Our first story – the IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5ºC, where we read
“Limiting warming to 1.5ºC is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes,” said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III.”
What is the US up to?
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withdrawing from Paris accord … but that accord was not about solving climate change anyway
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can we get better CO2 with other methods – yes
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can we solve the social justice issue without Paris accord – yes
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conflating the two issues decreases support, -it’s probably politically better to keep them separate, partly it’s an example of the backfire effect – but it’s also about good strategies.
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yes, there is a social justice issue – in that vulnerable populations are sometimes the most effected.
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Bruce’s thinking … do something about the climate first, then use other methods to deal with the effected populations.
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DoD struggling to address climate change and prepare for a future. We covered the climate war on the DoD in our September show. We heard that
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naval bases are experiencing high tide flooding, including a base that cannot launch aircraft because runways are flooded then
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increased demand for military actions due to climate events – thin Syria, Egypt, and the mass migrations that are starting from the northern Africa region into southern Europe.
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What are the states up to?
Three camps … early adapters, fighting over it, and the let it rides.
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The early adapters … California, Hawaii
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California (https://www.climatechange.ca.gov/)
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“To respond to the threat of climate change, the State has enacted legislation, regulations and executive orders that put the State on the course to achieve robust greenhouse gas reductions while addressing the impacts on the state of a changing climate. “
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They are setting goals and responding like responsible adults
Why? They have an overwhelming mono-culture in their politics?
Maybe – 39 D and 14 R.
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Hawai’i (http://climate.hawaii.gov/)
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Hawai‘i is a small state with big ambitions and big actions–especially when it comes to addressing climate change. We are #StillIn the Paris Agreement. As a member of the U.S. Climate Alliance, we believe that smart, coordinated State action can ensure that the U.S. continues to contribute to the global effort to address climate change.
In response to the Paris Agreement, Hawai‘i created the Hawai`i Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation Commission (aka State Climate Commission). -
Hawaii’s Climate Commission recognizes the urgency of climate threats and the need to act quickly. It promotes ambitious, climate-neutral, culturally responsive strategies for climate change adaptation and mitigation in a manner that is Clean, Equitable & Resilient.
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A patchwork of state-by-state fixes – including various cap-and-trade plans (CA, WA the northeast 9 = Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Rhode Island, and Vermont).
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Our middle ground states … fighting over it … Washington, Oregon, the northeast 9
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Washington failed last time, but a new carbon fee and dividend bill (Initiative 1631) could be the country’s first state-level carbon tax. But there are some problems, and we see that it is not a full-on carbon fee and dividend, with loopholes already built-in to protect local-to-Washington “special interests”.
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Oregon – a blue state, with a Democratic governor and a Democratic legislature in a West Coast state, could not pass a substantial climate policy. I think this is a lesson yet to be learned by the partisan environmental warriors. Even if you hold all the cards, you don’t get to force ideas against the mass of voters, education is KEY to change.
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Let it ride … doubling down in big bets against the math, Florida, Arizona, North Carolina
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FEMA will save us
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it’s not as bad as all that (HA!)
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Did Kansas really define pi to be 3? A great story but Snopes says it’s not true, it’s an early example of an internet meme (1998), though I had heard the urban legend far before the Internet made it the “truth”.
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But, did Indiana try to square the circle?
The Indiana Pi Bill is the popular name for bill #246 of the 1897 Indiana General Assembly, is one of the most notorious attempts to establish mathematical truth by legislative fiat. Despite its name, the main result claimed by the bill is a method to square the circle, rather than to establish a certain value for the mathematical constant π, the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. The bill was written by an amateur mathematician, Edward J. Goodwin, and it does imply various incorrect values of π, such as 3.2.
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As stupid as that is, we do see such real laws being passed to force businesses to ignore climate change.
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North Carolina (2012) passed H.B.819, a 2012 law, and subsequent actions by the state, effectively ordered state and local agencies that develop coastal policies to ignore scientific models showing an acceleration in the rise of sea levels.
Business leaders had been jolted by a state commission’s 2010 report saying that sea levels could rise as much as 39 inches by the year 2100, which would devastate the coast and swamp billions of dollars’ worth of real estate.
Alan, any guesses as to who pays the piper for such protectionism?
The taxpayers!-
Florida is still rebuilding after storms – watch what happens to Mexico Beach – radio stories on less educational stations than this one, I might add, were filled with stories people wanting to rebuild in a danger zone, because (and I paraphrase here) “we’ve lived here for generations (gee, and you haven’t caught on that the future is changing?).
Such action is the triumph of FEMA-enabled hope over hurricane experience.Any guesses as to who pays the piper for this hope?
The taxpayers!
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Now for our special guest … he’s Co-chair of the Northfield Climate Action Planning Advisory Board, a real C-suite thinker and now giving his all to this issue … Alan Anderson
