The Climate Minute

The Climate Minute - A Happy Thanksgiving to You!

Happy Thanksgiving from the Massachusetts Climate Action Network! This week, Ted discusses a recent paper published in the journal Climatic Change, entitled “Tracing anthropogenic carbon dioxide and methane emissions to fossil fuel and cement producers, 1854–2010”, by Richard Heede.  The paper is summarized in the British paper The Guardian (which has become something of a beacon of light given the sad happenings at the New York Times!) As a final topper, the podcast “On the Green Front” has our friend D.R. Tucker interviewing the author himself. There is a lot to unpack in the article, but it provides an interesting complementary view of how we got to over 400ppm of CO2 in the air. The story down in Falmouth reminds us of Machiavelli’s quote (although he said it in in Italian) “It must be remembered that there is nothing more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system. For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ” It seems that a few people in Falmouth want to preserve the “old institutions.” A judge agreed that the turbines might be a nuisance and issued a preliminary injunction against night time operation. Over at The Green Miles they point out a few aspects of the medical claims that will make you grind your teeth in frustration! In Warsaw, the COP ended with a mild agreement to help get countries to make announcements of their intended level of carbon pollution reduction levels well in advance of the next 2015 COP in Paris. You can read the summary here  or revel in the US’ relative good standing compared some others, like Canada and Austrailia. If you like cars, you will love a recent report on the advent of hydrogen powered fuel cell cars. What’s a fuel cell? Go here. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here. Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email. You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Your generous donations help us continue to bring climate news and views to you through our podcast and blogs, but also help support the Annual MCAN conference (this year on March 2nd, at Northeastern University), and our local climate action. So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions- specifically to pay for the full cost of carbon pollution at the time we create it, because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is our patriotic duty as citizens to speak out, we must insist that the US put a price on carbon.

The Climate Minute - We're not in Kansas anymore edition

Another week, another example of extreme weather pointing us toward what will be the new normal in a climate-damaged world.  This week Ted and Rob are joined by DR Tucker, the prolific blogger, commentator, and cynical optimist as we try to make some sense out of the week's events. Now, the links Dr. Jeffrey Sachs of Columbia University's Earth Institute was a guest on PRN's "On The Greenfront" with Betsy Rosenberg and DR, talking about the recent monster storms and their potential to force our government to finally aggressively address climate change.  Dr. Sachs had the same message in an op-ed in the Washington Post. Mindy Lubber, the President of CERES which works with businesses to help the address their climate footprint, thinks that the investor sector will play a large role in getting companies to focus on climate change.  Her slightly different op-eds in  The Guardian and Forbes this week highlight efforts by large investor groups calling on large companies to explain how they are positioning themselves to address the new realities of carbon regulation and the coming post-carbon world. The recent tornadoes in the midwest provided an opportunity to discuss the seemingly increasing incidence of extreme weather events (and reach a whole new audience, as fantasy football players everywhere had to wait through a tornado-caused delay in the Bears-Ravens game), and also gave birth to another Richard Muller and Michael Mann dust-up. Muller, you may remember, is the former climate skeptic who famously "converted" into a climate change believer in 2012.  The most interesting part of that journey is Muller had previously been heavily supported by the Koch brothers...  Anyway, Muller has an op-ed in the New York Times calling "time out" on the speculation that climate change has anything to do with tornado activity -- well, if anything, it might actually decrease the severity and number of storms. Muller quoted climate scientist Michael Mann in his New York Times piece, which Mann felt took his statements out of context, leading to a rebuttal from Mann in the Huffington Post.  What's the take away?  Well, at the end of the day, both Mann and Muller acknowledge anthropomorphic climate change is happening.  There are certainly instances where a changing climate may have a beneficial side effect - increased rainfall in previously arid areas, perhaps, or opening new lands to agriculture -- but certainly on balance the negative impacts (and the uncertainty over the unknown yet to be realized consequences) surely lead to a recognition that climate change needs to be minimized to ensure a safe future for humankind.  I think a more useful approach by both Mann and Muller would be to acknowledge the overall problem, and take a more humble tact with respect to particular impacts; isn't "this may be happening" enough to raise alarm? In other news, the Warsaw Conference of the Parties talks are winding down with few concrete results.  Yesterday a number of NGOs  (non-governmental organizations) walked out of the talks to protest lack of action.  Here's Rob's thoughts (which most likely aren't shared by DR or Ted, but hey, I'm writing this section):  Bravo.  You walked out.  What did you accomplish in doing so?  You said your time shouldn't be wasted in non-productive talks -- what did you use the time to do?  Did you all go out an weatherize some homes, or build a wind turbine, or plant trees instead?  No, you held a press conference.  You complained about lack of action and took off.  Unfortunately, whether you like it or not, the only place where an international agreement on climate can be reached is within these talks.  Either you're at the table, or you're not.  And if you're not at the table (and outside the house, throwing bricks at the house...), you're not likely to have a real impact.  End of Rob's soapbox. The irony here is that the United States may finally be being seen as having made some movement on our own climate change policies, which would make the US more of an active and respected player at these negotiations. The "You Had Me At Pigovian" talk at Babson College we've been talking about for the last couple of months happened earlier this week, and the entire one hour and 45 minutes has been uploaded to YouTube.  Here's the video, or you can see it here. http://youtu.be/cXtg9UA7u18 Hat tip to John Carlton Foss, who took the video. Finally, Sheldon Whitehouse, the climate advocate US Senator from Rhode Island, has been making speeches on the Senator floor about climate change for the last year, and made his 50th speech this week.  Congratulations to Senator Whitehouse, and keep up the good work!  We'll tune in again next week for number 51. Well, that's it for now.  Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here. Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email. You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Your generous donations help us continue to bring climate news and views to you through our podcast and blogs, but also help support the Annual MCAN conference (this year on March 2nd, at Northeastern University), and our local climate action. So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - Champions All Around...

