The Climate Minute

If it's Friday it's the Climate Minute, your source of climate news and views from Massachusetts and beyond.  This week Rob and Ted talk about the Energy Exodus march, Vermont Yankee's closing and decommissioning, and naming hurricanes after climate denier politicians. Ted marched on the first day of the Energy Exodus march, and brought along a voice recorder and captured some interviews which we put in a podcast yesterday. photo by Wen StephensonThe kick-off was covered in the media, you can check it out here.  In a supremely ironic twist, there was a small diesel spill in New Bedford harbor the same day the march reached that city. In other news, the Vermont Yankee plant will be closing by the end of 2014.  According to this story, the owners will have up to 60 years to fully decommission the plant and remediate the site.  Two generations to clean up the site of a plant that's only run for 40 years! From Vermont, we segued to the arctic ice melt.  Ted found this neat video showing the melt from May to mid-August.  Here's an interesting Slate piece about the quadrupling of commercial sea traffic along Russian's northern coast, made more accessible due to shrinking icecaps. Speaking of videos, here's a touching / funny / serious piece suggesting we stop picking on innocent people names Sandy and Katrina, and begin naming hurricanes after climate change-denying politicians. You can sign their petition at ClimateNameChange.org. Finally, there was a story in the Globe this week highlighting the environmental positions of the candidates for Mayor of Boston.  You can also watch the video below, this is from the forum sponsored by several environmental groups in Boston back in July.  There will be another forum in late October before the final election. Mayoral Forum from Ken Pruitt on Vimeo. Likewise, there will be a forum for the candidates for Senator Markey's old congressional seat, which will occur in late September.  Keep tuned in for more details! Remember, for more climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long we reach our fundraising goal.  We’re three quarters of the way there, can you help? So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…Download Enhanced Podcas

Ted McIntyre, MCAN's Board President, took part in the first day of the Energy Exodus march yesterday, and talked to a number of people during the 10 mile first leg. His first discussion is with Mike, who is with the Polluters Pay Initiative, a group pushing for a price on carbon. Next he spoke with Shanti, who is a part of Climate Action Now, a central and western Massachusetts group.  Shanti has marched all over the world for climate action, and lives his beliefs in Sirius, an eco-village in Shutesbury. Alex, a young man who has lived in Guatemala and has worked in sustainable development through the Social Entrepreneur Corps.  Quite a bit of life experience for someone who just graduated from college only last year! Carolyn, from Mendon, is marching because we need to do something to change government policy to ensure a sustainable future.  She speaks about "Mothers Out Front," a group of mothers taking action to ensure their children a future. A young Quaker, Catherine, speaks about her work within her faith to activate people on climate change, while Jordan talks about the greenhouse gas impacts of not only coal, but also the false promise of natural gas. Ted caught up with Turner, who is mad!  Particularly with the fossil fuel industry and their pursuit of profit in complete disregard for the fate of the planet.  Turner and Ted talk about divestment, a growing movement in the climate world. Alex from Ipswich is a student who's fed up with the lack of political action, and realizes people must take action now to show political leaders the way. Thanks to all the folks who allowd themselves to be taped.  The march will be going until next Monday, so there's still time for folks to take part.  Again, for more information, go to the Energy Exodus site here. Thanks for listening, and remember: for the reasons all these folks mentioned, the United States must put a price on carbon.Download Enhanced Podcas

