Florida and Mother Jones

Mother Jones did it right in describing the Florida debacle over verbal directives to not use the phrases "climate change" and "global warming".....as we discussed in the beginning of today's OLLI class on Oceans and Climate Change.

Recommendations to Obama on Climate Action

From CNN:

Melinda Pierce, legislative director for the Sierra Club, pushed the president to focus more on executive orders and regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency than on legislation.

"Congress is a place where good ideas go to die," she said. "There is a tremendous amount that his administration can do without Congress. He has the authority; he doesn't have to wait for Congress."

Eric Pooley, senior vice president of the Environmental Defense Fund, told CNN that while "serious climate legislation isn't in the cards this year" the White House understands that congressional "legislation is not the only way to make progress."

Obviously I too agree, or I would not have posted the above. Bill

The President on Climate Change, Jan 21, 2013

From Barack Obama's inaugural speech today:

We, the people, still believe that our obligations as Americans are not just to ourselves, but to all posterity. We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations.

Some may still deny the overwhelming judgment of science, but none can avoid the devastating impact of raging fires, and crippling drought, and more powerful storms. The path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult. But America cannot resist this transition. We must lead it.

I look forward to action backing this pledge, and I hope we have broad support by both parties in Congress.

MIT Letter to Obama on Climate Change

From MIT, comes a very forceful message to President Obama about climate change. The Washington Examiner has a concise summary just published. From their article:

"You have the power and the opportunity to lay the groundwork for a new clean-energy policy that will help us avoid the worst consequences of climate change," said the letter, published in the MIT Technology Review. "It is quite possible that if this is not done over the next four years, it will be too late."

Killer Whales (Orcas), Climate Change, and Politics

Yes there is a link between the three. First, in case you have not seen the video of Orcas trapped by ice in the Hudson Bay, managing to breathe from a relatively small hole in the ice, I believe you will find it amazing.

Scientists involved propose that the event may have been brought on by climate change. Okay, that may seem like a stretch to say for any one event, but the logic is as reasonable as blaming an increase in severe storms on climate change, as has been repeatedly done in the past few years. 

So where does politics enter in? It enters with the Orcas cooperative behavior. Fortunately for them, there was not a Democrat or Republican amongst them. From the observers:
“It’s amazing to see how they managed to find a strategy to share that little space and organize who’s going to breathe and when, because they all needed to breathe every five minutes and they found the strategy for the survival of the group and not the survival of the strongest.”

Lets work together on climate change

I apologize for my month long silence. I have been away visiting family. Good news is, all is well.

Now back and as I get caught up on climate change, the most significant of what I have read is about working together. Be sure to watch the video. The principals are so elementary.

More soon.
Bill