NewingtonUCC Green Church Blog: global warming

Showing posts with label global warming. Show all posts

Sunday, May 7, 2017

We can reverse global warming... and we're doing it

"Scientists have studied the impact of carbon emissions and they have made their projections for global warming. But nobody did a proper integrated analysis of the solutions. Until now. On April 18, a new book offering a strategy will be published—it’s titled Drawdown: The most comprehensive plan ever proposed to reverse global warming. How to ‘drawdown’ the amount of carbon in the atmosphere is the mission of the book. Drawdown is a project of an international coalition of 70 researchers and scientists from 22 countries who—since 2013—have analyzed the data and projections of the world’s leading research institutions in fields from energy to food and from family planning to reforestation.

The result is a concrete map of where humanity stands today when it comes to climate change. And the conclusion is remarkably optimistic: Using a conservative approach based on current facts and technology it’s plausible that we can reverse global warming in the next 30 years."

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Equal Exchange is proud to launch our new Climate Justice Initiative!

As Vandana Shiva explains in her new book, Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis, the solution to climate change lies not only in our ability to exercise our collective will to immediately reduce the amount of CO2 and other greenhouse gases that we emit INTO the air, but in our willingness to support, and thereby benefit from, the regenerative capacity of small-scale, organic agriculture to actually pull existing CO2 out of the air - back into the soil.

Equal Exchange now joins an emerging movement of farmers, scientists, researchers, and activists who advocate this new perspective to combat climate change.

for more details on how to participate in:

Divest-Invest Campaign.
Invest in the solidarity economy and align your money with your values.

http://equalexchange.coop/climate-justice-initiative

Monday, January 25, 2016

The EarthJustice 2016 Legal Docket

With the generous investment of our members, Earthjustice is taking on some of the biggest environmental challenges of our time. In the new year, we will be pursuing nearly 400 active legal cases.

PRESERVING THE WILD

“The legal issues are challenging, and the opposition is daunting.

But our track record of winning is remarkable, given the political and

economic power that we go toe-to-toe against in court every day.

Everyone connected with Earthjustice should take great pride in that.”

– DREW CAPUTO

VICE-PRESIDENT OF LITIGATION FOR LANDS, WILDLIFE & OCEANS

PROTECTING OUR HEALTH

“Many communities still live with high levels of pollution and

excessive toxic risk. We can do a better job.

We have the technology and innovation—

and we have the wherewithal to reduce those burdens.”

– LISA GARCIA

VICE-PRESIDENT OF LITIGATION FOR HEALTHY COMMUNITIES

ADVANCING CLEAN ENERGY

“What we excel at is forcing action. We’ve stepped into the vacuum of the

policy debate and forced meaningful action to begin the shift away

from fossil fuels. At Earthjustice, we have the opportunity to wield

the law as a powerful force for good.”

– ABIGAIL DILLEN

VICE-PRESIDENT OF LITIGATION FOR CLIMATE & ENERGY

Click here to read the highlights:

D.I.Y. Fridays – Helping the Bees with our Plants and Gardens

There has been a lot of buzz about saving the bees lately. Beekeepers, environmental groups, farmers (who rely on the bees to pollinate up to 80% of their flowering crops), and even mainstream media outlets are all reporting a shocking decline in the bee population, especially honeybees, in North America and many regions of Europe.

Click here to read more....

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Moyers and Company: Interviews with Environmental leaders

Watch online here:

Moyers on Climate Change, the Environment and What Needs to Be Done: interviews with environmental leaders. The one on divestment from fossil fuel investments and the one on climate change: faith and fact are very pertinent.

http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/24/playlist-environmental-shows/

The latest in a string of dire reports on climate change came this week from the United Nations’ meteorological advisory body, which said that the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new record high in 2013, due to a “surge” in carbon dioxide, prompting fears of an accelerated warming of the planet.

A majority of Americans think global warming is real and that human activity’s a factor, believing in the science behind reports on climate change. But some two-thirds of white evangelical Christians aren’t convinced.

In the face of those who use religion to deny the worldwide crisis of climate change, climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, an evangelical Christian, believes that her faith is compatible with science. This week she speaks to Bill about ending the gridlock between science and religion in order to find solutions to the widespread threats associated with global warming.

“…The New Testament talks about how faith is the evidence of things not seen,” says Hayhoe, who was recently named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People. “By definition, science is the evidence of things that are seen, that can be observed, that are quantifiable. And so that’s why I see faith and science as two sides of the same coin.”

