own lives, they will join the myriad cities, states, companies, and nations around the world who are leading the way to a cleaner, healthier future even as the president tries to go backward.

Krupp is president of the Environmental Defense Fund.

Climate change: what to expect?

David Posnett — Mon, 09 Jan 2017 17:32:10 +0000

From the Southampton Press Jan 5th 2017

There are many things to worry about regarding the incoming Trump administration. The list is long as both New Deal and Great Society programs could be hobbled beyond recognition. However, the thing that has me existential-threat level worried is the denial of climate science as revealed in statements made by Mr. Trump and some of his key cabinet-level appointments. Mr. Trump saw fit to nominate several climate change skeptics to his cabinet; specifically, his selection to head the Environmental Protection Agency, Scott Pruitt, proclaimed, “Scientists continue to disagree about the degree and extent of global warming and its connections to the actions of mankind.”

Well, yes, some scientists do disagree about the degree and extent of global warming, but only a small number of them disagree with the conclusion that mankind is a contributing factor to climate change. There is no debate. Burning fossil fuel increases carbon dioxide output, which contributes to the greenhouse effect, trapping heat in the atmosphere. So, for example, the question is not if sea level will rise due to rising temperatures and melting ice; the question is by how much (degree), and where will the impacts occur first and when (extent). Sea level rise is one of the results of an atmosphere suffused with carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Last year, Carbon Dioxide concentration was measured at 1.6 times the amount from pre-industrial days. That needs to be reduced.

When I first began reading about climate change, the discussions focused on methodologies and models and data points and offsetting phenomena that cool the atmosphere. Those debates still occur, but some recent reports have less to do with the arcane science dealing with models, algorithms, data capture and scientific extrapolation, and more to do with just plain observations through the use of eyeballs and thermometers:

Miami Beach floods even without rain. The local government is spending $400 million to raise road beds and build sea walls.
To avoid rising seas, the Inupiat Eskimo village of Shishmaref, Alaska, has voted to relocate to higher grounds.
The Isle De Jean Charles community in Louisiana was provided $48 by the US Department of Housing and Urban development to relocate due to rising sea waters.
Small Pacific Islands in the Solomon Island chain are disappearing.
Ice shelves are collapsing in Antarctica and Greenland, and glaciers in many parts of the world are shrinking.

Those of us seeking climate change mitigation efforts are lucky to find champions in enlightened governors like NY’s Andrew Cuomo and California’s Jerry Brown, in green energy companies building and installing solar and wind power energy sources, in the climate mitigation works of foreign governments unencumbered by a political party in denial over global warming, and, more at home, by Southampton Township government officials pursuing clean energy and environmental proposals. A lot of good is happening in the sphere of clean energy and reducing our carbon footprint, let us hope it is sufficiently comprehensive.

In the meantime, we can hope that the inconsistent Donald Trump (the businessman believer in climate change who pursued sea barriers at his Scottish golf course) convinces the pre-presidential candidate Donald Trump (the prevaricator who claimed climate change is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese) that climate change is real.

Mike Anthony, Westhampton

One solid reason to fight confirmation of Scott Pruitt for EPA. East End leads by example. Where is Lee Zeldin?

David Posnett, East Hampton