David Suzuki

David Suzuki talks at Greening the Heartland in Detroit. Also, this Futurism Now podcast contains news and info from people trying to kick the Senate in the pants on climate change.

There was a Mountain Top Removal protest last week at Marsh Fork Elementary School at Coal Mountain West Virginia, attended by some very well known people including Dr. James Hansen, NASA climate scientist, and actress and environmental activist Darryl Hannah. Hannah wrote an article for the Huffington Post about why she deliberately got arrested with several others at Coal Mountain, making a statement about the Marsh Fork elementary school there which is threatened by 2.8 billion gallons of coal sludge which is in a holding pond above the school. Listen here and read her story at the Huffington Post.

More on mountaintop removal next time. To take action, visit http://www.ilovemountains.org and RAN.org

Autism and coal burning link — Study Says Autism Linked To Coal Power Plants

Arctic Sea Ice is at Lowest Point in 800 Years

Canada and Russia, the new Bad Boys of Oil, are making the least progress in cutting carbon- dioxide emissions among the major economies, a new study shows.

Check out The Nature of Things, the show that David Suzuki created in Canada at the CBC.

David Suzuki is presented with audio from the Greening the Heartland conference.

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Music: Earth Song, Michael Jackson; The Burning World, Eldorado And The Ruckus

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Enjoy your life while you can, because nothing we are doing right now will likely stop climate change in time. That is the terrifying message from Sir James Lovelock, famous UK scientist and inventor. Global heating will proceed. All Congress does is pass a cap and trade bill which won’t even cut emissions until about 2040.  The bottom line is that climate change is coming and we will have to possibly move and adapt.

In mid-June Lovelock spoke to the Seattle Town Hall. James Lovelock discussed adaptation, consequences of human activity, and how much time we have left of the lives we recognize as “normal”. The Congress thinks cap and trade is the way to fix climate change, and this wrong belief means we have no choice but to adapt — or die. Changes are coming, ready or not.

Dr. James Lovelock Warns the World!

“Our main task, should the earth continue to heat, is to adapt and learn how to survive,” he said. “We’re unlikely to become extinct by global heating, but we may be cut back to one billion people or less.”  British naturalist Dr. James Lovelock has some strong words for the world. The futurist warns that the Earth is a living organism that is undergoing massive changes.

He believes the Earth is sick and in order to heal itself it may need to get rid of a few billion people.”

Some will be terrified by what he and other scientists are observing as the Earth gets remarkably warmer but Dr. Lovelock sees opportunity to move and adapt. But in order to do that, people have to get used to the idea that things in the future won’t be as they are now. The “American way of life” — consumerism and waste — is fast coming to a close.

More on James Lovelock here on Grist.

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Photo: Dr. James Lovelock, Town Hall Seattle, by Michael Bradbury

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Last Thursday, June 18, the U.S. government released a report, the work of 13 government agencies, that gives us a serious picture of climate change.  It is called Global Climate Change Impacts in the U.S, and this episode contains the findings.

The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) coordinates and integrates federal research on changes in the global environment and their implications for society. The USGCRP began as a presidential initiative in 1989 and was mandated by Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990 (P.L. 101-606), which called for “a comprehensive and integrated United States research program which will assist the Nation and the world to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.”

Changes in the global environment (including alterations in climate, land productivity, oceans or other water resources, atmospheric chemistry, and ecological systems) that may alter the capacity of the Earth to sustain life. (from the Global Change Research Act of 1990)

Download the report here from USGCRP.  (takes you to their website)

Shading earth as a climate fix? Since the news is so dire, scientists are seriously thinking about geoengineering to save as much life on the planet as possible from the effects of global heating and climate change.

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is even getting serious about geoengineering.  Some scientists are considering manipulating the Earth’s atmosphere to counteract climate change. There is definitely something to eyewitness reports of “hazing” because the government now admits they are considering using chemicals to “fix” global heating and more discussions of it are ongoing.

The NAS held a panel on geoengineering ideas last week. The panel asked the question: “What can be done to limit the magnitude of future climate change?” The panel focused on actions to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions and other human drivers of climate change, such as changes in land use, and also considered the international dimensions of climate stabilization, the costs, benefits, limitations, tradeoffs, and uncertainties.  There were 18 members of the panel called Limiting the Magnitude of Future Climate Change. 