Good morning, and welcome to the Climate Minute for August 23rd, 2013.  Rob and Ted come at you "live" from the Pink and Orange coffeehouse talking about the latest leaks about the next IPCC report, whither sunspots, and is it even worth talking to deniers? We start this week talking about the recent spate of leaks of the latest version of the IPCC 5th Assessment Report. The report is notable in that it ups the degree of certainty it reports that human activities are contributing to climate change, from 90% in the last (2007) assessment, to 95%.  That link is to a ThinkProgress piece that highlights several troubling aspects of the report. For the short attention span types (like me), here's a Washington Post story with "Ten Nuggets Worth Knowing" about the leaked report. Of course as a former college professor of mine loved to say, where you stand depends upon where you sit, and the skeptic community was over-the-moon pulling isolated parts of the report out of context.  For those with strong stomaches and advanced BS-meters, here's Watt's Up With That?'s take on the report. One of the things the tinfoil hat bridge (I'm sorry, feeling particularly snarky today...) likes to tout is the impact of change in solar output effects climate.  Okay, first: duh.   The sun has a large impact on our environment.  But even if you want to by in to the "solar minimum" argument that we are entering an extended solar minimum (a period with few sunspots), at best that *temporary* solar change will only serve to give a brief respite from even higher temperatures. Some folks were even trotting out a recent study that we could be entering a new "Grand Solar Minimum" period like that which coincided with the "little ice age" of the 17th and 18th century.  Facts however must intrude; even those doing the study suggest that the impact of a solar minimum, even a grand one, could mean little more than .3 degree of cooling.  And again, it would be temporary -- unlike the CO2 we're pumping into the atmosphere which could be there for centuries. We talked a bit about the futility or necessity to spread the climate message to non-believers, the skeptics.  Dave Roberts expresses his frustration with attempts to reach out to the right here, and feels that maybe it's just reached the point where some folks are just about unreachable.  Ted is very sympathetic to this position.  Rob, however, is ever the optimist and falls in line with HuffPost's Kate Sheppard, and thinks that you can still talk to deniers, you just need to find that common ground, and maybe that means not using the "c" word. (And here's Dave Roberts' post on what is a "Climate Hawk.")  We wish Dave all the best on his sabbatical, and look forward to an energized and rested Mr. Roberts when he comes back. While talking about values, this MIT Technology Review piece about the moral responsibility to act on climate change, and how a positive narrative can make a huge difference in advocacy. Now.  Dealing with deniers is one thing, what do you do with the people who believe as you do, who do the "wrong" thing? Exhibit A: The Bureau of Land Management is about to auction off up to 316 tons of coal under public lands in Wyoming's Powder River Basin.  As it turns out, 42 percent of all coal mined in this country comes from public lands.  How does this square with the President's speech back in June? Exhibit B: BLM is also finalizing regulations to regulate fracking on public lands.  Never mind how tough the regs are (and, as usual, industry is howling); should this administration which has declared war on climate change allow fracking at all? For a scintillating read about the "flow battery" and its potential as a utility-scale battery, read Electrical Engineering Times' piece here. (And if Ted the nuclear physicist doesn't really understand how this battery works, you can imagine how Rob the political science major's head exploded trying t

Summertime is perfect for catching up on stuff, so here's a repost of a Climate Hawk's Companion episode we did back in February discussing the building practice known as "Passive House."Here's the original blog from January:In this edition of the Climate Hawk’s Companion we discuss the building method known as Passive house, or passivehouse, or passivhaus.Passive House (Passiv Haus in German!) is a method of building houses that cuts energy usage by more than 80%. How? The simplest answer is to build an air-tight building, but then invent an air exchanger that both provides fresh air and transfers the warmth from the outgoing air to the incoming air.In this edition of “A Climate Hawk’s Companion” we talk to Fred Gordon, a passionate advocate for the Passive House movement. Fred is so passionate, he is building one of the largest Passive House designs in the country in the South End of Boston at the Distillery.Listen as Fred talks about Passive House and his interesting perspective on this exciting architectural movement.…Ted McIntyreP.S. Yes it is true! The Massachusetts Constitution is the oldest written constitution in the world. Wikipedia says so!Download Enhanced Podcas

It's a beautiful August friday, and Ted and Rob are back together again after a bit of vacationing. Well, we were full of natural gas (talk) today. There's a crude joke in there, but we will refrain, this is after all a serious podcast. So as you listen to today's podcast, here are some links to enrich your knowledge and understanding, and hopefully mine a couple of nuggets of information to provide your family and friends. Anthony Ingraffia, a professor of civil engineering at Cornell who also helped develop fracking techniques for the Department of Energy, wrote the article which inspired our title, "Gangplank to a Warm Future," for the New York Times. It's an eye-opener of a read. We discussed the dramatically increased output of the Marcellus Shale gas fields. You can read more about that here. You canlisten to the conversation with Jeremy Rifkin where he talks about the next industrial revolution which will be powered with distributed renewable energy. (Just make sure to go there after you finish listening to our podcast!) Here are some of the stories about the "Green Tea Party," (here, and here) the alliance of Tea Party and environmentalist groups in George fighting the large power monopoly keeping distributed renewable energy from the people. Kudos to the five institutions receiving Clean Energy Education grants which were awarded by the Mass Clean Energy Center this week. You can learn more about them here. Finally, the Falmouth turbines are in the news again, this time due to discussions at the Board of Selectmen about how long they should run. You can read more about this at the Southcoast Today site. Chris Hayes's "The Politics of Power" runs on MSNBC tonight at 8pm. You can catch a sneak peak of it here. Boston's Greenfest is going through Saturday. Find out more about what you can do and see there at their website. For more information on the film "Elemental" playing at Boston Common AMC Loews this Wednesday night, you can read more and sign up for tickets here. Iowa State Senator is doing a book tour supporting his new book, "America's Climate Century," and will be in Brookline the evening of the 26th. Here's our calendar entrywith all of his New England stops. Remember, for climate activities near you check out ourMCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. We're just a week and a half away from the Energy Exodus march from coal (Brayton) to wind (the shores of Cape Cod). The march will start on August 28th and go through the weekend to September 2nd and will cover about 60 miles across southcoast Massachusetts. Walkers will be doing 10-12 miles a day, with stops along the way. For more info and to sign-upgo to their website here. As always, it's been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automaticallyhere. Feel free to give us your thoughts on ourFacebook page, or through old-fashionedemail.You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer, so long we reach our fundraising goal. We're three quarters of the way there, can you help? So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…Download Enhanced Podcas

