Blog & news round-up 8/28: six in ten Americans want clean energy

I can't think of a better way than this to wrap up this week in climate news. The Washington Post and ABC News released a new poll today that shows just how strongly the American people support bold action on climate and clean energy:

Nearly six in 10 of those polled support the proposed changes to U.S. energy policy being developed by Congress and the administration. Fifty-five percent of Americans approve of the way Obama is handling the issue, compared with 30 percent who do not. A narrower majority, 52 to 43 percent, back a cap-and-trade system; that margin is unchanged since June. A cap-and-trade system would set a ceiling for the nation's greenhouse gas emissions, and it would allow firms to buy and sell emissions permits.

So in spite of the $79 million (and counting!) spent by big polluters in lobbying and creating fraudulent Astroturf campaigns to derail clean energy legislation, the American people get it: we need to tackle global warming and our dependence on dirty energy now, before it's too late. As Miles at the National Wildlife Federation says, "Could America's call for a new direction in energy policy be any more clear?" I can't see how.

And that new direction can't come soon enough, especially for rural, Midwestern states:

The politics of climate change are difficult in the Senate, it's often said, because it's a regional issue: coal state senators are afraid their economies will be driven under if the price of dirty energy rises too quickly.

Climate change is, in fact, a regional issue, but not in the short-term way that the coal senators think, according to new analysis from The Nature Conservancy. The environmental group finds that rural Midwestern states will face the greatest consequences of climate change. The three that will face the steepest rise in temperature -- Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa -- are farm states whose soil will be significantly less productive as temperatures rise more than 10 degrees Fahrenheit there by 2100.

The rise by by 2050 -- only 41 years from now -- is also projected to be substantial. (Click here for an interactive map of the analysis.)

Here's an image from this report that paints a stark picture of what life will be like in the States -- especially in the Midwest -- if we don't act soon:

This report and accompanying image drive home the point all senators, but especially Midwestern ones, have a duty to their constituents to pass strong climate and energy legislation this year. Unfortunately, the HuffPost article makes it clear that we have a lot of convincing to do in the Senate.

We had some positive developments on the international climate front this week. First, Rajendra Pachauri, the U.N's top climate scientist, said in an interview that 350 was the bottom line for the planet. Bill McKibben writes on the 350 blog:

Here's the background--the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which Pachauri heads, is responsible for advising the world's governments on climate change. The IPCC's last report, which came out in the winter of 2007, didn't actually set a target for CO2, but it was widely interpreted as backing a goal of 450 ppm CO2.

It was a number that many environmental groups, and many governments including the Obama administration, seized on as the best science. But that finding came before the Arctic melted, and before the world's leading climate scientists started producing reports showing that 350 ppm was in fact the planet's real threshold. Now Pachauri has given his imprimatur to that message.

Second, an E.U. official expressed optimism that China would sign a global climate treaty -- if the U.S. Senate passes climate legislation soon. Joe Romm quotes an E&E New PM article:

Much of the fate of the U.N. climate treaty talks now rests in the U.S. Senate, according to a leading E.U. official, who says China would “lose its last reason” not to support an international pact if the United States passes a cap-and-trade bill.

“I know for the American Senate it’s absolutely crucial to know that China will sign the treaty,” said Sweden’s environment minister, Andreas Carlgren, whose country currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency. “I understand that. We fully support that. We have the same expectations.”

“The difference is that we [Europeans] have done so many things already, and the Senate is still deciding on cap and trade,” Carlgren said yesterday in an interview at the Swedish embassy. “If the Senate would pass it, there would be no reason for China not to sign up.”

Given the recent appetite that China has shown for action on climate, it's clear that reluctant senators are quickly running out of excuses to act.

Finally, some climate/entertainment news. We already blogged this week about a new, must-see film about climate change, called The Age of Stupid, that will hit a theater near you next month. But there's yet another must-see film opening next month: No Impact Man. From the website:

Colin Beavan decides to completely eliminate his personal impact on the environment for the next year.

It means eating vegetarian, buying only local food, and turning off the refrigerator. It also means no elevators, no television, no cars, busses, or airplanes, no toxic cleaning products, no electricity, no material consumption, and no garbage.

No problem – at least for Colin – but he and his family live in Manhattan. So when his espresso-guzzling, retail-worshipping wife Michelle and their two-year-old daughter are dragged into the fray, the No Impact Project has an unforeseen impact of its own.

Here's a trailer to give you an idea of what to expect. Just like Colin has supported 1Sky in the past, we're proud to support the Beavans and their film when it comes out next month!