Climate 411

Global Warming Bill in Connecticut

Derek WalkerToday’s post is by Derek Walker, deputy director of the State Climate Campaign at Environmental Defense Fund.

Connecticut will soon become the fifth state, after California, New Jersey, Hawaii and Washington, to enact a mandatory cap on greenhouse gas emissions. The state’s Republican Governor, Jodi Rell, announced this week that she will sign the global warming bill passed by Connecticut’s House and Senate. Called Act Concerning Connecticut Global Warming Solutions (HB-5600), the bill has much in common with the California legislation, Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 (AB-32) – also signed into law by a Republican governor.

We at EDF and our allies in Connecticut (Connecticut Fund for the Environment, Environment Northeast, Environment Connecticut, Clean Water Action, the Nature Conservancy and others) almost decided to delay our push for AB-32-style legislation until 2009. The state’s economic performance and job growth has been stagnant, and our initial assessment of the legislative appetite for a strong global warming bill was not encouraging. In spite of these choppy seas, we decided to set sail this year even if it became a two-year fight.

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Ride Your Bike to Washington, D.C.

Sheryl CanterThis post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Got a bike? Got strong thighs? Want to tell Washington what you think about climate change?

Sign up for Climate Ride 2008, a 5-day, 320-mile bike ride from New York City to Washington, D.C. on September 20-24. Expert speakers will educate riders along the way about solutions to climate change. The ride will conclude with a celebration near the steps of the Capitol building. The organizers call it “a fundraiser and climate conference on wheels.”

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How Do We Plan for Climate Change?

Lisa MooreThis post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense Fund.

How do we plan for climate change? Unfortunately, many groups don’t even ask that question, much less begin to answer it.

I’m happy to report that there are exceptions. Yesterday, I testified before the New York City Council’s Infrastructure Task Force, which held a forum on how climate change and flooding will affect the city’s infrastructure. It was an interesting experience. I left feeling cautiously optimistic that the city really is trying to tackle the problem.

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Is My Lunch Causing Global Warming?

Sheryl CanterThis post is by Sheryl Canter, an online writer and editorial manager at Environmental Defense Fund.

Want to know how your lifestyle impacts the environment? Yahoo Green’s Lifestyle Calculator (data provided by EDF) estimates your carbon footprint based on factors like the size of your home, and how much you drive and fly. The H2O Conserve Water Use Calculator asks questions about your habits to assess your water usage (see why saving water saves energy)

But what about the food you eat? Bon Appétit Management Company has a new Low Carbon Diet Calculator that can tell you. It has a very entertaining interface, but how good is it? We asked Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist at Environmental Defense Fund, to check it out.

Low Carbon Diet Calculator

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Voinovich Bill: Detailed Prescription for Doing Nothing

Steve CochranThis post is by Steve Cochran, director of the national climate campaign at Environmental Defense Fund.

Ohio Senator George Voinovich today proposed to address the rapidly escalating threat of climate change by delaying meaningful federal action to control greenhouse gas emissions, obstructing existing state programs, and allowing U.S. global warming pollution to increase for decades to come.

This proposal can be summed up in one word: bankrupt. It’s a detailed prescription for doing nothing. If you think climate change is a hoax, this is your bill.

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A Decade of Cooler Temperatures?

Lisa MooreThis post is by Lisa Moore, Ph.D., a scientist in the Climate and Air program at Environmental Defense Fund.

An article in this week’s Nature predicts that Europe and North America will cool slightly over the next decade. No, this doesn’t mean that global warming has stopped.

The new paper describes a climate model that makes short-term (decadal) predictions based on ocean dynamics. The decade-long cooling is just a temporary offset to warming from human activity. After it passes, temperatures will begin climbing again. By 2030, the model forecasts the same global temperatures as the IPCC.

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