Second audio clip from  NPR
The NAS page about the panel is here.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right. Below is the graphic from the USGCRP report about rising sea levels.

From the New USGCRP Report on Climate Change

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In this episode: News and a speaker from CIT on Powering the Planet and what it will take.


The stone age didn’t end because we ran out of stones . . . . people got smarter.    We need to get smarter and move on to renewable energy.  Where are we going to get terawatts of new renewable power?

We have at most 10 years to decide which types of energy will replace the ones we have.  Fossil fuel use has to end.
The energy problem is so serious, “business as usual” is already in our rear-view mirrors.

It’s more than a problem of political will.  It’s what is physically and scientifically possible. This is where research and development and technology come in.

News covered:  Republican Congresswoman Michele Bachmann reports that Republicans have come up with a new energy plan that is just like their old energy plan.  It includes lots and lots of fossil fuels, so it’s completely unacceptable and inappropriate.  No surprise there.

Biofuel is the fuel that won’t die, and even though it’s getting a bad rap lately, I agree that it has to be developed at least to some extent. I think you’ll agree that it has better potential than CCS, (carbon capture and storage).   Read more about different kinds of new biofuels here on the Futurism Now news blog.

There are several articles about new forms of biofuels that are being researched this year and late last year that sound pretty promising.

Steven Chu was featured in last week’s Rolling Stone magazine — a very revealing interview.  It’s called The Secretary of Saving the Planet — try to find it online (not available without a subscription).  This episode discusses the article.   Steven Chu is a big fan of cap and trade legislation, unfortunately.  He also makes some revealing statements in this article.

New report:  Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States. Download the report in full or in segments on this page.

Jane Lubchenco, the Undersecretary of Commerce makes a statement that is played in this episode, announcing the report.  (The entire press conference will be a separate podcast to come.)   She is also the head of NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Coal broadcast from   ABC Environment  — Australian Broadcast Corp., Environmental show

Oil Shale is being pushed by Republicans.  Here’s how bad it is for the environment.
The final speaker played in this episode is  Nate Lewis of the California Institute of Technology describes the greatest problem of our time – energy use and production, and the prospects for addressing it.   This talk first aired on 5/13/2009 from UCTV.

The average total energy consumption rate is 13 trillion watts in 2001, last year it was well over 14 trillion watts.  You have to solve this problem, not just get a few cars off the road.   The U.S. consumes 96 quadrillion British thermal units in a year or 3.2 terawatts.  85% of it is fossil fuels. How can renewable energies make up for this?

The speaker, Nate Lewis, points out the challenges we are facing, and it is extremely daunting, but he also offers solutions.

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Music by Afrocelt Soundsystem, Issa Bagayogo, and Kasabian on the end.

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Mountaintop Removal

With this episode you are beginning Climatology ‘classes’ here at Futurism Now University.  Along with politics, upcoming episodes will also deal with the cold, hard scientific facts of climate change. It’s important that people know why strong climate legislation is important.

We have about two weeks to strengthen the Waxman-Markey bill (aka the American clean energy bill or ACES) so please call your Congressman. There is also a Fax and letter campaign through CCAN.

Sign here (takes you to the CCAN website) to strengthen the current climate bill!

Mountaintop removal, climate change, greenhouse gas emissions, and environmental degredation all keep happening because there is no huge public outcry. You can’t have a public outcry if the public doesn’t know what is happening. And the denial movement is still going strong, thanks to the huge disinformation campaign funded by big energy corporations and lobbyists. That’s where this podcast, and everyone listening comes in. We need to make a climate change movement happen that is bigger and more powerful than the oil and coal lobby. Bigger than the disinformation campaign. We need to be armed with facts. It will support the growing climate movement that’s already been started. Bill McKibben discusses that here: Can 350.org save the world?

How bad is our climate crisis? You will find information on that in this episode. From the University of San Diego, today’s science talk is called, “Climate Change and Roles for Scientists”. Don’t be intimidated, it’s presented so that everyone can understand it with minimal science lingo.

