Catapulting the Man-made Global Warming Propaganda (They Have to Repeat It Over and Over Again for the 'Truth' to Sink In)

Senate Defeats Bid to Gut Climate Efforts

April 6, 201

Agence France-Presse - The US Senate on Wednesday rejected a bid to strip President Barack Obama of his power to regulate greenhouse gases, a move that could have thrown US efforts against climate change into chaos.

The Senate, where Obama's Democratic Party holds a majority, voted 50-50 on a bill to stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from setting standards on greenhouse gas emissions blamed for the world's rising temperatures.

The measure required 60 votes for passage. Four Democrats broke ranks to support the measure, while a sole Republican backed the efforts to regulate greenhouse gas emissions.

Under Obama, the EPA has started a process of setting standards for emissions from fossil fuel power plants and petroleum refineries, the source of nearly 40 percent of US greenhouse gasses.

The White House said it was "encouraged" by the Senate vote and praised the role of the EPA, a federal agency, in protecting public health.

The Senate "rejected an approach that would have increased the nation's dependence on oil, contradicted the scientific consensus on global warming and jeopardized America's ability to lead the world in the clean energy economy," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement.

The rival Republican Party and business interests have been livid at the move, accusing Obama of overstepping his authority after Congress rejected efforts on climate change.

A bill to create a so-called "cap-and-trade" plan -- in which businesses would face restrictions on carbon emissions but be able to trade credits -- died last year in the Senate even when it had a larger Democratic majority.

Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the top Republican in the chamber, said that the votes showed clear discontent with EPA regulations.

"We in the Senate will continue to fight for legislation that will give the certainty that no unelected bureaucrat at the EPA is going to make efforts to create jobs even more difficult than the administration already has," he said.

The Republicans say that carbon restrictions would drive up gas prices and costs for businesses, while many Democrats and environmentalists counter that climate efforts would open up a new green economy creating well-paid jobs.

The House of Representatives, where the Republicans won control in November, was debating its own bill Wednesday to disempower the Environmental Protection Agency. But it cannot go into law with the Senate and the White House opposed.

The four Democrats who voted with the Republicans represent states that lean conservative or have major industries in fossil fuels -- Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Bill Nelson of Nebraska and Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Democrat Jay Rockefeller, the other senator from West Virginia, had offered an amendment to wait two years before allowing greenhouse gas regulation but his proposal was rejected by both sides.

The only Republican to take the side of the EPA was Susan Collins of Maine.

Vatican-Appointed Panel Warns of Climate Change

May 10, 2011

AP – A Vatican-appointed panel of scientists has reported what climate change experts have been warning for years: the Earth is getting warmer, glaciers are melting, and urgent measures are necessary to stem the damage.

The scientists called for urgent reduction of carbon dioxide emissions and reductions in methane and other pollutants that warm the air, and for improved observation of mountain glaciers to better track their changes.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences, a Vatican advisory panel, hosted a conference last month on the causes and consequences of retreating mountain glaciers. Its final report, dated May 5 and signed by independent glaciologists, climate scientists, meteorologists and chemists, was posted on the Vatican website Tuesday.

"We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home," the report said.

"We are committed to ensuring that all inhabitants of this planet receive their daily bread, fresh air to breathe and clean water to drink as we are aware that, if we want justice and peace, we must protect the habitat that sustains us."

The Vatican spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, said the document was "important" but is not a piece of the church's key teachings and merely reflects the conclusions of the independent scientists involved.

That said, he noted that it was a "significant scientific contribution" to the concerns that Pope Benedict XVI has voiced in both his encyclicals and public statements.

Benedict has been dubbed the "green pope" for his environmental concerns: In 2008, the Vatican installed photovoltaic cells on the roof of its main auditorium. A year later it installed a solar cooling unit for its main cafeteria. The Vatican has also joined a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions.

Brenda Ekwurzel, the assistant director of climate research and analysis at the Union of Concerned Scientists, a Cambridge, Massachusettss-based think tank, said the report was a "straightforward recap of major known findings about glaciers," that was penned by high-caliber scientists. She highlighted one significant point in the report's title and throughout; it refers to the new geologic "era" of human modification of the world, known as "Anthropocene."

