Tom Steyer-led group issues report on tackling income inequality. Begin Slideshow 2 Photo: Rich Pedroncelli / Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press 2015 S.F. billionaire and environmental activist Tom Steyer, seen in 2015, “has considered running for office” an adviser says. Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer addresses the March to Break Free from Fossil Fuels in May 2016 in Los Angeles. A think tank founded by Steyer released a sweeping report Thursday outlining the root causes behind the state’s widening wage gap. less Billionaire environmental activist Tom Steyer addresses the March to Break Free from Fossil Fuels in May 2016 in Los Angeles.
A think tank founded by Steyer released a sweeping report Thursday outlining the ... more Photo: DAVID MCNEW, AFP/Getty Images Tom Steyer-led group issues report on tackling income inequality The report, produced by the Fair Shake Commission on Income Inequality in California, represents largely a collection of long-standing liberal policy positions and talking points. Log In - New York Times. Senate unexpectedly rejects bid to repeal a key Obama-era environmental regulation.
A video of the roll call vote results. (U.S. Senate) A video of the roll call vote results. A video of the roll call vote results. This story has been updated. The Senate on Wednesday narrowly voted down a resolution to repeal an Obama-era rule restricting methane emissions from drilling operations on public lands — with three Republicans joining every Democrat to preserve the rule.
The 51-to-49 vote marked the first time since Trump’s election that Republicans have failed in their attempt to use the Congressional Review Act to overturn Obama-era rules. Thursday is the deadline for using the Congressional Review Act this way. The methane emissions rule, issued by the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management in November, addresses a potent greenhouse gas that is accelerating climate change.
[Trump officials turn to courts to block Obama-era legacy] The rule would force oil and gas companies to capture methane that had been previously burned off or “flared” at drilling sites. Sen. Sen. Great Barrier Reef at 'terminal stage': scientists despair at latest coral bleaching data | Environment. Back-to-back severe bleaching events have affected two-thirds of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, new aerial surveys have found. The findings have caused alarm among scientists, who say the proximity of the 2016 and 2017 bleaching events is unprecedented for the reef, and will give damaged coral little chance to recover.
Scientists with the Australian Research Council’s Centre of Excellence for Coral Reef Studies last week completed aerial surveys of the world’s largest living structure, scoring bleaching at 800 individual coral reefs across 8,000km. The results show the two consecutive mass bleaching events have affected a 1,500km stretch, leaving only the reef’s southern third unscathed. Where last year’s bleaching was concentrated in the reef’s northern third, the 2017 event spread further south, and was most intense in the middle section of the Great Barrier Reef. This year’s mass bleaching, second in severity only to 2016, has occurred even in the absence of an El Niño event. Even ExxonMobil is Begging Trump to Show the Environment Mercy. ExxonMobil is a multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Texas. In 2014, it was the second-most profitable company in the Fortune 500.
It is considered one of the “supermajors,” i.e., the seven biggest publicly-owned oil and gas companies in the the world. It knew about the harmful effects of fossil fuels as early as 1977 but kept them to itself and, in the 1980s, began a campaign of climate-change denial. Currently, the company is being investigated over whether or not it intentionally “misled the public about the role fossil fuels play in climate change.” In short, it’s not exactly the kind of organization you’d think would take a stand against Donald Trump's plan to destroy the environment to bring back a couple of coal jobs. But you would be wrong, which is perhaps an indication of just how much the Trump administration has turned things upside down. Darren Woods, the new chief executive who took over at the start of the year [when former C.E.O.
Meanwhile, across the pond. Even ExxonMobil is Begging Trump to Show the Environment Mercy. One of the most troubling ideas about climate change just found new evidence in its favor. Visualization of a very wavy Northern Hemisphere jet stream. (NASA) Ever since 2012, scientists have been debating a complex and frankly explosive idea about how a warming planet will alter our weather — one that, if it’s correct, would have profound implications across the Northern Hemisphere and especially in its middle latitudes, where hundreds of millions of people live.
The idea is that climate change doesn’t merely increase the overall likelihood of heat waves, say, or the volume of rainfall — it also changes the flow of weather itself. By altering massive planet-scale air patterns like the jet stream (pictured above), which flows in waves from west to east in the Northern Hemisphere, a warming planet causes our weather to become more stuck in place. This means that a given weather pattern, whatever it may be, may persist for longer, thus driving extreme droughts, heat waves, downpours and more. [5 ways that Trump will try to eviscerate Obama’s climate policies on Tuesday] business. Log In - New York Times. Stephen Hawking Raises Concerns Over Trump’s Environmental Policy : SCIENCE : Tech Times. Leading physicist Stephen Hawking has slammed President Donald Trump's environmental policy and called for the ousting of Environmental Protection Agency chief Scott Pruitt.
