January 2024 Nwsletter

 The current gridlock might not be as permanent as it now seems, as many of the jurisdictions that have selected political leaders opposed to climate policy are the most exposed to the harms of climate change. 

https://www.brookings.edu/research/how-the-geography-of-climate-damage-could-make-the-politics-less-polarizing/

 Growing public concern about the social, economic, and environmental impacts of climate change, along with pressure for lawmakers to introduce policy proposals that reduce emissions, have brought carbon taxes to the center of policy discussions on Capitol Hill. Thus far in 2019, seven different carbon tax legislative proposals have been introduced in Congress. The proposal with the most cosponsors, totaling 64 Democrats and 1 Republican as of the end of September 2019, is the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act (EICDA), introduced in February 2019 by lead sponsor Ted Deutch (D-FL). This study assesses the potential impacts of EICDA on the US energy system, environment, and economy. EICDA establishes a fee on each ton of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

https://energypolicy.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/file-uploads/EICDA_CGEP-Report.pdf

Poor children are especially vulnerable to malnutrition and starvation as crop yields go down and food prices skyrocket. Also, the rise in bacterias and viruses that have no treatment will take its toll as well.

Scientists, until recently, believed that climate change would arrive slowly. A point of no return would not be reached until the year 2100. Now they know that there have been many rapid climates shifts that have happened in a matter of decades.

 https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/opinion/sunday/science-climate-change.html 

A new study by researchers at ETH Zurich has estimated that 200 billion tons of carbon could be stored by planting trees. However, several caveats make it unlikely that planting trees will completely solve the problem of climate change.  

http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2019/07/can-planting-trees-save-our-climate/ 

Over 11,000 scientists from around the world came out with a warning of dire consequences for our planet. Not just climate scientists, but scientists from such diverse areas as biology, oceanography, and geology have declared that the planet “clearly and unequivocally faces a climate emergency,” 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2019/11/05/more-than-scientists-around-world-

Even though the Federal government continues to roll back clean energy and climate policy, the reality across the country is that clean energy continues to move full steam ahead. Large corporations are buying more wind and solar power then ever at the insistence of investors.

https://www.ceres.org/news-center/blog/investors-and-companies-push-clean-energy-tipping-point

 Although it only ranks 23rd in the nation, Missouri is starting to make great progress in the installation of wind and solar power, energy storage and manufacturing. Missouri currently powers over 300,000 homes with renewable energy with plans to power 500,000 more over the next few years.

https://cleangridalliance.org/blog/116/missouri-making-great-strides

 A 45 year long study done on Scotland’s Barnacle Geese found that the geese had changed their migratory route further to the north in response to climate change. “The study is one of the first to provide hard evidence that wild animals are inventing new ways to cope with changing habitats.”

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-49551044?intlink_from_url=https://www.bbc.com/news/science_and_environment&link_location=live-reporting-story