August 23, 2016
What’s happened since the euphoria of last December?
In Paris, the governments of the world signed an historic agreement at Cop 21 to reduce fossil fuel emissions. They agreed to face the climate crisis with appropriate action, and the “ leave it in the ground” movement was born. We were euphoric that at last we, as an international culture, were on board for climate responsibility.
In Paris, the governments of the world signed an historic agreement at Cop 21 to reduce fossil fuel emissions. They agreed to face the climate crisis with appropriate action, and the “ leave it in the ground” movement was born. We were euphoric that at last we, as an international culture, were on board for climate responsibility.
Today’s news has a different tone. The UK has decided that having left the European Union it is no longer bound to EU emission goals. The conservative government considers it an opportunity to push back on its 2030 climate target.
General Electric is poised to build coal-fired power plants in India and across Southeast Asia. GE also believes it can reap decades of profits by installing upgrades on existing coal power plants.
The Obama administration is planning an August auction to the highest bidder of 24 million acres in the Gulf of Mexico for off-shore oil and gas exploration. The auction will take place on-line and behind closed doors in order to silence protest and minimize media exposure.
Why stop there?
The Obama administration plans to sell over 200,000 acres in central and southwest Wyoming to fossil fuel corporations for oil and gas exploration. The area is home to endangered species, sacred sites, forests, rivers, recreational wilderness and the whooping crane, rarest crane in the world.
This is public land. It actually belongs to the people --- by law.
As extinction rates soar, the community of biologists, naturalists and conservationists, is demanding continual increases in territory set aside as parks and nature preserves to protect biodiversity. E. O. Wilson’s latest book, Half Earth, is a plea to set aside fully half of the planet’s landmass to ecosystem preserves as humanity’s only possibility for survival. A pro-life president would set aside all of the 200,000 Wyoming acres as a natural preserve.
These exploitive projects are a frightening disconnect from the fact that July 2016 was not just the hottest July, but the hottest month ever recorded, Louisiana's floods exceed all records, and wild fires in the west are burning beyond records, making thousands of people homeless. Permafrost in the Arctic is melting 70 years sooner than most models had projected. This disconnect is exemplified by the Saudis pushing for more oil sales as they roast in 115F. heat. July was .84C above the 1950/1980 global-average.
Finally, the IPCC, in a new report from President Holsung Lee, says it wants to limit warming to 1.5C, now that it is over 1C. (Last December the IPCC had stubbornly clung to the 2C. cutoff myth, only saying that it would consider 1.5C in the future.) However, IPCC President Lee is now emphasizing “feasibility” for this. Keeping to a 1.5C limit is understood by most to be virtually impossible.
The science is clear that between 1C. and 2C. in global mean-temperature increase means that most species, ecosystems and landscapes will be impacted and adaptive capacity will become severely limited.
I think it’s reasonable to ask; What drives this insanity? The answer may come from Martin Wolf, editor and chief economist at London’s, Financial Times. He has said that if humanity woke up and made the needed investments in rapid change, "fossil fuel reserves would indeed be stranded.” …. “A climate fix would ruin investors.”
Considering how huge the investments in fossil fuels by investors worldwide must be, it appears that the drive for the suicidal status quo overwhelms both judgment and morality. Or maybe, it’s neither. Maybe it’s simply the machinery of capitalism.
M. K. Blechman,
co-chair, Climate Crisis Committee.
Atlantic Chapter, Sierra Club