"Perhaps the reality that the Vatican recognizes this fact, as the report indicates, is worth mentioning to those who remain unconvinced of human-induced climate change," Ekwurzel said in an email.

UN: Renewable Energy Key in Climate Change Fight

May 9, 2011

AP – Renewable sources such as solar and wind could supply up to 80 percent of the world's energy needs by 2050 and play a significant role in fighting global warming, a top climate panel concluded Monday.

But the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said that to achieve that level, governments would have to spend significantly more money and introduce policies that integrate renewables into existing power grids and promote their benefits in terms of reducing air pollution and improving public health.

Authors said the report concluded that the use of renewables is on the rise, their prices are declining and that with the right policies, they will be an important tool both in tackling climate change and helping poor countries use the likes of solar or wind to develop their economies in a sustainable fashion.

"The report shows that it is not the availability of the resource but the public policies that will either expand or constrain renewable energy development over the coming decades," said Ramon Pichs, who co-chaired the group tasked with producing the report. "Developing countries have an important stake in this future — this is where 1.4 billion people without access to electricity live yet also where some of the best conditions exist for renewable energy deployment."

Governments endorsed the renewable report Monday after a four-day meeting. The nonbinding scientific policy document is to advise governments as they draw up policies and to help guide the private sector as it considers areas in which to invest.

Greenpeace and other environmentalists said Saudi Arabia and Qatar, two oil-rich states that don't have an interest in alternatives, successfully watered down the report's language on the cost benefits of renewables — a charge the Saudis denied, saying they only were arguing to stick with the science. Brazil, a major ethanol producer, opposed language on the negative effects of biofuels and hydro as well as the economic potential of other renewables.

The report reviewed bioenergy, solar energy, geothermal, hydropower, ocean energy and wind. It did not consider nuclear, so IPCC chairman Rajendar Pachauri said the recent nuclear accident in Japan was not discussed nor did it have any impact on the report's conclusions.

The IPCC has said swift, deep reductions in use of non-renewables are required to keep temperatures from rising more than 3.8 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius) above preindustrial levels, which could trigger catastrophic climate impacts.

Stephan Singer, director for Global Energy Policy at WWF International, welcomed the report but said the IPCC should have gone further. He said its studies have found that the world could be fueled 100 percent by renewables by 2050.

"IPCC delivers a landmark report that shows the rapid growth, low-cost potential for renewable energy — but unfortunately does not endorse a 100 percent renewable energy pathway until 2050," Singer said in a statement. "We need to be fast if we want to tackle pressing issues as varied as energy security and efficiency and at the same time keep climate change well below the danger threshold of 2 degrees."

Greenpeace's Sven Teske agreed.

"This is an invitation to governments to initiate a radical overhaul of their policies and place renewable energy center stage," he said. "On the run-up to the next major climate conference in South Africa in December, the onus is clearly on governments to step up to the mark."

Adnan Amin, the director general of the International Renewable Energy Agency which is based in Abu Dhabi, said the report "shows there is a growing global awareness about the potential for renewable energy" which he made clear has taken off in recent years.

From 2009 to 2010, Amin said investment in renewables has gone from $186 billion to $243 billion with China alone seeing a 30 percent increase. He said research and development in the sector has seen "record growth."

"These are remarkable figures for a sector still emerging," Amin said. "Where it points is some of the conclusions that the IPCC is coming to. We are seeing through research and development the technologic possibilities increasing and costs coming down and feasibility of investment in renewable energy increasing by the day. The opportunities are tremendous."

But the IPCC warned that further development of the sector will require significant investment in the next two decades — of as much as $1.5 trillion by 2020 and up to $7.2 trillion from 2020 to 2030.

"The deployment and development of renewables requires development of new infrastructure, otherwise we will not see further growth of renewables," said another of the report's co-chairs Ottmar Edenhofer.

George W. Bush Succinctly Explains His Job