We're back with another edition of the Climate Minute, and Ted and Rob are once again gloating about Massachusetts' continued dominance: the Red Sox are champions, and the state is number one in Energy Efficiency. Yes, we are unbearable... Now, the links Massachusetts "three-peats" on energy efficiency, securing a first place in the American Council for and Energy Efficient Economy's state rankings for the third year in a row. Have you had an energy assessment lately?  WHY NOT?!?  Go to the MassSave site and sign up for one right now!  Go on, we'll wait. For an interesting explanation of how Massachusetts came to adopt some of the strongest efficiency programs in the country, check out this article.  Worth it for the explanation of how the phrase "the rat gets the cheese" became emblematic of energy efficiency programs -- and how it stemmed from a utility executive volunteering that he was the rat... The Massachusetts Department of Energy Resources is taking comments about the future of the Stretch Code, the state's alternative high efficiency building code in anticipation of developing a replacement code.  They recently ran a webinar talking about the code and giving the questions they are looking for answers to, which you can find here, or send comments to the state via the email address Stretchcode@state.ma.us. To check out the Massachusetts Clean Energy and Climate Plan and read about the state's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, go here. Read about the President's Executive Order on Climate Preparedness here.  As the post suggests, this is a welcome addition to the federal climate change response and will focus efforts on strengthening climate resilience. As we mentioned, Dr. James Hansen, Dr. Kerry Emmanuel, and other eminent climate scientists have called for a re-examination of nuclear power as a bridge source away from fossil fuels to renewables. For more discussion on the connection between climate change and capitalism, here's a good place to start.  Do you think capitalism is a core cause of climate change, which is where Ted is, or do you lean toward Rob's opinion that climate change is an impact of human activity, capitalistic, communistic and other, and we need to drop the value judgements and work on solutions? Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of the Philippines as they recover from Typhoon Haiyan, a "super typhoon" with sustained winds of 190 mph and peak winds of 230 mph.  We're not saying climate change is the cause of Typhoon Haiyan, but... Things to do "You Had Me at Pigovian..." is the alluring tagline of an event being held Tuesday, November 19th, at Babson University discussing the importance of a carbon tax.  See more information here. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.   So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - The "We're No Lawyers" Edition...

