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

According to this Reuters article online interest in global warming has hit an all time high, up 173% from last year at this time.  The report attributes most of the increase to the recent Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report on global warming, which was released about three weeks ago.  The article reports that most global warming “hits” have gone to Wikipedia.org and the EPA, but other sites such as ClimateHotMap.org and ClimateCrisis.net are seeing increases in visitors as well.

Many presidential wannabes–Romney, Vilsack, Paul, and Edwards–will be in the state this weekend.  Before seeing them, check out the heatison.org to find out what they’ve been saying about global warming. 

The Terminator and “Maverick,” aka Gov. Schwarzenegger and Sen. McCain, teamed up yesterday in what they called a “nonpolitical” event to call for tougher action on climate change.  Could McCain be looking for an endorsement?  Probably.  But the point of yesterday’s visit was supposedly to talk about global warming.  McCain said he “would assess this administration’s record on global warming as terrible” noting the lack of “cooperation from the administration” at Senate hearings on climate change.  McCain also said that California’s actions to combat climate change should be used as a model for Congress to take action: “I’m here, because I think that California leads the nation.”  Maybe McCain should schedule a trip to the Granite State sometime soon.  He might find that NH citizens feel equally as strong about the issue.  (Read the entire article from the LA Times here.)

In fact, yesterday the University of New Hampshire held a panel discussion for raising awareness of the issue.  One of the panelists, NH congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter, explained “we need to take the next decade, throw our weight around and put this at the top of our list as if (our) lives depend on it, because they do.”  Tom Kelly the director of UNH’s Office of Sustainability said we can no longer ”look at the science to tell us to put in good energy policies.  It’s got to swell at the grassroots to make the kind of changes we need.”  Sounds like a great idea!  (Read the article from Foster’s Daily Democrat here.)

Also, according to the Union Leader’s Granite Status Mitt Romney will visit GT Solar in Merrimack tomorrow.  Is he trying to indicate a commitment to alternative energy sources?

The European Union is set to support targets aimed to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent by 2020 (approximately reaching 1990 levels).  On Tuesday European Union ministers met in Brussels to come to a consensus for a plan they will propose at the March 8-9 summit meeting for the 27-bloc European Union meeting.  At the meeting in March a final decision will be made about the EU’s climate change and energy strategy.   Stravos Dimas, Environment Commissioner for the EU, said “I’m very encouraged by the fact that all member states strongly supported our proposal and the need for the EU to continue its leadership in fighting climate change.”  Another facet of the plan would be to call for industrialized countries to reduce their emissions by 30 percent–a goal the EU would aim for if other rich countries such as the US participated.  (Read the entire story from Reuters here.)

The odd winter season we’ve had this year hasn’t only hurt business owners in the North Country.  This article from the Portsmouth Herald reports that last weekend twenty loons were found frozen and stranded on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH.  Most were dead.  Usually loons leave land lakes before they freeze over, but this season the warm temperatures and open water likely confused the birds.  Harry Vogel, executive director for the Loon Preservation Committee, said “I’m a little bit worried that loons are finding it hard to cope with all of these changes.”

Clinton, Kucinich, Richardson, and even Mrs. McCain campaigned throughout the Granite State this weekend.  Global warming took a backseat to many other issues, but some of the candidates managed to squeeze in a mention.  In Sen. Clinton’s opening remarks to a large crowd in Dover, she talked about climate change as being a ”dire challenge,” but the focus of her “continued conversation” remained on the war in Iraq.  At the RiverRun bookstore in Portsmouth Sen. Richardson said “The first thing I’d do in office would be to re-sign the Kyoto Treaty.”  To Richardson we ask, “why go back in time?”  Richardson also sported a bright red ”Stop Global Warming” sticker, which can be seen in the picture here.  Hmm, I wonder where he got that from?

In other news…finding the good in a situation could be taken to a whole new level.  As the Arctic warms–it’s warming faster than anyplace on earth–it opens up access to what the US Geological Survey estimates to be a quarter of the world’s remaining oil and gas reserves.  Daniel Lashof a climate change analyst for the Natural Resources Defense Council says it would be a “great irony that global warming could, by causing the Arctic to be ice-free during the summer, increase access to the very fossil fuels that are driving global warming.”  While the irony is not lost, it certainly isn’t stopping anyone yet.  Polar nations, such as the United States, Canada, Russia, and Norway, are all in a scramble to lay claim to the land under the ice.  (Read the entire article from the Boston Globe here.)