This week Ted flies solo without Rob, and not from the Pink and Orange coffeehouse, but has all the latest news and views on Climate Change nonetheless.  For the latest statement from the American Geophysical Union about human-casued climate change, go here.  Ted also reads the statement at the end of the podcast. One of our favorite podcasters, Tom Bowman, has a good interview with Chris Hope and Peter Wadhams, an economist and oceanographer respectively, about the possiblity of massive methane release over the next 10-15 years and the consequences of that potentiality. The scariest part of the conversation is the idea that this tipping point may already be passed and there's not much we can do about it at this point. Another of our recent new listens, The Energy Gang over at Greentech Media, discussed "Gaslands 2" and spoke with a reporter who has been following what has been happening on the ground (and beneath) in Pennsylvania.  They also discussed the role of the US Department of State in exporting support of fracking overseas. One of Ted's favorite themes is the role of art in helping mankind understand how to think about human events. The Civil War, westward migration, Cold war all gave us art.  A few weeks ago we discussed the question of whether art responds to demand ( think social protest music) or the artist educates her audience. At any rate, here's a good article about a recent spate of storm and weather inspired music. There's also a good piece from Alex Ross, The New Yorker's music critic about John Luther Adam's 42-minute orchestral work Become Ocean, which is the latest of his “climate pieces.” Given its premiere on June 20 by the Seattle Symphony, the work is prefaced with the words: “As the polar ice melts and sea level rises, we humans find ourselves facing the prospect that once again we may quite literally become ocean.”  “We now see lightning and thunder in December, and we’ve seen winter come a full month later than usual, and spring arrive a full month earlier,” Adams said. “We hear red-winged blackbirds in the little marsh below our house, and that has never been a bird present in interior Alaska.”  In a similar vein, there's been some interesting writing lately on how to approach climate psychology.  Many feel the most effective method is to create a positive narrative - not just inundate the target audience with facts and figures, but create "accessible narratives" that reinforce mankind's place within nature as a part of the whole web of creation. Which is quite a heavy thought if you haven't had your morning coffee yet... The idea is to create methods of reaction to climate change that do not lead to despair and burnout.  Psychology Tomorrow (yup, that's right) has more on that here. For much more on this discussion be sure to check out the podcast.Well, the next big climate action in New England is the Energy Exodus, a march from coal to renewable power (from Brayton Point to Cape Wind) starting on August 28th.  On that morning On August 28, 2013, a large group of New Englanders will converge in Fall River, MA, near the largest coal-fired plant in the region. There they will begin a 6-day march to Barnstable, MA, the seat of opposition to Cape Wind, the nation’s first off-shore wind project.  This historic event will dramatize the urgency with which we must turn away from fossil fuels and march toward a future full of sustainable jobs, clean air, healthy communities, and local, renewable energy. Along the way we will rally, sing, learn, hatch new plans, and make new friends. And by the end of our journey, we will have gained so much more than 70 miles; we will have built our movement stronger than it’s ever been before, and will have shown the way to the safe clean energy future that we so desperately need to ensure a liveable climate.  Marches have a long history of being part of protest movements.  Ted talks about several historical marches, here'