In this week's Climate Minute Rob and Ted show why they didn't go to law school as they talk the Supreme Court's decision to hear cases related to EPA's regulation of greenhouse gases.  We also take Emily Rooney to task (lightly and respectfully) for crediting the Koch Brother's efforts as "debunking," which implies something we don't think (hope) she didn't mean to imply, and we hail the creation of the first Community Solar Garden in Massachusetts which gives everyone, regardless of roof or tree situation, the ability to get in on clean, renewable power.

The Links

We did a minor roundup of initial reaction to the Supreme Court's granting of certiorari for several cases involving the EPA's greenhouse gas regulations in a blog this week. Here's an updated post from Legal Planet with more thoughts about what this case means.  Energy and Environment TV has an interview with an ex-Deptarment of Justice official who provides some of his thoughts, here.

Next time you get frustrated with something going on (or not) in America, remind yourself if could be worse.  The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunset, which has been involved in anti-drilling activities in the arctic, was stormed by "baclava-masked" Russian security agents and the 30 people on board have been arrested and charged with piracy (which carries a 10-15 year prison sentence in Russia).   The latest is that Russian authorities claim to have found drugs on-board, which Greenpeace categorically denies.  Now granted, the activists did try to board a Russian ship and oil rig, but "piracy"?  Clearly Putin's not about to have his dreams of Arctic drilling derailed.

Emily Rooney of WGBH got Ted's goat when she gave the Koch Brothers a little too much credit by calling their work "debunking" -- rather than outright denial of fact... But maybe that's just us.  You can read more here (check out the comments), or check out the video below.

http://youtu.be/djVh1td7m7Y

Cyclone Phailin was a category 4, "Sandy-sized" storm that hit the second most populous nation in the world, and did you hear a thing about it?  Probably not.  Here's some neat satellite imagery of Phailin, as well as two other mammoth storms impacting Asia.

We spoke briefly of greentech investor Jigar Shah and his feelings that market innovation is at least as important as technological innovation in advancing renewables.  You can hear the podcast here.

Speaking of the market, WGBH had a short segment discussing the changing energy market in New England, and how these changes influenced the announced closure of the Brayton Point Station power plant.  Here's the embedded video:

http://youtu.be/r04FpKhlZPI

We discussed the Harvard Community Solar Garden, a first-of-its-kind community solar project in Harvard, Massachusetts.  The Garden is similar to "community supported agriculture" where individuals can become subscribers and buy a share of the solar array's output.  Anyone in the National Grid western and central Mass (WCMA) load zone (check out your community's zone here) can purchase a 3kw to 15kw "share" of the project and receive a portion of the solar production.  For more about the Harvard project, go here.  For more about Solar Gardens in general, check out the Solar Gardens website here.

Finally, for a little video to make you feel all warm and fuzzy, check Vice President Biden and Gina McCarthy welcoming EPA employees back to work.

Things to do:

On the 22nd there will be another opportunity to hear where the two remaining candidates for Mayor of Boston stand on energy and environmental issues.  The second conversation regarding energy, the environment and the green economy will be held on from 1 to 2:30pm at the Old South Meetinghouse.  You can download the flyer here.  The event is free, but you can register for it here.

Go hear MCAN Board Member (oh, yeah, and head of the Better Future Project) Craig Altemose as he speaks about the need to build a movement to address the climate crisis on October 25th, at 7:30pm, First Parish, Concord.  Here’s our calendar listing.

Cambridge City Council candidates will meet at a forum on Energy and the Environment onOct 30th, at the Cambridge Senior Citizens Center.

Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do.

As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog.

When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.  

So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - No One Shuts Us Down! Edition

It's Climate Minute time, and here's the links version of the podcast.  Grab a cuppa' and listen while we talk shutdowns, IPCC report, Koch Daycare, and just what the heck the discount rate means for climate change... (and just what the heck is a discount rate?) The Links. The Shutdown has pulled attention away from anything of substance, but there is a climate hook there too.   Huffington Post reports that up to 94% of EPA employees will be idled, while oil and gas producers might just be chuckling about the whole thing. Politico has a good roundup of the various ways the shutdown will impact environment and energy programs. Former Senator John Sununu's op-ed in the Globe comparing the EPA's obligation to regulate carbon emissions to the hunt for Col. Kurtz in Apocalypse Now is still available in the free site, as of this morning.  Check it out before it goes behind the pay wall. Speaking of important, non-shutdown related news, here's a good summary of the more salient points in the latest IPCC report. As we mentioned, billionaire climate denier David Koch donated $20 million to MIT for daycare for students and employees of the university.  This is on top of the some $150 million Koch has donated to the university over the years.  So here's the question for you: should MIT, an institution devoted to scientific truth, take Koch's money, even if it's for good purposes?  Here - tell us what you think: [polldaddy poll=7449348] Read more about the discount rate, and how the value of money over time might change some of the calculus about taking action on climate change, check out this Bloomberg article. Finally, check out this great video of a Fox announcer trying to hide his disdain for the alignment of Tea Party and renewable energy advocates in Georgia. Things to do: Oct 6th on the Rose Kennedy Greenway, the Boston Local Food Festival. AltWheels Fleet Day is Oct 7th, at the Four Points Sheaton, Norwood. On Wednesday, October 9th, the group Forecast the Facts will bring over 50,000 signatures to WGBH's Board of Trustees meeting calling for the removal of climate denier David Koch from the 'GBH board.  You can sign up to attend the public demonstration here. Cambridge City Council candidates will meet at a forum on Energy and the Environment on Oct 30th, at the Cambridge Senior Citizens Center. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.   So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - What's With Those Tinfoil Hats, Anyway?

Welcome to the links n' stuff version of The Climate Minute, MCAN's weekly climate news and views podcast. This week Rob and Ted talk about the IPCC report, the new EPA regs released moments, MOMENTS!, after Rob and Ted speculated about what might be in them last week, and a pot purri of climate happenings.

Climate Hawk's Companion: Voices from Draw the Line

Yesterday in Providence Rhode Island, a band of concerned citizens marched from the City Hall to the Statehouse demanding an end to the Keystone XL pipeline. The attached “Climate Hawk’s Companion” podcast features discussion with some of the marchers who described why they made the effort to be part of the event. If you want to visualize just how big the tarsands pits really are, check out a recent MCAN blog post. There are great pictures from various “Draw the Line” events across the country collected here. As you tumble through them, the panoramic, ‘fish eye’ lens photo of folks holding hands in the air is from the Rhode Island Statehouse. For Huffington Posts' coverage of Saturday's events, check this out. For more background on the Keystone pipeline, check out our previous posts on the issue here.  One good place to start is our point-by-point refutation of many of the purported "benefits" of the pipeline here. Congratulations to all who attended!

The Climate Minute - Powerplant CO2 Regs and Skeptics Go Wild!

