TheGreenFront presents: This Day in Climate History December 1, 1987: During a Democratic presidential debate on NBC, Rep. Richard Gephardt states that the US must work with the Soviet Union on addressing international environmental issues such as the ozone layer and greenhouse gas emissions, noting, “The problem we’ve had with these issues is not that we don’t know what to talk about; the problem we’ve had is that America hasn’t been a leader.” (25:10—26:03) c-span.org/video/?20-1/Presidential December 1, 2008: At a town hall in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Senator John Kerry discusses the need for political progress on climate. youtu.be/gy3gTZyvoQQ December 1, 2010: Incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) announces plans to snuff out the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming. voices.washingtonpost/44/2010/12/house-republicans-nix-global-w.html December 1, 2011: The National Journal reports: Over the past year, GOP politicians have increasingly questioned or flatly denied the established science of climate change. As the presidential primaries heat up, the leading candidates have either denied the verdict of climate scientists or recanted their former views supporting climate policy. As the tea party grows in influence, and the fossil-fuel industry injects unprecedented levels of spending into the electoral system, challenging climate science has become, in some circles, as much of a conservative litmus test as opposing taxes. nationaljournal/magazine/heads-in-the-sand-20111201 December 1, 2014: The New York Times reports: After more than two decades of trying but failing to forge a global pact to halt climate change, United Nations negotiators gathering in South America this week are expressing a new optimism that they may finally achieve the elusive deal. Even with a deal to stop the current rate of greenhouse gas emissions, scientists warn, the world will become increasingly unpleasant. Without a deal, they say, the world could eventually become uninhabitable for humans. For the next two weeks, thousands of diplomats from around the globe will gather in Lima, Peru, for a United Nations summit meeting to draft an agreement intended to stop the global rise of planet-warming greenhouse gases. The meeting comes just weeks after a landmark announcement by President Obama and President Xi Jinping of China committing the world’s two largest carbon polluters to cuts in their emissions. United Nations negotiators say they believe that advancement could end a longstanding impasse in the climate talks, spurring other countries to sign similar commitments. But while scientists and climate-policy experts welcome the new momentum ahead of the Lima talks, they warn that it now may be impossible to prevent the temperature of the planet’s atmosphere from rising by 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. According to a large body of scientific research, that is the tipping point at which the world will be locked into a near-term future of drought, food and water shortages, melting ice sheets, shrinking glaciers, rising sea levels and widespread flooding — events that could harm the world’s population and economy. Recent reports show that there may be no way to prevent the planet’s temperature from rising, given the current level of greenhouse gases already in the atmosphere and the projected rate of emissions expected to continue before any new deal is carried out. That fact is driving the urgency of the Lima talks, which are expected to produce a draft document, to be made final over the next year and signed by world leaders in Paris in December 2015. nytimes/2014/12/01/world/climate-talks.html?hpw&rref=science&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=well-region®ion=bottom-well&WT.nav=bottom-well&_r=0
Posted on: Mon, 01 Dec 2014 10:07:48 +0000