Hi, and welcome to the Climate Minute; news and reflections on climate change and climate change action from a Massachusetts viewpoint. Quite a week for the climate conscious in New England!Last Sunday the groups Better Future Projectand350Massachusetts.organized a march on Somerset's Brayton Point coal power plant. About 400 people showed their support for clean energy and desire to have this coal plant, one of the last three still running in Massachusetts, closed down.We did a roundup of the news coverage of the march here, including a number of YouTube videos of the march and interviews with participants found by the intrepid DR Tucker. Wen Stephenson also had a good piece on The Nation's blog.One issue that did provide some degree of amusement was the changing position of the Fall River Herald, which went from publishing rather romantic pictures of riot-gear clad police ready for the inevitable violence of the protest, to publishing a tut-tutting editorial accusing the police chief of over-reacting and his "excessive and expensive" response.On the one hand, the paper is absolutely correct. The organizers of the protest had been in close communication with the community and were very explicit about the actions that were going to happen that day, and that there was not going to be any violence. The folks volunteering to get arrested all went through training on how to appropriately act, and many of the protesters were people in their 60's and 70's -- hardly the "WTO meeting in Seattle" types throwing Molotov cocktails...That being said, had something gone wrong and a police officer or a protester had been hurt, the paper would have had the chief's hide for not taking the protests seriously enough. The lesson here is that these days many public officials are in distinctly no-win positions, and a little understanding of the situation they're facing goes a long way. That and: if a police department has access to $30,000 in drug forfeiture money and they have the opportunity they're going to spend it on frightening-looking equipment...(This is a pretty interesting issue, the "militarization of the police," and not a topic for this blog, but take a look here for more on it.)Well, the event at Brayton was just part of a series of protests and actions set for this summer across the country called Summer Heat. Summer Heat is sponsored by the national 350.org group and includes actions from coast to coast. The next big one in Massachusetts will be the Energy Exodus march from coal (Brayton) to wind (the shores of Cape Cod).The march will start on August 28th and go through the weekend to September 2nd and will cover about 60 miles across southcoast Massachusetts. Walkers will be doing 10-12 miles a day, with stops along the way. For more info and to sign-upgo to their website here.Here are some links to other things we talked about this week:For our roundup of the natural gas leaks report issued this week, as well as a rant about gas flaring (also known as lighting money on fire while screwing with the climate), go to our post here.The letter from four previous Republican heads of the EPA calling for action on climate change was in the New York Times here.The book "The Attacking Ocean" was discussed in the "Writer's Voice" podcast here.Your congressperson is about to be on recess (August 5th). Why don't you give them a buzz and see where they're going to be holding office hours so you can go and tell them just how important climate change is -- and that they should join Rep. Waxman's Safe Climate Caucus. You can look up your congressman here.Read more about the offshore wind auctions or listen to NPR's podcast here.Finally, for the point of view of a NASA Space Shuttle booster rocket, check out this story on the Daily Mail.Remember, for climate activities near you check out ourMCAN climate action calendar. You can

Welcome to this week's edition of the Climate Minute. The heat finally broke last weekend and it's been much cooler this week here in New England: last night felt almost like October! (Of course, after last week getting back to the '80s would cause you to break out the windbreaker...)This week we're at the Pink and Orange coffee house reflecting on transportation, arctic sea ice, and more examples of the folly of fossil fuels.Ted's a little concerned about his "epistomoligical bubbe" in other words (that a political science major like Rob can understand), he's a little concerned that he's getting all his news from the same place.(UPDATE: Ted sent me some additional links that talk about the "epistomological bubbles." New Republic, Bigthink, and Rachel Maddow. Enjoy!)So to try and widen his windows Ted's been heavy on Twitter following the #climate hashtag. This week he noticed a whole slew of action about Arctic ice and the Arctic ice minimum.In particular there was a post in a blog from New Zealand commenting about a new paper connecting Arctic sea temperatures and land temperatures in the arctic circle which raises the frightening prospect of permafrost melting and the abundant amounts of methane which would be released by that. Here's another article which suggests the cost of this melting could run into the trillions.The free-wheeling democratic nature of twitter has led to some unexpected finds as well... If you read the blog you know that earlier this week Ted took NECN meteorologist Tim Kelley for his apparent confusion about "settled science," the physics "standard model" and climate change. You can read more about that here.For more about the water impact of coal and nuclear power production, listen to this podcast Ted found, "The Energy Gang," which did their July 18th episode on how water considerations impact energy development. You should also check out UCS' analysis here. Energy.gov has an interesting interactive page showing a number of climate change related impacts for energy development.In tar sands news, new analysis suggests that the oil coming through the pipeline is up to four times more carbon intense than the State Department SEIS suggests.Here's the story on the ongoing (secret!) leak of tar sands in Alberta. In short, some 30,000 barrels of bitumen and bitumen / water mix have seeped to the surface and impacted acres of boreal forest. Speaking of leaking fossil fuels, there was yet another rig in the Gulf had an accident and lit the ocean afire...Tesla is poised to become an rousing success story, and signals the "norming" of electric vehicles. We talked about how the first real successful hybrid, the Prius, was designed to look markedly different from "normal" cars, and Chevy Volt and the Tesla S show the market is maturing and moving beyond the early adopter community. Here's a Freakonomics article and podcast about what they call "conspicuous conservation," or the early adopter desire to look different and send social messages.In big local news, new EPA Administrator (FINALLY) will be coming to Boston to speak at Harvard Law School. The speech is open to the public, registration required, or you can watch it live. Go here for more information.Finally, here's our little blue dot in the wide vast universe: so small in the grand scheme of things, but really, the only planet we have (for the moment!). Photo courtesy of the Cassini spacecraft, currently hanging around Saturn.For more information about 350MA's program of "Summer Heat" focused on the Brayton Point coal plant, check out their site here.Remember, for climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do.As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts autom