If it's Friday, it's the Climate Minute, your weekly source of climate change related news and views.  Big day as the EPA is about to announce new powerplant CO2 rules, the IPCC report is about to go out next week, and skeptics are going into overdrive... Now for the links: The EPA has just announced their new regulations to address carbon pollution from new powerplants.   As we recorded this podcast we only had advance stories, like those from the New York Times, for those not on board with climate change action: Washington Times, and this story from Canada Free Press which had an interesting mention of a possible $15/ton "fine" for coal plants unable to meet the strict limits.  (Which actually looks a lot like a proto-carbon tax.) Since we recorded (like minutes after we ended), EPA announced their regs, which you can find on this page.  For an audio message from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, go here. (By the way, did you know only 50 coal plants emit a full 12% of US carbon emissions?  No kidding, check this out.) Naturally all this climate action (IPCC and new powerplant regs) leads to an opposite reaction, and the Skeptics have been busy. First, the House Energy and Commerce Committee had a hearing on the President's climate action which "only" drew two cabinet level witnesses, Gina and Energy Secretary Ernie Moniz.  If you have three hours to kill you can always watch the YouTube video. For the "best and worst" quotes from the hearing, as judged by Grist, go here. Next, our good buddies (sarcasm alert) at the Heartland Institute have launched a bizzaro-world IPCC report, the NIPCC (Nongovernmental International Panel on Climate Change, oh how clever...) "Climate Change Reconsidered II" which, in their words, "uses layman's language to present solid evidence that today's climate changes are well within the bounds of natural variability."  Here's an Inside Climate story about the efforts, and if you're game, here's the report itself.  Does fracking release less methane than EPA has previously estimated?  A study underway by the Environmental Defense Fund, University of Texas, and nine petroleum companies may be leading to that conclusion.  Read more about it on Grist here. Sunday night Al Jazeera America will show Bill McKibben's "Do The Math" documentary at 9:00pm Eastern. This Sunday marks the Autumnal Equinox, and by mid-week days and nights will be equal in New England as we plow ahead toward summer. And finally, our thoughts and prayers are with those in Colorado impacted by the recent floods. Things to Do: For more about 350.org's "Draw the Line Against Keystone" events, and to find one near you, go here.  You can enter your zipcode in the box on the upper left and find an event near you, or create your own event. You can support a great organization while helping to honor an excellent local activist at the Clean Water Action's Annual Benefit party on Saturday, September 21st from 3 to 5pm, where Boston Climate Action's Loie Hayes will be recognized for her tremendous activism on the local level. If you're thinking about changing careers toward something more sustainable, the Fifth annual Green Careers Conference is coming up Thursday, October 3rd, at the Marlboro Holiday Inn. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.   So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - Is Big Green to Blame for Lack of Climate Action?

Welcome to The Climate Minute, your source of news and views.  This week we take a ook at the little dust-up between Naomi Klein and Joe Romm, discuss hydro-fluorocarbons (HFCs), and indulge boyhood fantasies of electric racecars....

Now for the links:

As I mentioned, we discussed Naomi Klein's interview with Earth Island Journal.  In it she lays some of the lack of real climate action on the "Big Green" groups that try to work with business and end up supporting less-than-paradigm shifting programs (like cap and trade). Here's Grist's coverage of the mini-kerfuffle her comments made, as well as Joe Romm's "take down" of her piece.

Interestingly, Rolling Stone is becoming a reliable source of interesting climate news.  Here's a very good piece explaining the IPCC and what the most recent report will say.  For your amusement, here's a piece they ran back in June compiling the "Top Ten Dumbest Things Ever Said About Global Warming."

For your friends who may have some confusion over weather and climate, here's a nifty video that helps explain the difference between trend and variation:

We briefly discussed recent international agreements to reduce soot carbon and HFCs.  For a full discussion of the importance of these treaties, check out Climate Central's story here.

The only thing I worry about with electric car racing is the lack of the "vroom vroom" sounds.  Will children of the future move their Matchbox cars while making a "hmmm hmmm" or "buzz buzz" noise?

Things to Do:

The Massachusetts updated Bottle Bill will be heard this Tuesday at 1pm in the Gardner Auditorium of the State House.  As we mentioned on the podcast, the Bottle Bill is first an important piece of legislation which will increase recycling and eliminate the incineration of plastic bottles, but is also a great issue to show the leadership of the Massachusetts legislature that the people want action and will not be ignored!