Hawking is a recipient of the prestigious U.S. Franklin medal for science and winner of the presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama and spoke out his concerns over "definite swing to a right-wing, more authoritarian approach. " "He should replace Scott Pruitt at the Environment Protection Agency," Hawking said and noted that climate change is an unstoppable danger.
"It affects America badly, so tackling it should win votes for his second term. God forbid. " Unwelcome Guest In Trump's America Commenting on a question whether he would visit the United States, Hawking said he may not be welcome under President Trump. "I would like to visit again and to talk to other scientists, but I fear that I may not be welcome," he said in an interview.
In the past, Hawking had called Trump a demagogue. Trump Threatens To Take Us Back To The Climate Dark Ages | The Huffington Post. Trump’s Defense Secretary Cites Climate Change as National Security Challenge. Secretary of Defense James Mattis has asserted that climate change is real, and a threat to American interests abroad and the Pentagon’s assets everywhere, a position that appears at odds with the views of the president who appointed him and many in the administration in which he serves.
In unpublished written testimony provided to the Senate Armed Services Committee after his confirmation hearing in January, Mattis said it was incumbent on the U.S. military to consider how changes like open-water routes in the thawing Arctic and drought in global trouble spots can pose challenges for troops and defense planners. He also stressed this is a real-time issue, not some distant what-if. “Climate change is impacting stability in areas of the world where our troops are operating today,” Mattis said in written answers to questions posed after the public hearing by Democratic members of the committee.
There’s no sign that any of this has been done. Here are two of the climate questions from Sen. There Is Nothing Normal About the Snowstorm About To Slam the East Coast. An American Robin red breast, an iconic herald of spring, caught in an icy snowstorm. In case you're wondering—this is not normal. SHSPhotography/Getty Images This story was originally published by Grist and is reproduced here as part of the Climate Desk collaboration. The calendar might say March, but winter isn't done yet on the East Coast. And in a year where traditional signs of spring have arrived nearly a month early, it's looking like this year's winter season will be compressed into a single day, with an impending blizzard on par with historical greats.
Snowstorms and cold weather traditionally bring out the science deniers (we'll never forget you, Senator Snowball), but in an atmosphere that is being fundamentally changed by human activity, every weather event is influenced in some way by climate change, and this week's storm is no exception. If you live on the East Coast, you might have become complacent about epic snowstorms like this one.
EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt Is a Dangerous, Science-Denying Buffoon. Aaron P. Bernstein Scott Pruitt doesn't believe in climate change science. Also, we're doomed. Scott Pruitt is perhaps an unconventional choice, shall we say, to head Donald Trump's EPA, considering how often he sued the agency during his tenure as Oklahoma's attorney general. But the fact that his agenda for addressing climate change might differ from that held by progressives doesn't make him unfit to lead the agency or anything like that.
After all, reasonable people can disagree about the best policy responses to a given problem. What's important is that by working from the same set of basic facts, we can work together to arrive at an optimal—wait, WHAT DID THAT MAN JUST SAY? If you're sitting there fervently wishing that your ears deceive you: ANCHOR: Do you believe that it's been proven that [carbon dioxide] is the primary control knob for climate? On climate change, Scott Pruitt causes an uproar — and contradicts the EPA’s own website. President Trump and many of his top aides have expressed skepticism about climate change, while others say human activity is to blame for global warming. So what's the administration's real position? (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) President Trump and many of his top aides have expressed skepticism about climate change, while others say human activity is to blame for global warming.
So what's the administration's real position? Does the Trump administration believe in climate change? (Peter Stevenson/The Washington Post) This story has been updated. Scott Pruitt, the nation’s top environmental official, strongly rejected the established science of climate change on Thursday, outraging scientists, environmentalists, and even his immediate predecessor at the Environmental Protection Agency.
“But we don’t know that yet,” he continued. [This climate lawsuit could change everything. [Proposed NOAA cuts would disarm our coasts in the face of rising seas, scientists say] business true false. This White House Statement Has Language That Is Nearly Identical to an Exxon Press Release. President Trump with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson (right), the former CEO of Exxon Mobil Pool/Reuters via ZUMA Press Hours after President Donald Trump was scheduled to have lunch with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Monday, the White House issued an unusual press release.