The speaker is Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academy of Sciences. He outlines the challenges of climate change and the roles that science and scientists must play in meeting them. Thanks to UCTV for the audio of the speech.

Download this episode here or subscribe on the right, and thanks for subscribing so I can see how effective these podcasts are and provide more relevant material. Suggestions and requests welcome, as are general comments.

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Water shortages, mountaintop removal, continued use of coal, and a watered down climate/energy bill. This is the current reality. My state, like some others, is in a drought in what is supposed to be the wettest month of the summer. Is this a possible result of climate change?

Peak oil and water shortages are only two of the problems we will face as climate change advances in the future. Another is what to do about energy and how to convince our leaders that we need to phase out the use of coal. And, we need to strengthen the Waxman-Markey (ACES) bill and we don’t have much time to do that.

ACTION: You can help by calling Congress and by signing a message to Congress.

Sign here (takes you to the CCAN website) to strengthen the current climate bill!

In this episode you hear from Greentv. and Jim Hightower, a short excerpt from the documentary Blind Spot, directed, photographed and edited by Adolfo Doring. You will also hear from the new book that’s a collection of scientific essays called What’s Next? on climate change and where the human race will be moving when climate change starts making certain parts of the world uninhabitable.

Most of the speakers you will hear in the Blind Spot doc are PhDs, and you can see a list of them here.

From the movie cover:
“The world is saying, look, you have a choice, you can either fix it or I can fix it, and if I fix it you are not going to like it, because I’m going to throw everything away. And everything means most of us.” — Derrick Jensen

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CALL CONGRESS and tell them to strengthen the American Clean Energy bill. Specifically, we are being told (by insiders): Ask your Congressman to urge Ways & Means to act and not to let the leadership rush the bill to the floor. . . . . the huge offsets are probably the most egregious in the parade of horribles — to the extent that you believe in “caps” (I do not) the offsets destroy their integrity. But the giveaways to utilities are indefensible — households should get that money directly. [I totally agree with that]

Here is the main number for Congress – the Senate and House – in Washington, DC. — (202) 225-3121

Intro music from green.tv

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Forums, conferences, and the EPA — what’s going on? This episode lets you in on what is happening in Bonn, the World Humanitarian forum, and what came out of Paris.

Also, the EPA is not doing what we want — your input is needed to save our forests and mountains. It’s time to pressure those in power. Call Congress and let them know they need to strengthen the Waxman-Markey bill, or approve one of the cap and dividend bills instead.

The World Environment Day is only a couple of days away, it’s on Friday, June 5th! Read up about some of the events that will take place around the world.

Daily Kos story on mountaintop removal here.

“Climate change is here. It has a human face. This report details the nevertheless silent crisis
occurring around the world today as a result of global climate change. . . . . . Climate change is a serious threat to over half of the world’s population. Half   a billion people are at extreme risk. Worst affected are the world’s poorest groups, who lack any   responsibility for causing climate change.”

– Report, The Anatomy of a Silent Crisis (link below)

Think China isn’t doing enough?  “Greenhouse gas emissions are rising because consumption is rising. Unless we address this, we cannot prevent climate breakdown. It doesn’t matter where production takes place: the problem is that we are consuming too much.” — the Guardian

Earth2100 will be airing on June 2nd, 2009 from 9-11 pm on ABC. Also, watch The Daily Show from Monday night to see Bob Woodruff talk about Earth2100. Hope everyone enjoys the show — I’ll be reviewing it on my Futurism Now news site.

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Climate Change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year. You can find the Global Humanitarian report, Anatomy of a Silent Crisis, (pdf) and download it on this page.

See information on the Bonn Climate talks here. They are ongoing until June 12.

NASF and others urge Congress to consider forest biomass in energy legislation.  Read more here.

CONTACT CONGRESS

Here is the main number for Congress – the Senate and House – in Washington, DC. 202 225-3121

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This episode presents four scientists and environmentalists making the case for the use of nuclear power.

It’s believed by some people that environmentalists should be against nuclear power — I completely disagree. We are trying to find ways to solve and stop climate change, not fight the possibilities and the ideas for doing that.   Nuclear power has improved a lot since the 1970’s, and it’s a strong source of nearly CO2-free power.  Nuclear energy is not a political issue, it’s just a form of energy, and for the near future at least,  a necessary one. There are many environmentalists who are for the development of new nuclear power,  Generation IV or IFR — Integral Fast Reactors. This episode discusses nuclear power, why it may be necessary, why new power plants are safer, and why it might be a good source of heavy-duty power for many years to come.

