Climate Change

The only three living diplomats who have led the United Nations global warming talks said there’s little chance the next climate treaty will prevent the world from overheating. The specific goal, to hold temperature increases to 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit), was endorsed by envoys from 190 nations in 2010. It’s considered the maximum the environment can bear before climate change becomes more dangerous. Delegates to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change meet in Warsaw starting Nov. 11 to work on a treaty that could be agreed to in 2015.

By Marc Lee

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2013/11/01/executive-order-preparing-united-states-impacts-climate-change

Executive Order -- Preparing the United States for the Impacts of Climate Change The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release
November 01, 2013
EXECUTIVE ORDER

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PREPARING THE UNITED STATES FOR THE IMPACTS OF CLIMATE CHANGE

Carbon Talks brought together three experts at the lunch hour on Wednesday to discuss the business case for exporting LNG from B.C. Part of that business case is environmental: the assertion that LNG will be good for global emissions. Dr. Kathryn Harrison, professor of political science at UBC, suggested that climate change is an elephant in the room, a party animal when it suits industry needs or, perhaps, “a large beast with the potential to wreak havoc.”

In December 2012, a pink-haired complex systems researcher named Brad Werner made his way through the throng of 24,000 earth and space scientists at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union, held annually in San Francisco. This year’s conference had some big-name participants, from Ed Stone of Nasa’s Voyager project, explaining a new milestone on the path to interstellar space, to the film-maker James Cameron, discussing his adventures in deep-sea submersibles. But it was Werner’s own session that was attracting much of the buzz.

The U.N. climate panel concluded last month that carbon emissions should be capped at a trillion tons, a total the world is rapidly approaching. Now comes the hard part: How will we decide how the remaining emissions are apportioned? The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) for the first time sets a cap on the amount of carbon emissions we can allow into the atmosphere before calling a complete and permanent halt ­ if, that is, we are serious about keeping global warming below two degrees Celsius.

Once again there may be some question as to what this article is doing on our site but it seemed worth it to put this point of view from a well-known "progressive" writer who is very concerned about climate change.  Comments welcome.

Fiscal Meltdown

The government is betting the farm on a nuclear technology that might soon look as hip as the traction engine.

By George Monbiot, published in the Guardian 22nd October 2013

After a Throne Speech that pledged a focus on the North, Environment Minister and Nunavut MP Leona Aglukkaq is Yukon-bound to kick off Canada’s term at the helm of the international Arctic Council. She’ll use it to push for expanded resource development and more indigenous involvement in research on subjects such as climate change.

What should be done about climate change refugees?
Up to 1 billion people could be displaced by climate change over the next
50 years. But many states, including Canada, prefer not to deal with it.

http://www.thestar.com/news/insight/2013/10/11/what_should_be_done_about...

When the IPCC's new report on the physical basis of climate change was released in late September, media attention focused on a conclusion from the Summary for Policymakers that the world had emitted just over half of the allowable emissions if global warming is to be kept to 2 degrees Celsius (2°C) of warming. Unfortunately, because many people think if you have a budget you should spend every last dollar, the "carbon budget" message could be interpreted as saying there is plenty of budget left to spend.