Trump congratulated Exxon Mobil—the company Tillerson formerly led—on its announcement that it would be spending $20 billion on expanded investments in 11 Gulf Coast projects. The oil and gas giant claims the move will create 45,000 jobs. As if the close ties between the White House and Exxon weren't clear enough, one part of the White House statement contains language that is nearly identical to language in Exxon's press release.
Here are excerpts from the two releases, with the identical wording bolded. Exxon Mobil is strategically investing in new refining and chemical-manufacturing projects in the United States Gulf Coast region to expand its manufacturing and export capacity. Budget cuts at NOAA threaten climate-monitoring satellite program - CSMonitor.com. —Later this year, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration plans to launch the JPSS-1 satellite. Completing a polar orbit 14 times each day, it will give NOAA an unprecedented amount of infrared and atmospheric data – information that’s necessary to keep weather forecasts, agricultural outlooks, and disaster plans accurate as Earth’s climate warms. These benefits won’t come cheap. NOAA has budgeted $800 million for JPSS – an abbreviation for Joint Polar Satellite System – this year alone, and projects a nine-digit price tag for the mission each year through the mid-2020s.
But will NOAA be able to afford this satellite? A White House budget memo obtained by the Washington Post on Friday reveals that the Trump Administration aims to cut NOAA’s budget by 17 percent next fiscal year. As NOAA administrator from 2009 to 2013, Dr. Political changes have grounded Earth-observing satellites before. The Trump administration has been much clearer about its view of Earth science.
Why California Is Environmentalists' Trump Card - The Atlantic. With Scott Pruitt, a close ally of the oil and gas industry, now confirmed as administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, environmentalists are bracing for a broad assault on former President Obama’s green legacy, particularly his efforts to reduce the carbon emissions linked to global climate change. In most of those fights, the only viable recourse for environmentalists is to contest Pruitt in court.
(They can’t expect much help from the Republican Congress.) But on the critical issue of requiring auto manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency, green forces have another line of defense: unique authority that Congress granted to California under the Clean Air Act decades ago. Across the many confrontations looming between President Trump and Democratic-leaning local governments on issues from immigration to health care, the impending struggle between the EPA and California over fuel economy may be the one where Democrats most clearly hold a trump card.
Conservatives are willing to combat climate change — when it’s not called “climate change” The grim fact of the matter is that we cannot count on the federal government to step up efforts to deal with climate change, for the next four years at least. So some scientists are turning hopefully towards leaders in local governments, hoping they can use what power they have to reduce carbon emissions and mitigate the damage already being created by global warming. The problem is that many communities have conservative populations that, for ideological reasons, refuse to accept that climate change is real, and as such will resist local leaders who attempt interventions that appear to be rooted in an acceptance of the scientific facts. But there may be a way to get conservative constituents to agree to actions to address climate change: Package the policies using other terms.
As Rebecca J. Romsdahl, an environmental science and policy professor at the University of North Dakota, and her team of researchers have discovered, that’s what a number of local leaders are already doing. EPA Removes Mentions of 'Climate Change' From Water Program | InsideClimate News. Uk.businessinsider. Two Adelie penguins on a block of melting ice at Cape Denison, Commonwealth Bay, in East Antarctica. Thomson Reuters An Argentine research base near the northern tip of the Antarctic peninsula has set a heat record at a balmy 63.5° Fahrenheit (17.5 degrees Celsius), the U.N. weather agency said on Wednesday. The Experanza base set the high on March 24, 2015, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said after reviewing data around Antarctica to set benchmarks to help track future global warming and natural variations.
"Verification of maximum and minimum temperatures help us to build up a picture of the weather and climate in one of Earth’s final frontiers," said Michael Sparrow, a polar expert with the WMO co-sponsored World Climate Research Programme. Antarctica locks up 90 percent of the world's fresh water as ice and would raise sea levels by about 60 meters (200 ft) if it were all to melt, meaning scientists are concerned to know even about extremes around the fringes.
Drastic cooling in North Atlantic beyond worst fears, scientists warn | Environment. Russia and the U.S. Could Be Partners in Climate Change Inaction | InsideClimate News. Www.bloomberg. Erasing Democracy. McConnell pushes for action on ‘harmful’ coal-mining rule. Jobs in solar, wind power are growing 12 times faster than U.S. economy. Fearing deletion, Tom Steyer copies Environmental Protection Agency website on climate change.