Read chapter 4 on nuclear power from the new book  Prescription for the Planet, — “Newclear Power” –  by downloading it here.  Author Tom Blees has generously decided to put this chapter (pg 117 — 139) on the web to allow a more rapid dissemination of the basic facts about IFR to everyone you know (family, friends, fellow environmentalists, politicians, the media) — so please do pass on the link: http://tinyurl.com/cwvn8n

Also visit the site for the book and download chapter 1.  This notification came from a very good spot online for energy information:  Brave New Climate.

More on the The Integral Fast Reactor (IFR) project  here.

Also interesting: George Monbiot does not reject nuclear power. Neither does climate scientist James Hansen, or UK scientist James Lovelock. Neither does Energy Secretary Steven Chu. If nuclear will be a necessary power source for the future, when can we start building them?

Nuclear Energy Must Power Our Future — an Intelligence Squared debate, and two viewpoints on nuclear energy are in this episode.

The graphic for this episode is from the COP15 logo. You can sign up and submit your thoughts to the UN’s “Climate Thoughts”. A very cool globe of thoughts from all over the world.

Music: Afro Celt Sound System “Dark Moon, High Tide”

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Busting the myths of the cost of changing energy and capping emissions. But is the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009 cap and trade bill right for right now or is it a waste of time? I gaze into my cloudy crystal ball and find — the answer is not so clear. It’s tough to predict the future.

The cap and trade bill is rushing through Congress yet it provides huge giveaways for polluters and focuses an awful lot on coal funding and the myth of clean coal. Will carbon capture and sequestration ever work? Steven Chu is betting 2.4 billion that it will. Many scientists say it’s just not feasible. There is no such thing as clean coal!
Read about the new superfund lawyer here.

Disturbing news about the EPA approving 42 out of 48 permits for mountain top removal in Appalachia and their response, which is lame.

Two interviews are played in this episode; one with John Berger of Standard Renewable Energy, and the other with Björn Stigson, president of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, during the Energy Efficiency Global Forum. You can find more news and interviews at E&ETV. You will also hear from Kevin Knoblach, president of the Union of Concerned Scientists.

There are a lot of myths about what is happening in the rest of the world — one myth is that the EU’s emissions trading is not working and it is (reportedly) working. And yes, China is doing a lot on climate change. China is in the process of greening up their country, and spending a lot on doing it too.  Spending more than the U.S. in fact.  China and India should not be used as an excuse for the U.S. to not act aggressively on climate change!

Various news stories on the climate bill that might be of interest.  An analysis of the cap and trade bill from the Wall Street Journal article that I discussed is here:  “Panel Adds Free Permits to CO2 Bill”

This cap and trade bill does not go far enough on emissions and it makes too many allowances, especially for coal.  Why? The top 3-takers of coal money, are Democrats — Dingell, Boucher, & Hoyer.  Follow the coal money.

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We need climate legislation before it’s too late. According to a new May 5th CNN poll a majority of Americans DO want something done about climate change. Congress, are you listening? They need to hear from us. May 6th and every day is CALL IN day to Congress. But there are several key Democrats that really need some pushing on a climate bill. You can read about this action here and get the list of congressmen to call, their phone numbers, and even a script.

So Today –Take action on climate change legislation today and every day until legislation passes. See the recent action alert at ChesapeakeClimate.org (CCAN) The phone-in day is today but you can call every day until we get something passed!

See more at the Futurism Now blog — Action Day on Climate Legislation.

James Hansen, NASA climate scientist, wrote a letter to the Australian minister of climate change, which you can read from his website link. (It’s a pdf.) I only read his note explaining his frustration that he sent out to those on his mailing list.

Newt Gingrich spent some time in Congress last month misleading the American people and Congress on the economics of climate legislation. There were some mild fireworks, but there need to be more. Some Newt is played, but don’t enjoy it too much.

