The Political Climate: an ongoing commentary on the NH Primary and Climate Change

Yesterday a scientific panel at the request of the United Nations met to talk about “drastic reductions in fossil-fuel emissions around the world.”  The panel presented a 166-page report based on research by 18 scientists in 11 countries.  The report warns of significant warming that will contribute to ”a turbulent century of rising seas, spreading drought and disease, weather extremes and damage to farming, forests, fisheries, and other economic areas.”  The report states that if nothing is done, global temperatures could rise by 11 degrees by 2100.  Based on these current findings the panel provided the United Nations with recommendations on how to combat these threats:  discourage new building on land less than one meter above sea level, reduce carbon dioxide emissions significantly, immediately ban the construction of coal-fired power plants unless they use a carbon capturing system, and triple or quadruple worldwide spending in efforts to fight global warming.  Basically, it’s time to get serious.  (Read the entire story from the New York Times here.)

This piece by Bill McKibben, “Warning on Warming,” helps explain why this new report might seem so drastic.  McKibben, a long-time climate change activist, outlines the history of warnings that have come consistently  from the scientific community, and have consistently been ignored.  He warns (again) “climate change is a problem with a very high “procrastination penalty”: a penalty that just grows and grows with each passing year of inaction…The [most recent] IPCC assessment offers a modest account of just how far out of whack it is—and just how hard we’re going to have to work to have even a chance at limiting the damage.”  McKibben is organizing the nation-wide movement Step It Up on April 14th to help draw attention to the issue.

Yesterday Sen. Hillary Clinton revealed her plan for a “Strategic Energy Fund” that would “jumpstart research and investment in clean energy technologies to promote job growth, energy independence, and a cleaner environment.”  Read the press release on Sen. Clinton’s plan here.