Climate 411

How a Bill Moves Through Congress

By Mark MacLeod / Published: December 5, 2007

This post is by Mark MacLeod, Director of Special Projects, Climate and Air Program, Environmental Defense.

Operation Climate Vote

Part of a series on the work of the Environmental Defense Action Fund to enact an effective climate law. You can help by writing to Congress.

Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act of 2007 (CSA) is the most promising climate change legislation we’ve seen yet. You may have heard that it’s "out of subcommittee" and "scheduled for mark-up on December 5th". But what does that mean?

The legislative process is complicated, but here is a basic overview of the process this bill is following, known as "regular order".

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Posted in Climate Change Legislation / Read 3 Responses

Links to Make You Laugh and Cry

By Sheryl Canter / Published: December 4, 2007

This post is by Sheryl Canter, an Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

Here are some links to interesting articles I ran across recently:

Six Degrees – Review from RealClimate of a new book that soberly assesses what will happen to the world at one degree increase in temperature, two degrees, etc. It’s alarming – but not alarmist.

The People We Have Been Waiting For – New York Times Op-Ed by Thomas Friedman that will make you laugh and cry. It ends on a wonderfully optimistic note (in case you’re feeling depressed about climate change).*

*There’s one small inaccuracy in Friedman’s piece. He says climate change will lead to “colder cold spells”. Actually, as the IPCC states, there are “warmer and fewer cold days and nights over most land areas.” The idea that weather will swing to colder as well as warmer extremes is a common misunderstanding.

Posted in What Others are Saying / Comments are closed

Help Developing Countries Cut Carbon, Not Trees

By Sheryl Canter / Published: December 3, 2007

This post is by Sheryl Canter, and Online Writer and Editorial Manager at Environmental Defense.

In last Friday’s post on the Bali climate talks, Kyle mentioned giving countries incentives to leave their forests standing. This was also the topic of an excellent piece on NPR this morning, "Climate Experts Mull Payment to Stop Deforestation". Our own Annie Petsonk was interviewed for the story:

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Posted in International / Read 3 Responses

What We're Doing in Bali Next Week

By Kyle Meng / Published: November 30, 2007

This post is by Kyle Meng, a research fellow at Environmental Defense.

Next week, delegates and negotiators from some 190 countries will descend on the Indonesian island of Bali to determine the fate of a global climate agreement to succeed the Kyoto Protocol. Continuing our long-standing presence at these negotiations, Environmental Defense is sending a team of experts to Bali. Here’s what we’ll be working on.
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Posted in International / Read 2 Responses

Study Finds Plenty of Low-Cost Ways to Cut Emissions

By Keith Gaby / Published: November 29, 2007

This post is by Keith Gaby, communications director for the national climate campaign at Environmental Defense.

When politicians hesitate to act on global warming, one of the concerns we hear is that cutting the pollution that causes global warming could cost too much. More and more evidence is piling up to show that’s just not true. For one, we have to take into account the cost of not doing anything.

But just as important, the cost of doing what we need to is much less than people fear. A study released today by researchers at McKinsey & Company shows how much is already in our reach.

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Posted in Economics / Comments are closed

Florida and Climate Change: The Costs of Not Acting

By Gerald Karnas / Published: November 28, 2007

This post is by Gerald Karnas, Florida Climate Project Director at Environmental Defense.

Florida stands to lose big-time unless Congress enacts strong climate legislation, soon. The longer Congress delays, the harder climate change will hit Floridians. Damage to just three sectors—tourism, electric utilities, and real estate—together with hurricane damage would shrink the state’s gross domestic product by more than 5 percent by the end of this century.

That’s the key conclusion of a new report by Tufts University economists. Environmental Defense commissioned the report and is helping to launch it today via a press conference in Tallahassee.

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Posted in Economics / Read 3 Responses