Physicians take a Socially Responsible Stand on Lieberman-Warner

The Physicians for Social Responsibility have stepped with a strong statement about the Lieberman-Warner Climate inSecurity Act’s inadequacies and requirements for strengthening it.

In June the U.S. Senate will begin debate on legislation to address global warming.  The Climate Security Act, S. 3036, fails to meet the scientific targets that will be necessary to avoid the worst affects of climate change. 

Absolutely,the Coal Subsidy Act fails to meet any reasonable definition of scientific targets, despite Barbara Boxer’s misleading claim that this follows scientific advice.

Agricultural Geogineering: Planting wheat for carbon sequestration?

While there is continued emphasis on developing “Carbon Capture and Sequestration” to ensure a continued life for Somewhat Less Dirty Coal (euphemistically called “Clean Coal“), there are win-win-win options for geoengineering and carbon capture, like biochar, that merit far greater attention and active pursuit.  Le Monde reported several days ago on yet another potential path for adapting agricultural practices to capture and sequester carbon from the atmosphere.

Ask Velshi …

This morning, CNN will be running Ask Velshi.

CNN Senior Business Correspondent Ali Velshi hosts a live radio broadcast today at 10 a.m. (ET) on CNNRadio and CNN.com Live. “It’s Not Just Gas” takes an in-depth look at why oil is bought and sold on speculation, how the oil market is different or not from the housing and stock market and what’s the real long-term projection for oil and gas prices.

Notice the focus here: “speculation” … “market …” before we get to the fundamental issue, “the real long-term projection …”

“Drill Here. Drill Now. Pay Less.” Drill the hole deeper!

Now it is quite clear why the We campaign so enthusiastically embraced Newt Gingrich for an advertisement sitting next to Nancy Pelosi.  Yes, that Newt Gingrich who is working so are for “American Solutions for Winning the Future”. We would think that might actually include thinking seriously about moving forward on Global Warming legislation.  Yet, Newt’s misleading and deceptive calls on people to support efforts to “Drill Here” and “Drill Now” also includes a broadside against the Lieberman-Warner Climate (in)Security Act that could have come straight out of the mouth of a polluting industry spokesman.  (On reflection, perhaps it did).  Gingrich’s truthiness about solutions to gas prices is potentially inticing but misleading, at best, and, fundamentally, false.

Introducing Sanity to Climate Legislation

Today, Congressman Ed Markey has announced that he will introduce the the Investing in Climate Action and Protection (iCAP) Act next week.  Unlike the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner Climate inSecurity Act (BLW CISA), the iCAP follows science calling for a reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in covered sectors by 85 percent by 2050.  It also is serious in making polluters pay, with nearly 100 percent of pollution permits auctioned (94 percent in 2012, 100 percent by 2020). And, it has strong provisions to secure social equity (both domestically and internationally).  In short, iCAP is in lines with the basic principles for global warming legislation.

The iCAP has significant focus on “investing”, on investing in a positive vision for dealing with Global Warming.  “To heal this sick planet” in a way that will strengthen society, strengthen the economy at the same time.

BLW: Disastrous Legislation or simply Disastrous Politics?

With each read, with each detailed understood, the Boxer-Lieberman-Warner Climate InSecurity Act (BLW CiSA) seems ever more questionable on climate policy terms and, in addition, on basic politics.  Last fall, Friends of the Earth (FOE) launched their Fix It or Ditch It campaign, seeking to develop momentum for the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act to be transformed into effective climate legislation or else to be ditched so that better legislation could be developed and passed with the cooperation of the next Administration.

In the intervening time between passage of the bill from committee and Senator Boxer’s Manager’s Amendment, George W Bush gave a speech with absurd concepts about Global Warming that would doom the globe to catastrophic climate change.  Sadly, emerging analysis about implications of the evolved BLW CiSA suggest that the bill is far close to Bush’s disastrous concepts than anything resembling reasonable climate legislation.

Future Scenarios …

Just up today is an extremely well done, informative, and rather fear-provoking website:  Future Scenarios.  Done by David Holmgrem, a leading thinker on Permaculture, this site “maps the cultural implications of peak oil and climate change”. 

Don’t sign a petition …

As written about in The Shocking Analysis of Lie-berman-Warner, Environmental Defense Fund has a great little gag site (Get America Working) that provides a tool for learning of false industry statements on Global Warming legislation with counters from EDF. The site also links to a petition that I recommend readers NOT sign. Sadly, while EDF’s send-up of industry opponents is amusing, its petition is disingenuous.

Why not sign up to support Lieberman-Warner? Because it fails, across the board, to meet basic principles for global warming legislation.

The Shocking Analysis of Lie-berman-Warner

Next week, Senator Harry Reid is going to bring the Lieberman-Warner Coal-Subsidy Act to the Senate floor for debate and votes.  Even after modification by Senator Boxer, Lieberman-Warner remains grossly inadequate in face of the challenges we face.  Even so, the National Association of Manufacturers, the US Chamber of Commerce, and global warming deniers are attacking it as too high cost.  Let us be clear, absolutely clear, these are dishonest claims, claims that insult the term truthiness.  To be clear, dealing with global warming is not just an absolute necessity, but a necessity that will leave us far ahead economically (and otherwise) than simply allowing the problem to worsen.

Environmental Defense Fund has put together Get America Working to providea a shocking path to force an industry lobbyist to tell some truth when it comes to Global Warming issues. 

Global warming and the death of libertarian ideology

APSmith, of Energize America, is an extremely knowledgeable and thoughtful individual well worth listening to and pondering. This discussion reflects what he sees as a driving motivation for denying reality and global warming denial.  This relates to my efforts to explore the motivating factors behind ‘irrational skepticism’ (term referring to those whose skepticism is not honest, not open to suasion by evidence) and climate denial.  A Siegel

Over on Dot Earth, Andy Revkin posted a blog entry on the need to make decisions in the face of uncertainty. As usual, it inspired the “denialist” forces to come out in full attack mode. Actually, this was far from the worst instance there recently. But one of the commenters wondered “why the vitriol”? Read on for my thoughts…