News: Archive for September, 2015
‘…Pope Francis on Friday condemned the craving for material gains and power, warning an annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations that greed is destroying the Earth’s resources and aggravating poverty.’
via At U.N., pope condemns ‘boundless thirst’ for wealth and power | Reuters.
‘A day after taking a surprisingly deferential tone with climate change skeptics in the U.S. Congress, Pope Francis stood before the United Nations General Assembly to issue a soft-spoken but thunderous call for the world to address global warming, connecting the issue to the wider pursuit of equality, security and justice for all.’
via Pope Francis issues radical call for climate change action | MSNBC.
‘This week’s announcement, both from the U.S. and China, follows up on that target, providing a plan to reach it. A cap-and-trade program would set a national limit in China on carbon emissions in the heavy-polluting industries of power generation, iron and steel, chemicals, and building materials and require companies to buy credits to pollute. Another program will prioritize the use renewable energy on the grid.’
via China Shows It’s Getting Serious About Climate Change | TIME.
‘WASHINGTON — When President Obama tried to tackle climate change in his first term, he pushed Congress to limit and put a price on carbon pollution, but the so-called cap-and-trade bill died in the Senate in 2010. Among the chief reasons: Lawmakers from both parties feared that any law to cut greenhouse gas emissions would harm the nation’s competitiveness compared with China, which was then emerging as the world’s largest polluter.’
via Beijing Puts Ball Back in Washington’s Court on Climate Change – The New York Times.
‘WASHINGTON — President Obama hosted Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping for a private dinner Thursday as they and their aides prepared for meetings designed to deal with cyber security and a new agreement to cooperate on combating climate change.’
‘Jagdeep Bachher, Univeristy of California’s chief investment officer made the announcement at the most recent meeting of the UC regents’ investment committee that after an initial rebuttal against divestment last fall, the UC has withdrawn their $200 million investment from all direct stock holdings in coal and oil sands.’
via Student Efforts Pay Off in Fossil Free UC Divestment Campaign | BERC.
‘…And then, literally as the papal plane landed, Hillary Clinton completed her long-running metamorphosis on the Keystone pipeline. Before the pipeline review even began, many long years ago, she said she was “inclined to approve†this fuse to one of the planet’s biggest carbon bombs. But as KXL turned into the defining environmental fight of the decade, she went mum. And now, faced with the clear understanding that climate will be a defining issue in next year’s election, she came out in firm opposition to the plan.’
‘Here’s a run-down of the prior U.N. talks on climate change and what we can expect in Paris.’
‘The snow that blanketed the Sierra Nevada in California last winter, and that was supposed to serve as an essential source of fresh water for the drought-stricken state, was at its lowest levels in the last 500 years, according to a new study.’
via Study Finds Snowpack in California’s Sierra Nevada to Be Lowest in 500 Years – The New York Times.
‘Europe will not settle for anything less than a robust, ambitious and binding agreement on climate change at UN talks in Paris later this year, the EU’s climate chief has said.’