Eco-Justice Ministries Eco Justice Notes: Subordinate Clause and Our Children's Children

Subordinate Clause
http://www.eco-justice.org/E-110812.asp

Our Children's Children
http://www.eco-justice.org/E-140131.asp

Conflicting priorities:

I will do what I can to preserve our way of life while I work for the health of the planet.
I will do what I can to work for the health of the planet while I preserve our way of life.

Eco-Justice Notes Archive:
http://www.eco-justice.org/E-list.asp

Eco-Justice Ministries is an independent, ecumenical agency that helps churches answer the call to care for all of God's creation, and develop ministries that are faithful, relevant and effective in working toward social justice and environmental sustainability.

Like on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EcoJusticeMinistries

Yale Report: Climate Change in the American Christian Mind

http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/article/climate-change-in-the-american-christian-mind

We are pleased to release the first report,"Climate Change in the American Christian Mind," from our most recent national survey of global warming opinion. Many Americans draw, at least in part, upon their religious beliefs to guide their understanding and interpretation of climate change causes, impacts, and solutions. This report examines the global warming beliefs, risk perceptions, policy preferences, and related moral values of three major groups of American Christians – Catholics, non-evangelical Protestants, and evangelicals. It also investigates how these groups currently view Pope Francis and the extent to which he is considered a trusted voice on the issue of global warming.

Yale Report - Climate Change in the American Mind, March 2015

http://environment.yale.edu/climate-communication/article/Global-Warming-CCAM-March-2015/

Today we are releasing results from our latest national survey, conducted in March 2015. Nearly two-thirds of the American public (63%) currently think global warming is happening, a percentage that has remained relatively stable over the past five years. Similarly, the percentage of the public who think that if global warming is happening, it is mostly human caused (52%) has also remained relatively unchanged.

For Survey results in the Yale Climate Opinion Maps:
http://environment.yale.edu/poe/v2014/

To narrow down map to CT results, double-click on CT on the map

A World of Solutions: The U.N. Climate Sequel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm5DxojGAEI

A week after the short film What's Possible opened the U.N. Climate Summit, Lyn Lear and director Louie Schwartzberg are back with a sequel that expands on their vision for climate change solutions.

Lear wrote in The Huffington Post:

Director Louie Schwartzberg and I had similar visions about the beauty and natural violence of evolution and the millions of years it took before human beings arrived on this planet. Then beginning with the Industrial Revolution, in less than two hundred years, man had almost brought this beautiful, complex creation to the brink of extinction. Inconceivable…right?

We wanted to show that we are still in peril, but more, we have the means to solve our problems in the present. There are many reasons to be optimistic and hopeful.

Part of that hope was to make a comparison of the semi-conscious mycelium root/soil system of the earth that feeds all plant life to the burgeoning Internet-connected global society we are evolving into today. If we could learn to use the Internet and mass media wisely we could be a powerful means for good and for progress.

Learn more about climate change, and take action at takepart.com/climate.

WHAT'S POSSIBLE: The U.N. Climate Summit Film

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vaajVtgRuI

Presented to world leaders at the United Nations Climate Summit in New York, this short inspirational film shows that climate change is solvable. We have the technology to harness nature sustainably for a clean, prosperous energy future, but only if we act now. Narrated by Morgan Freeman, it calls on the people of the world to insist leaders get on the path of a livable climate and future for humankind.

Learn more about climate change and take action at takepart.com/climate.

WHAT'S POSSIBLE was created by a team including director Louie Schwartzberg, producer Lyn Davis Lear, writer Scott Z. Burns, Moving Art Studio, and the Lear Family Foundation.

Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Home, the Film

We are living in exceptional times. Scientists tell us that we have 10 years to change the way we live, avert the depletion of natural resources and the catastrophic evolution of the Earth's climate.

The stakes are high for us and our children. Everyone should take part in the effort, and HOME has been conceived to take a message of mobilization out to every human being.

For this purpose, HOME needs to be free. A patron, the PPR Group, made this possible. EuropaCorp, the distributor, also pledged not to make any profit because Home is a non-profit film.

HOME has been made for you : share it! And act for the planet.

http://youtu.be/jqxENMKaeCU

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Is the Environment a Moral Cause?

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/opinion/sunday/is-the-environment-a-moral-cause.html?_r=0

To win over more of the public, environmentalists must look beyond the arguments that they themselves have found convincing. The next wave of moral arguments for environmental reform will need to look very different from the last, if they are to be maximally effective. Such efforts to understand others’ moral perspectives might not only bring both sides in line on this important issue, but also foster the sort of sincerity and respect necessary to sustain a large-scale collective effort.