Tag: climate change

With Russia Ascendant, Phillips Bill Proposes New Arctic Ambassador to Fight Climate Change and Enhance National Security

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WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Rep. Dean Phillips (MN-03) introduced the Arctic Diplomacy Act of 2021, legislation that would establish a United States Ambassador at Large for Arctic Affairs. The newly created Arctic Ambassador would work with partner nations to maintain peace and stability while encouraging environmentally sustainable natural resource management and economic development. The bill would also mandate an Arctic Region Security Policy to bolster U.S. diplomacy, advance principles of good governance, and enhance resilience capacities to combat climate change and increased militarization. 

Earlier today, the Russian Federation began its two-year term as chair of the influential Arctic Council, the international body dedicated to promoting cooperation in the region. In light of that development, it is more important than ever that the United States play an active role in Arctic diplomacy – and a dedicated Arctic ambassadorship would make that aspiration a reality. Furthermore, as the climate crisis continues to intensify, the Ambassador for Arctic Affairs will be needed to promote sustainable development, reduce carbon emissions, and strengthen resilience in the Arctic Region. 

Continue reading “With Russia Ascendant, Phillips Bill Proposes New Arctic Ambassador to Fight Climate Change and Enhance National Security”

What to Save? Climate Change Forces Brutal Choices at National Parks.

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For decades, the core mission of the Park Service was absolute conservation. Now ecologists are being forced to do triage, deciding what to safeguard — and what to let slip away.

For more than a century, the core mission of the National Park Service has been preserving the natural heritage of the United States. But now, as the planet warms, transforming ecosystems, the agency is conceding that its traditional goal of absolute conservation is no longer viable in many cases.

Late last month the service published an 80-page document that lays out new guidance for park managers in the era of climate change. The document, along with two peer-reviewed papers, is essentially a tool kit for the new world. It aims to help park ecologists and managers confront the fact that, increasingly, they must now actively choose what to save, what to shepherd through radical environmental transformation and what will vanish forever.

“The concept of things going back to some historical fixed condition is really just no longer tenable,” said Patty Glick, a senior scientist for climate adaptation at the National Wildlife Federation and one of the lead authors of the document. Continue reading.

Antarctica is headed for a climate tipping point by 2060, with catastrophic melting if carbon emissions aren’t cut quickly

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While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken draws attention to climate change in the Arctic at meetings with other national officials this week in Iceland, an even greater threat looms on the other side of the planet.

New research shows it is Antarctica that may force a reckoning between the choices countries make today about greenhouse gas emissions and the future survival of their coastlines and coastal cities, from New York to Shanghai. 

That reckoning may come much sooner than people realize. Continue reading.

There’s a New Definition of ‘Normal’ for Weather

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The United States is getting redder.

No, not that kind of red. (We’ll leave that to the political pundits.) We’re talking about the thermometer kind.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week issued its latest “climate normals”: baseline data of temperature, rain, snow and other weather variables collected over three decades at thousands of locations across the country. Continue reading.

U.S. has entered unprecedented climate territory, EPA warns

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The Trump administration delayed the report, which cites urban heat waves and permafrost loss as signs of global warming, for three years

For years, President Donald Trump and his deputies played down the impact of greenhouse gas emissions from burning fossil fuels and delayed the release of an Environmental Protection Agency report detailing climate-related damage. But on Wednesday, the EPA released a detailed and disturbing account of the startling changes that Earth’s warming had on parts of the United States during Trump’s presidency.

The destruction of year-round permafrost in Alaska, loss of winter ice on the Great Lakes and spike in summer heat waves in U.S. cities all signal that climate change is intensifying, the EPA said in its report. The assessment, which languished under the Trump administration for three years, marks the first time the agency has said such changes are being driven at least in part by human-caused global warming.

As it launched an updated webpage to inform the public on how climate change is upending communities throughout the country, the Biden administration gave the agency’s imprimatur to a growing body of evidence that climate effects are happening faster and becoming more extreme than when EPA last published its “Climate Indicators” data in 2016. Continue reading.

Senate Republicans threaten to cut funding for Minnesota state parks, environmental programs over ‘clean cars’ rule

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GOP bill cuts funding unless rules reducing emissions are stopped. 

Minnesota’s state parks could shut down in July if the Walz administration does not bow to demands by Senate Republicans to drop plans for new “clean cars” emissions standards.

Along with parks, much of the environmental arm of state government would shut down over the impasse, which flared up during a conference committee meeting Tuesday on the Senate’s proposed omnibus environment budget.

If passed, the Senate’s version of the omnibus environment bill would slash tens of millions of dollars in environmental funding on a variety of projects, from combating chronic wasting disease in deer and the decline in pollinators to cleaning up forever chemicals in water supplies.

Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, told the committee it is the only budget he will consider, and that he will not pass anything at all unless the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) rule-making on clean cars is stopped. Continue reading.

Senate votes to nix Trump rule limiting methane regulation

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The Senate voted Wednesday to undo a Trump administration rule that rescinded methane emissions limits and made it harder to regulate releases of the greenhouse gas from the oil and gas sector.

In the 52-42 vote, three Republicans voted with Democrats to get rid of the rule: Sens. Rob Portman (Ohio), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Susan Collins(Maine).

The methane rule is the first Trump-era rule that Democrats will take on using the Congressional Review Act (CRA), a tool that lets them eliminate regulations completed in the prior 60 legislative days with a simple majority vote. Continue reading.

Biden touts jobs from tackling climate change, including some ‘we haven’t even conceived of yet’

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President Biden expressed hope Friday that even geopolitical foes such as the United States and Russia can cooperate on climate change as he closed out a two-day virtual summit of world leaders that he hosted from the White House.

In earlier remarks, Biden touted the new jobs that the effort could produce, including in “fields we haven’t even conceived of yet,” and stressed the importance of ensuring that workers who “thrived in yesterday’s and today’s industries have as bright a tomorrow in the new industries.” View the post here.

Biden aims for 50 to 52 percent emissions reduction by 2030

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President Biden is aiming to reduce the U.S. greenhouse gas emissions by 50 to 52 percent when compared to 2005 levels by the year 2030, an interim goal in his quest to reach net-zero emissions economy-wide by 2050. 

A White House fact sheet announced the much-anticipated goal, which will both guide the next several years of domestic climate policy and send a signal to the rest of the world on how aggressively the U.S. plans to combat climate change. 

The target, called a nationally determined contribution, is being made as part of the Paris Agreement and will be formally submitted to the United Nations.  Continue reading.

Scientific American to use ‘climate emergency’ in magazine’s future coverage

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After over 175 years of publishing, Scientific American made a major editorial announcement on Monday: the historic U.S. magazine will officially adopt the term “climate emergency” for its coverage of the human-caused crisis.

The move came as part of a new initiative led by Covering Climate Now, a global consortium of media outlets dedicated to improving climate coverage. SciAm was one of the nine initial signatories of the Climate Emergency Statement.

Common Dreams is a member of the consortium, has signed on to the new statement, and has been using the term climate emergency in our reporting for several years. Continue reading.