The government can fund all the new energy it wants, but people need to get those dividend checks from the tax and dividend or cap and trade legislation that is passed. That is what the Larsen bill and the Van Hollen bill describe. So mention those two bills when you call your Congressmen.

Better climate bills:

Larsen Bill H.R. 1337 — America’s Energy Security Trust Fund Act of 2009

Van Hollen Bill H.R. 1862: — Cap and Dividend Act of 2009

Read these two bills, they are better than the cap and trade bill!

China IS studying carbon tax ideas, despite what Newt Claims.

CSPAN energy meetings can be found here. (Look under “Energy”).  There were 3 days of debate and discussion in April, starring Al Gore and Steven Chu and Lisa Jackson and many others.

The sad melted Bolivian glacier story is here. It lasted 18,000 years… and mere mortals finished it off.
Music at end by John Doe, The Losing Kind
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The road to Copenhagen continues with the U.S. State Department’s Major Economies forum, the world meeting on climate change, the last week in April. It was convened by President Obama. This episode plays the overview speech of Secretary Clinton at the beginning of the forum, and the televised interview with UN Secretary Yvo de Boer after the forum. Here’s a list of interesting articles related to and about the forum.

Major emitters talk, one viewpoint.

Draft climate proposals reveal split on new pact

Submissions to the UNFCC by individual countries.

The recent EPA endangerment finding

U.N.’s Top Climate Change Official: A New Willingness to Tackle Emissions

“Major developing countries like China are doing far more to address climate change than most Americans realize, the top climate change official at the United Nations said yesterday after a meeting in Washington of ministers from the world’s biggest greenhouse gas emitters.”

Secretary of State Clinton speech to the Major Economies climate change forum, including transcript.

Todd Stern Q&A about the Major Economies climate change forum:

MR. STERN: We had quite an extensive conversation about the whole subject of mitigation, and to include the question of midterm targets, to include the question of what the United States is talking about. So yes, those discussions came up. People expressed their views. We expressed our views. Some people agreed with us, some people pushed back with – on us, we pushed back on them. It was a good conversation. There were plenty of people there who – I mean, there were all different views represented, and it was, I think, again, a very constructive conversation. It’s very much what we wanted. We wanted to not be dodging things.

You know, in – on your second question, I guess I would say that I come out of this meeting, if anything, a bit more optimistic. I think that I don’t ever underplay the size of the challenge here, because it is really very – the size of the challenge in terms of getting an agreement. Remember, the issue for me is – an issue for us is always an agreement that you can get, that – a consensus – an agreement that – a deal that can reach – that can produce consensus internationally and it can also be approved back at home. And those are the two things that are very challenging, and they can – and they’re still challenging, but I would say that I walk away a bit more optimistic. It was a very good exchange today and yesterday.

Read the whole thing here

State Dept. Chairman’s summary of the forum.

More information on the Futurism Now Blog.

UNFCCC
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Music: All I Want Is You by Barry Louis Polisar.

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We have four years — but that’s not the number to remember. 350 is the number and now is our window of opportunity to deal with CO2 emissions. Republicans put out disinformation and Futurism Now tries to counteract it. Hear about Eco activism with Bill McKibben. He says the head IPCC scientist tells us we have about 4 years to get this solved and after that it will be too late. What are we waiting for, and what should be done? First of all, people have to get active.

This episode gets back to basics and includes a recent talk from Bill McKibben, environmental activist, and Co-founder and Director of 350.org. He wrote the first book about global warming–”The End of Nature.” His speech was given on April 09, 2009, and was titled, “350 The Most Important Number in the World”. Thanks for the media file to Active Ingredients Media.

Here’s one of those CO2 papers that Rep. Bachmann claims doesn’t exist:
Target Atmospheric CO2: Where Should Humanity Aim?
New Hansen letter discussed at Civilianism/Futurism.

1 Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme: Australia’s low pollution future, White Paper, downloaded from http://www.climatechange.gov.au/whitepaper/report/pubs/pdf/V100eExecutiveSummary.pdf.

You can read the rest of Hansen’s letter here. (download pdf)

Thomas L. Friedman, “Show Me the Ball,” The New York Times,

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Music: Mean Ol’ Wind Died Down by North Mississippi Allstars

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