350.org's Bill McKibben will be at Harvard this Tuesday, the 17th also, giving a talk titled "Oil and Honey, Notes from a Rapidly Changing Climate," hosted by the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement.  The event is free, but registration is required.

For more about 350.org's "Draw the Line Against Keystone" events, and to find one near you, go here.  You can enter your zipcode in the box on the upper left and find an event near you, or create your own event.

You can support a great organization while helping to honor an excellent local activist at the Clean Water Action's Annual Benefit party on Saturday, September 21st from 3 to 5pm, where Boston Climate Action's Loie Hayes will be recognized for her tremendous activism on the local level.

There's an interesting event coming to the State House on September 25th.  The 4th Massachusetts Sustainable Economy Conference will take place in the Great Hall, where you can here from speakers such as Alicia Barton of the Mass Clean Energy Center, Steven Clark with the Secretariat of Energy and Environment, and John Kassel, head of the Conservation Law Foundation.  You can learn more and register here.

If you're thinking about changing careers toward something more sustainable, the Fifth annual Green Careers Conference is coming up Thursday, October 3rd, at the Marlboro Holiday Inn.

Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do.

As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog.

When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.  

So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…

The Climate Minute - Divesting, Arctic Ice, and Climate in World Affairs

This Friday the Climate Minute looks to issues global, domestic, and right here around the corner.  Join Rob and Ted from the Pink and Orange Coffeehouse, and follow along to our conversation with the links below. Here's a link to the Scientific American story highlighting the possible climate contribution to the Arab Spring and the events happening today in that part of the world. For a side-by-side comparison of arctic sea ice between any two dates from 1979 to the present, go here, plug in your dates, and hit "submit." The master site has a wide selection of data sets and tools, including a mobile app! For the chart we mentioned which shows the sea ice area flucuations over the years, go here. We're all going to have to start studying up to answer those skeptics who cherry-pick some data out of the next IPCC report and claim that climate change / global warming has "ended."  This Grist piece is a good place to start. For a Republican economist's defense of a carbon tax, check out Harvard Professor Greg Mankiw's article.  Likewise, this Minnesota Public Radio podcast talks about the latest science of climate change in a very accessible way and might be a good thing to send along to your doubtful friends. Annnnd... here's an interesting piece about The Weather Channel's shift to focusing on the climate impacts of weather.  Perhaps you might share it with your favorite television meteorologist? Here's the story about the discovery of Greenland's sub-glacial "Grand Canyon." As Ted mentioned, he found a couple of interesting musical pieces focusing on the Alberta tar sands - here you go: This coming Tuesday, September 10th, there will be a hearing on S. 1225, a carbon divestment bill filed by Senator Ben Downing.  There will be a rally in front of the State House before the hearing, at 9:30.  The legislation would require the state to divest its pension fund in holdings of carbon stocks.  Massachusetts would be the first state in the nation to take this step. (Several major US cities, including San Francisco and Seattle, have already made this commitment.) There's an interesting event coming to the State House on September 25th.  The 4th Massachusetts Sustainable Economy Conference will take place in the Great Hall, where you can here from speakers such as Alicia Barton of the Mass Clean Energy Center, Steven Clark with the Secretariat of Energy and Environment, and John Kassel, head of the Conservation Law Foundation.  You can learn more and register here. If you're thinking about changing careers toward something more sustainable, the Fifth annual Green Careers Conference is coming up Thursday, October 3rd, at the Marlboro Holiday Inn. You can support a great organization while helping to honor an excellent local activist at the Clean Water Action's Annual Benefit party where Boston Climate Action's Loie Hayes will be recognized for her tremendous activism on the local level. Finally, 350.org's Bill McKibben will be at Harvard giving a talk titled "Oil and Honey, Notes from a Rapidly Changing Climate," hosted by the Harvard Institute for Learning in Retirement.  The event is free, but registration is required. Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long as we reach our fundraising goal.   So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…