Climate Change Topics in the News

Global climate change is back in the news due to new science, political maneuvering, corporate denialism for profit, and technological progress. Unfortunately most of the news is bad and yet there is still some hope for our children and grand-children. It remains to be seen whether our latest generation of voters will show up at the polls and call on legislators demanding action or will the efforts of fossil fuel company political donations win the day thus sending the environment into an unrecoverable tailspin all to earn a short term profit.

New research the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) shows that based on the latest available science the world has about 11 years left to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions like CO2 and methane in order to keep global warming to a livable 2 degrees Celsius or 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit. Other research released even more recently shows that cloud cover is reduced in a warming world and acts as a feedback mechanism that increases the amount of solar energy reaching the planet causing further heating. This is similar in effect to warming air causing the northern hemisphere’s permafrost to melt thereby releasing methane stored in the soil which then causes further planetary warming.

On the political side Trump has announced an ad-hoc panel to study whether or not global climate change is a national security risk, something which the Defense Department has already determined to be a big concern. Trump had appointed a prominent climate change denier named William Happer to head the panel and the reason it is ad-hoc is that disclosure and transparency laws are looser so they can avoid public scrutiny of their work. While on the side of the people young political star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the Sunrise Movement are working on building support for the Green New Deal which is intended to address the timetable set out by the IPCC by reducing carbon emissions drastically with a multi-pronged approach of increased generation of renewable energy and decreased usage of energy via efficiency.

Corporate political donations from fossil fuel companies continue to drive many political leaders to deny the science that global climate change is mostly drive by the actions of man, in particular CO2 and methane emissions along with deforestation. Sadly this isn’t even a partisan issue though there are more deniers on the Republican side, too many Democrats are complicit as well. Just the other day California senator Dianne Feinstein told a group of young people she wouldn’t support the Green New Deal because she knows better. Exxon Mobil, the world’s largest fossil fuel company, is currently battling in the courts with some of its own shareholders to prevent them from even proposing to the shareholder’s meeting a set of goals to meet to reduce the company’s exposure to risks from global climate change.

New developments in battery technology continue to reduce the price of batteries and now utilities are beginning to buy them in large quantities for use in storing power to meet peak demand. In order to meet the sudden and relatively brief demand power companies have to startup additional generators. That means building entire facilities for use just a small fraction of the day so that energy is really expensive. If they can store electricity generated during off peak times they can save big bucks making solar power and storage a practical solution.

The Green New Deal aims to push all this technology forward quickly in order to save our planet for our children and grandchildren. You, your family and your friends can make that happen by calling your legislators.

Published in the Seguin Gazette - March 1, 2019