Welcome to this week's edition of the Climate Minute. This week Ted and Rob talk about hometown hero Gina McCarthy's confirmation as EPA administrator, the spectacular heat we're experiencing in Massachusetts and how it might just be a tease for things to come, and our usual potpurri of climate news and views. Regular listeners will know we're huge fans of new EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. Rob had the distinct pleasure of working with her twice in state government and has no shortage of admiration for her talent and drive. Gina was finally confirmed by the Senate yesterday in a bi-partisan 59-40 vote. You can read Washington watching blog The Hill's coverage here. If you're not familiar with Gina, check out this sampling of what some pro-McCarthy business and organizational leaders had to say about Gina on a website which was produced to support her nomination.We spoke abafe Climate Caucus" put together by California Representative Henry Waxman. At this moment there are no Massachusetts members of congress on it, perhaps you should contact your Representative and ask them to them join?The coal industry has finally caught on to something we've known for ages: we're winning. Mother Jones recently obtained a copy of slides used during a webinar this spring where industry leaders discussed the "strength of the environmental narrative" and the community's ability to "drive national attention." We spoke about the heat, and how these sort of temperatures could become the norm in New England. Several years ago the Union of Concerned Scientists did a report called the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment which highlighted likely outcomes under high and low emissions scenarios. The long and short of it is: get ready for more of this. Even under the low emissions scenario, New England is projected to have 6 days a year over 100 degrees -- as opposed to the historical average of one day per year. You can check out the summary of the Massachusetts report here. Climate Central did a piece about 90 degree days in Boston a couple of years ago, and likewise took a look in their crystal ball to see what 2050 might be like. You can read it here, if you dare... Might just be too depressing... For some background on our chat about conservative support for carbon taxes, check out this piece. And the story about the local Tea Party supporting renewable energy in George is here. Finally, here's the story about a current congressional aide who makes the case for conservatives to be on top of climate and clean energy -- but has to stay anonymous given the atmosphere in his party. For more information about 350MA's program of "Summer Heat" focused on the Brayton Point coal plant, check out their site here.Finally, what would the temperature record over the last 130 years sound like? Read more about this here. Here's our temperature record, as interpreted by cello: Sounds pretty ominous right there at the end, no?Remember, for climate activities near you check out ourMCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automaticallyhere. Feel free to give us your thoughts on ourFacebook page, or through old-fashionedemail.You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, pleasecontribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous supporter. So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we acce

