Climate blogs exposed: Greening the Holiday Season--12/21
Climate blogs exposed: Greening the Holiday Season--12/21
I just wanted to wish everyone Happy Holidays and remind you (if you haven't already) not to miss your chance to send a 1Sky Holiday E-card!
Can you think of any better way to put the biggest Scrooge in the holiday mood than carols from Stephen Colbert? I can't! Nor can Dave Roberts from Grist who wrote:
In an age of commodified holidays, only irony can protect that small core of genuine feeling from the depredations of a culture that seeks at every turn to exploit it. Holiday spirit is only possible through irony.
With that, I give you "Another Christmas Song" from Stephen Colbert. It's from the soundtrack to his most excellent Christmas Special:
More than 18 percent of greenhouse gas emissions come from livestock, a fact that is not getting the attention it deserves according to the head of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"In terms of immediacy of action and the feasibility of bringing about reductions in a short period of time, it clearly is the most attractive opportunity. Give up meat for one day [a week] initially, and decrease it from there," Dr. Rajendra Pachauri said recently.
While power plants and energy intensive industries are under pressure to reduce their emissions, the large agricultural sectors are just now beginning to come under scrutiny. The irony, according to Pachauri, is that changing diet is much easier than altering transportation systems.
What's a little disheartening is that we are not going to get any help from the federal government and EPA. In fact, news was released this week that the EPA is not going to regulate factory farm emissions. Envirovore reports:
The agency issued a new regulation on Friday that exempts factory farms from reporting hazardous air pollution to the federal government, calling such reporting "unnecessary" because "Federal, State or local response officials are unlikely to respond to notifications of air releases of hazardous substances from animal waste at farms" anyway.
This week in President-elect Obama's Weekly Address, he spoke about his powerful new science team that is going to help put America back at the center of innovation. Climate Progress reports on Obama's address:
Today, more than ever before, science holds the key to our survival as a planet and our security and prosperity as a nation. It’s time we once again put science at the top of our agenda and worked to restore America’s place as the world leader in science and technology.
Obama must have received one of the 1Sky holiday e-cards because he's filling his Cabinet with leaders that will help put climate change on the political map. This week news released that Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA), a huge green jobs advocate, is going to be the new Secretary of Labor. Think Progress reports:
President-elect Barack Obama has reportedly completed his Cabinet with the selection of Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) as Secretary of Labor. Solis, a five-term representative from East Los Angeles, is a progressive leader in the fight for green jobs, as both a “stalwart friend of the unions” and the author of the first environmental justice law in the nation. At this summer’s National Clean Energy Summit, convened by the Center for American Progress Action Fund, University of Nevada at Las Vegas, and Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV), Solis spoke about her commitment to solving global warming through a clean energy economy for all.
Watch Representative Solis, Obama's new Secretary of Labor and a guiding force in Congress and on the ground for Green Jobs, speak about the necessity of greening the economy:
Let us know what we missed and have Happy Holidays from all of us at 1Sky!