Trump administration tells EPA to cut climate page from website: sources. How to immunise yourself against fake news on climate change. World temperatures hit new high in 2016 for third year in a row. The dirty deplorables: Who’s who on Donald Trump’s team and how they’ll destroy the environment. Uk.businessinsider. Why clean energy is the next big business opportunity (opinion) Trump's Election Leaves Scientists In A Climate Of Uncertainty. How the Active Many Can Overcome the Ruthless Few. Trump's Top Environmental Adviser Says Pesticides Aren't Bad for You. Scientists Accidentally Discover Efficient Process to Turn CO2 Into Ethanol. Prince William warns Hanoi conference of looming threat of extinction as species killed at 'horrifying rate'
To talk to a climate change denier, you need to understand the psychology of denial — Quartz. Exclusive: Billionaire green activist Steyer vows to battle Trump, says money not an issue. Com.google.android.apps.genie. Larger marine animals at higher risk of extinction, humans are to blame | Stanford News. Experts find climate change's fingerprints in French floods. "No Safe Pipelines": TransCanada Admits Keystone Spill Bigger than First Claimed. New Documents Show Oil Industry Even More Evil Than We Thought.
CO2's Role in Global Warming Has Been on the Oil Industry's Radar Since the 1960s. Ice Melt in Antarctica Will Raise Sea Levels Sooner Than We Thought. Climate Fraud Investigation of Exxon Draws Attention of 18 Attorneys General. NASA report says February has broken global temperature records by stunning margin | PerfScience. NASA Scientists Warn a 30-Mile Ice Shelf Will Soon Break Off Antarctica. Justice Department Refers Exxon Investigation Request to FBI. The Koch Brothers' Dirty War on Solar Power. Sea level is now rising at fastest rate in nearly 3,000 years. The Kochs Are Plotting A Multimillion-Dollar Assault On Electric Vehicles. Climate change gets short shrift in U.S. classrooms. Did Bloomberg bury a big scoop about the Kochs’ position on climate change?
Copenhagen set to divest from fossil fuels | Environment. The Zika virus isn’t coming to America. Ignore the alarmists who say it is. We print money to bail out banks. Why can’t we do it to solve climate change? | Global Development Professionals Network. The Zika virus foreshadows our dystopian climate future | Bill McKibben | Opinion. Record hot years near impossible without manmade climate change – study | Environment. Here’s how El Niño and global warming helped 2015 shatter temperature records. Experts Agree: Climate Change Is The Most Serious Of All The Threats Facing The Planet. Take the Power Back. These Creative Wind Turbines Will Have You Rethinking What You Know About Wind Power. Calif. Lawmakers Rush to Address Methane Leak's Dangers.
The millennials must keep up the pressure following the Paris climate deal | Finn Harries | Environment. These Sky-High Balloons Could Generate More Power Than Solar Panels. Watch 62 Years of Global Warming in 13 Seconds. Watch 25 Years of Arctic Sea Ice Disappear in 1 Minute. The Real Climate Change Hoax | John Sanbonmatsu. Billionaire Tom Steyer pushes aggressive environmental agenda - Sacramento Business Journal. Startups have figured out how to remove carbon from the air. Will anyone pay them to do it? | Guardian Sustainable Business.
Learning To Love CO2 | November 16, 2015 Issue - Vol. 93 Issue 45. Paris emissions cuts aren't enough – we'll have to put carbon back in the ground. Is Capturing Carbon from the Air Practical? Glogin?URI= Exxon's Oil Industry Peers Knew About Climate Dangers in the 1970s, Too. Leaders Move to Convert Paris Climate Pledges Into Action. Paris climate agreement ‘may signal end of fossil fuel era’ | Environment. Short Answers to Hard Questions About Climate Change. An Insider’s Journal from the Paris Climate Talks — Natural Resources Defense Council. Bill Nye Explains Everything You Need to Know About Earth's Changing Climate. Scientists Warn Climate Change Will Trigger Rise In Terrifying Illness. Getting rid of received ideas. Breakthrough Energy Coalition. FACT SHEET: Mission Innovation. 11 terrifying facts about climate change in 2015. Rising waters prompt China’s sea change on climate.
The attack on climate change scientists continues in Washington. Neil deGrasse Tyson explains disagreements at U.N. Climate Summit with a single tweet. Bill Gates launches multi-billion dollar clean energy fund - Nov. 29, 2015. Will Bill Gates and his billionaire friends save the planet? | Martin Lukacs, Rajiv Sicora | Environment. What’s really at stake at the Paris climate conference now marches are banned | Naomi Klein.