With an end of the current weather pattern of crushing tropical heat in sight, at least for the day, things are good.  (Have no fear, the 90s return next week.) So, does the title give it away?  This is indeed the 150th anniversary of the battle of Gettysburg, which has become thought of as the turning point in the Civil War. Lincoln at Gettysburg[/caption] We start our podcast today a reading of the Gettysburg Address, those simple and elegant two minutes, with a reading by “friend of the show” Tony Berg, a Thoreau enthusiast who does a great job with Lincoln’s words.  Thanks Tony, and thanks to Pamela McIntyre who ends this podcast with a bit of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” We bring this up, not only because we're focused on the "arc of history" around here, but also because recently University of Arizona professor Jonathan Overpeck sent out a tweet suggesting that President Lincoln would have been a leader on climate change, as climate change is "the moral issue of our time," as slavery was of his. Well, as expected, the conservative blogocracy went a little nuts.  (Click here if you don't mind big 1/4 page ads for Glen Beck, or here, or here.) But, turning down the hyperbole a bit, there are some parallels to be drawn here.  Jon Clark, the Citizen Climate Lobby (the folks supporting a carbon tax ballot question in Massachusetts) wrote an interesting op-ed comparing the apologists of slavery who based their support of the practice as the only way the South was economically viable to those who talk about the great expense of moving off fossil fuels today. Ted Glick, who is much less impressed with the program President Obama laid out in his June 25th speech, has suggested that this could be his evolutionary moment; as Lincoln evolved from prosecuting the Civil War primarily to save the Union to realizing ending the stain of slavery had to be the objective of the war, the President must evolve from what Glick calls “Obama’s Instrumentalism” to true and decisive action on climate. John Sterman has a thoughtful piece in ClimateProgress also trying to take lessons learned during the Civil War and apply them to the current Climate Crisis.  He discusses the tension between mitigation and adaptation, and the temptation for many to focus on adaptation, which is “easier” than mitigation, while mitigation – eliminating the human impact on the climate – is the only effective lasting and moral course.  He acknowledges the difficulty the fundamental shift in our society which would be necessary to properly mitigate climate change but cites the abolitionist movement as an inspiration.  From a very small number of absolutist advocates, the anti-slavery movement eventually became the dominant sentiment. (I love this piece in particular because he calls sea walls “the Maginot line of climate change,” which as we discuss in the podcast is an apt description for more than one reason.) In other news, it appears leading Senate Republicans have dropped their threats to filibuster Gina McCarthy’s nomination to lead the EPA, which is a cause for all thinking climate activists to celebrate.  It looks like Tuesday could be the day. We also speak briefly of the tragedy of Lac Megantic Quebec, you can read more up-to-date news about it here.  Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the dozens of dead and injured. I mentioned in the podcast “outside section 36” of the state budget, which would divert Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative funds from the energy efficiency and renewable energy purposes they were intended to reduce the impact on a certain host community of a certain coal power plant which could be closing in the near future.  Since we recorded this podcast, Governor Patrick sent Section 36 back to the legislature with amendments making it much more palatable.  When we find a news story about that issue we’ll post it. Last week the nine cand

It has been clear for a while that meat consumption has an out-sized climate impact. That pound of hamburger on your counter top represents a large investment of fossil fuels. But what about everything else we eat, and perhaps more importantly, everything else we don’t eat?  Less thought has been given to the topic of wasted food. First off, let’s be clear that it is an outrage all on its own that food is thrown away from our tables when the world is full of hungry people, that goes without saying.  For today let's focus on the climate impact of all that wasted food. When you think about it, energy, water and chemical fertilizers go into the production, the storage and transportation of everything on our tables, from fruits to vegetables and grains. Think of the tractor and irrigation system on the farm, or the industrial machine located wherever they crank out the Captain Crunch cereal, transportation in big diesel trucks to that refrigerator in your basement. To the extent that food is not consumed, it represents wasted energy with an associated (and completely unnecessary) carbon footprint. In fact, the EPA estimates that 21% of the garbage headed for US landfills is wasted food. The story gets even worse, since that organic waste will often turn into methane in the landfill. (Keep in mind that methane has20-25 times the global warming impact of CO2!) Recently the U.S. joined the U.N. in launching programs to combat food waste. Fortunately, right here in Arlington we already have a great model for doing just that. Our guest on this edition of the Climate Hawk Companion is DeAnne Dupont, has been walking the talk, and was instrumental in establishing a Food Recovery Project as a collaboration between the Minute Man High School Parent's Association and Sustainable Arlington. The project  collects from Panera Breads, Trader Joe’s and other local businesses in the Arlington, Massachusetts area and distributes it to people who need this food.  This makes for a better community and fewer greenhouse gases.  Listen to the podcast to catch up on how it all works.Download Enhanced Podcas

