Police cordon off the area
in front of the White House in Washington, DC, on April 17, 2013. A
45-year-old man suspected of sending poison-laced letters to President
Barack Obama and a US senator has been charged with threatening the life
of the president
May 17, 2013
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A lot has happened in the last week. The Earth hit the 400 parts per
million CO2 threshold for the first time in human history. Scientists
tell us this is bad news if we want to prevent runaway climate change.
"If we continue to burn fossil fuels at accelerating rates, if we
continue with business as usual, we will cross the 450 parts per million
limit in a matter of maybe a couple decades," scientist Michael Mann
told
Democracy Now! "We believe that with that amount of CO2 in the
atmosphere, we commit to what can truly be described as dangerous and
irreversible changes in our climate."
If you didn't
know this already, we should be listening to Mann and to other
scientists. I thought this was settled a long time ago, but someone
keeps giving print space to climate deniers, so a new survey of 12,000
peer-reviewed studies on the climate was just completed and the
not-so-shocking conclusion was this, as Mother Nature Network
reports:
Published
this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the analysis
shows an overwhelming majority of climate scientists agree that humans
are a key contributor to climate change, while a "vanishingly small
proportion" defy this consensus. Most of the climate papers didn't
specifically address humanity's involvement -- likely because it's
considered a given in scientific circles, the survey's authors point out
-- but of the 4,014 that did, 3,896 shared the mainstream outlook that
people are largely to blame.
In light of
this news, it makes it even more infuriating to see that the Obama
administration has spent the week prostrating to the fossil fuel lobby.
Here are four disturbing things the administration's been up to.
1. Moniz Hearts Fracking
Obama
tapped nuclear physicist Ernest Moniz to head the Energy Department and
the Senate gave a big thumbs-up to Moniz on Thursday. Many
environmental groups had concerns that Moniz was too pro-fracking, and
those concerns are clearly warranted. Moniz's first order of business
Friday was to clear the way for 20 years of
liquified natural gas exports via Freeport LNG Terminal on Quintana Island, Texas.
Of
course, we've already been sold the story that we're suposed to frack
the crap out of the country in the name of energy security, but we knew
all along it was for industry profit, right? Brad Jacobson recently
detailed for AlterNet
about how Congress members are clamoring for export plans to be
fast-tracked -- although what Americans will get out of the deal will be
higher gas prices and less energy security.
2. Thanks for Nothing, Sally
While
the nomination of Moniz disappointed many environmentalists, some were
cheered by REI exec Sally Jewell taking over the Interior Department.
Those same folks might not be cheering after Jewell announced the Bureau
of Land Management's newest regulations (or lack thereof) for fracking
on our public lands.
As Sierra Club's Michael Brune reported Friday:
The
new rules are disappointing for many reasons: Drillers won't be
required to disclose what chemicals they're using, there is no
requirement for baseline water testing, and there are no setback
requirements to govern how close to homes and schools drilling can
happen. Once again, though, the policy documents an even bigger failure
to grasp a fundamental principle: If we're serious about the climate
crisis, then the last thing we should be doing is opening up still more
federal land to drilling and fracking for fossil fuels.
3. No Time for Farmers
The
group Bold Nebraska reported this week that Obama turned down an
invitation to hear from Nebraska farmers and ranchers about their
concerns that the Keystone XL pipeline could destroy their livelihoods.
Of course, the President is a busy guy, right? And besides, the White
House said he was not "taking any meetings on the pipeline."
Or is he? The group writes:
Bold
Nebraska was therefore surprised the President is meeting with staff at
Ellicott Dredges, a company that just testified in Congress in support
of Keystone XL and makes equipment that creates the tailing ponds, which
are massive bodies of polluted water and a byproduct of the tar sands
mining process.
"I simply do
not understand why President Obama can find the time to visit a company
that helps hold 12 million liters of toxic tar sands water but cannot
find the time to visit ranchers who put over $12 billion of
Nebraska-grown food on Americans' dinner tables every year," said Meghan
Hammond, a young farmer whose family land is at risk with the current
route in Nebraska.
4. Who Needs the Arctic? (Hint: We Do)
Subhankar
Banerjee, a photographer and longtime Arctic activist, was recently
appalled by a new report from the Obama administration on the future of
the Arctic. And the rest of us should be, too. Banerjee
writes about the report:
“Our
pioneering spirit is naturally drawn to this region, for the economic
opportunities it presents…” President Obama hides his excitement for oil
and gas drilling in the Arctic Ocean by carefully choosing the
euphemism—“economic opportunities.” In page 7 the true intent of the
report is finally revealed: “The region holds sizable proved and
potential oil and natural gas resources that will likely continue to
provide valuable supplies to meet U.S. energy needs.” Of course the
report mentions protecting the environment, but gives no specific
details.
We know that Obama talks a good
talk about climate protection, but his second term has proven thus far
that he's completely out of touch with reality. You can't hit 400 ppm
CO2 and still think "all of the above" is a rationale energy strategy.
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