We hope everyone had a great day celebrating the 236th anniversary of the signing of Declaration of Independence.  This week also marks another anniversary/birthday, but we'll get into that later.   With Ted on vacation on the coast we met up at a different Pink and Orange Coffeehouse, this time dining and podcasting "al fresco," so enjoy the street sounds... or more accurately, the tractor-trailer braking sounds. Here's some quick links to the stuff we talked about today: Well, yesterday was the anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.  If you haven't read it in a while it's worth it to give it a read.  Don't cheat yourself'; dig into those descriptions of the acts of perfidy laid at the feet of the King.  Although try not to reflect too much on if any of the litany of complaints against the kind are relevant still today: He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance. Hmm... Anybody want to talk about the growth of the Department of Homeland Security... Anyway, the Declaration sets about some very high ideals at the founding of this nation never quite expressed the same way before. Ted's very interested in Jefferson's core belief in "usufruct" which is an idea of the common ownership we all have in the planet -- and our responsibility to pass down to future generations a planet as healthy and bountiful as the one we were given.  Well, we're putting words in Jefferson's mouth here a bit, he was using the concept of usufruct to argue with Madison about the need to assure there was not the development of a new aristocracy the United States.  For a more indepth discussion of the concept and Jefferson's views on inter-generational responsibility, check out this, or ClimateProgress' take here. As to other anniversaries, it was one year ago that a fledgling little five-minute, forty-two second recording showed up on our blog here, basically giving a list of things to do from our MCAN Calendar. Since that auspicious beginning we've had our fits and starts' like missing several weeks with technological blow-ups, our first "remote" with Ted recording at the Vigil against Climate Silence last fall, and even our own theme music.  We've had a great time learning about podcasting and developing the "program," and we hope you've enjoyed listening. If you'd like to go back check out some old episodes, check out the category page here.  Or you can find our more recent recordings (since we began using Soundcloud) on our special podcast page. So again, thanks for listening, and [message from our sponsors] please consider donating if you're interested in helping support our continued efforts. [end message from sponsors] Here are more links delving deeper on some of the things we talked about today: For the discussion of the President's climate plan on WBUR, go here.  For the Diane Rehm Show episode discussing Keystone with Michale Brune of the Sierra Club, Coral Davenport of the National Journal, and Heritage Foundation analyst Nicholas Loris, go here. You can read an interesting discussion of the jet stream and its impact on local weather patterns on Dr. Jeff Master's (of WeatherUnderground) blog here.  Of course just how much of the jet stream's alterations are due to climate change is up for discussion, but more data becoming available makes it clear that warming is occurring, and accelerating.  According to the UN, land and ocean temperatures rose faster and higher in the 2001-2010 decade than in any other decade on record. For our take on the Fox25 Mark Ockerbloom story on Keystone (and how a little judicisous use of google could have improved it enormously), check out our blogpost from earlier in the week here. Congratulations to 350ma for their very successful People's Action Assembly in Worcester this weekend.  We look forward to working together on a great year of activism.

What a week! From Presidential climate pronouncements (yay!) to Supreme Court rulings (yay/boo), to tragic deaths and a local sport's figure's horrible unravelling...  It's been quite a week. Today we spend most of the podcast talking about the President's speech on Tuesday.  You can find our initial take on it here (along with a video of the speech), but a little more time has given us a little more perspective. Overall, it's "good stuff."  It is visionary, but in many ways still an outline, a picture in coloring book. We must fill it in. So...  will the speech help shift the "Overton Window" and put climate change back in the mainstream dialog -- Dave Roberts thinks so. And again, here's Dave Roberts on the Administration's coal proposals. In addition to the President's intention to cut off the financing of most overseas coal plants, the World Bank announced this week they will be halting support of most coal power projects. One of the more intriguing, and debated, sections of the speech was his treatment of Keystone XL. Allowing the Keystone pipeline to be built requires a finding that doing so would be in our nation’s interest. And our national interest will be served only if this project does not significantly exacerbate the problem of carbon pollution. (Applause.) The net effects of the pipeline’s impact on our climate will be absolutely critical to determining whether this project is allowed to go forward. Bloomberg joined many in suggesting that these comments are a form of ink blot test -- you see what you want to see.  Either they provide a path for Keystone approval, or an absolutely insurpassable obstacle... In other news, original Climate Hawk Ed Markey was elected to the US Senate from Massachusetts. And while we're talking home state news, Massachusetts could become the first state in the nation to impose a statewide carbon tax, should the folks at The Committee for a Green Economy, who are pushing for a carbon tax ballot question. The Committee is led by Gary Rucinski, who we interviewed for a Climate Hawk's Companion piece last year. Stuff to do: For more about the 350Massachusetts "People's Action Assembly on the Climate Crisis" on Sunday, June 30th in Worcester, check out their page here. For more about the Boston Mayoral Candidate's Environmental Forum on July 9th at Suffolk Law School check out our calendar note here. Also on July 9th the Committee for Telecommunications, Utilities and Energy will be hearing H. 2741, "An Act further promoting energy efficiency and green jobs," which will create an oil heat efficiency program in Massachusetts.  Learn more about the bill here, or listen to our Climate Hawk Companion edition about it here. Remember, for climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it's been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer.  We're at the halfway point in our fiscal year and need help to be able to enter the second half of the year on a strong footing! So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…Download Enhanced Podcas

The President's speech at George Washington University today laid out his course of action  for the rest of his term as our government grapples with the threat of climate change. Ted and Rob sat down after considering the plan for a couple of hours and compared notes on what they think of the speech and the plan behind it. For the White House's climate plan page and, depending on your age, very neat or too busy, infographic, go here.  The full plan can be found here.  And for those of you who might have missed it, or just want to see it again, here you go: Download Enhanced Podcas

Today is June 21, 2013, the summer solstice, the day of the year with the longest sunshine period. Here in Boston, the sun rose at 5:08AM and will set at 8:25PM, giving us 15hours, 17min and 5 seconds of daylight. It is literally a planetary event, and is one of the opportunities we are given to recognize our place in the cosmos. Thanks to Pamela Bongas McIntyre for the musical interlude.  More at end of the podcast. So, the Summer Solstice is upon us.  Solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), which the sun seems to do on this long day.  For more on the Solstice go here.  This is an opportunity to reflect on where we fit in and how the universe works… the big question is: Why do humans so resonate with this day/occurrence, even if it is little recognized? Well, ancient peoples were certainly connected to astronomical events like the Solstice.  Stonehenge, for example, is aligned so that the summer solstice comes through the arches… For more on the various ways different cultures celebrate the solstice, or midsummer, go here. So let's kick off this week's link-a-thon with a little bit of Shakespeare: "Oh what fools these mortals be."  Sadly apt when you think about the damage we've done to our climate and continue to do every day. There's been a lot of chatter this week about the President kicking off a new round of climate action in July, possibly including new powerplant rules.  One very interesting issue will be how he will handle the Keystone approval.   Mounting events makes Keystone a harder and harder pill to swallow and make the State Department's draft EIS finding of no adverse environmental impact look more and more silly.  Take for example the drilling wastewater spill that the Canadian government kept under wraps for 11 days while it spilled 2.5 million gallons of wastewater.  The pipeline rupture, which actually may have occurred over the winter but was just noticed in early June, was in a pipeline only five years old. In good news, Energy Secretary Ernest Monitz chose Union of Concerned Scientist President Kevin Knobloch as his chief of staff this week.  As we wrote yesterday, we think Knobloch is an excellent pick and is another example of the Commonwealth's increasing influence on climate change leadership in Washington. Internationally, the Chinese city of Shenzhen kicked off a cap and trade system this week aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Shenzhen, which is in a Chinese "special economic zone" (read proto-free market area) joins six other pilot city-based cap and trade programs as the country attempts to meet its commitment to reduce their carbon emissions to 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020.  Interestingly they will be getting help from the California Air Resources Board. Apparently there will be a hearing on several carbon tax / climate bills this summer in Washington DC.  From Greenwire: At a briefing with reporters, the California Democrat (Barbara Boxer) said the committee will hold a hearing on climate change next month as part of an effort to move forward on a bill that could potentially put a fee on carbon. Boxer said the committee will hold a hearing in July on climate change that will in part consider a bill she sponsored with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to levy a fee on large fossil fuels facilities, with 40 percent of the proceeds going to energy efficiency, renewable energy and deficit reduction Meanwhile in New England, the recent RGGI auction showed our cap and trade system is alive, well, and producing benefits for all of New England.  And finally, since everyone else in the world is talking about Edward Snowden, we give a little thought to why Snowden's revelations of the "enhanced surveillance" techniques of the American intelligence community might get climate activist a little on edge.  Heck, the folks at Transcanda  already go around equating Keystone protesters with te