The Global Warming thread.

[JTA]

The agreement is non-binding, so we have nothing to lose by signing it even if we don't abide by whatever it suggests. By not signing it, we just look arrogant and non-cooperative on the world stage, in my opinion. I think this "arrogance" is a product of our obsession over our supposed American Exceptionalism.

[billy.pilgrim]

The US Is the Last Country to Remain Outside the Paris Climate Agreement

Syria signed the agreement in Germany this week.

Syria is so damn progressive

[Vrede too]

Tell the World Bank: End All Finance for Fossil Fuel Exploration

[Vrede too]

Standing up for climate justice, 2/3 of participants walked out of a US-backed fossil fuel panel at the UN Climate Talks. (short video)

[Vrede too]

Global CO2 Emissions to Hit Record High in 2017
The projected rise in greenhouse gas emissions after three years of leveling off suggests emissions haven’t peaked yet, adding urgency to the UN climate talks.

[Vrede too]

Legal Action Challenges Duke Energy Stranglehold On North Carolina Rooftop Solar

The Center for Biological Diversity today took legal action to challenge Duke Energy’s controversial effort to stop a North Carolina nonprofit from providing rooftop solar panels for the Faith Community Church in Greensboro, N.C.

“In true Goliath fashion, Duke Energy is bullying a community church out of choosing clean and affordable solar power,” said Perrin de Jong, the Center’s North Carolina staff attorney. “As one of the largest corporate utilities in the world, Duke Energy is abusing its monopoly power. It’s creating an unjust system where only the wealthy can afford renewable energy and everyone else is forced to buy dirty power from giant utilities.”

The local climate-justice nonprofit NC WARN agreed to install solar panels on the Faith Community Church in exchange for repayment based on the electricity generated. Such power purchase agreements drive solar development in many states by helping people pay over time when they can't afford rooftop solar's upfront costs.

At the urging of Duke Energy, the state’s monopoly utility, North Carolina regulators determined that the agreement violated a state statute prohibiting third-party sales of electricity to the public. NC WARN appealed the order, which resulted in a contentious, split lower-court decision.

The nonprofit’s appeal to the decision is now being heard by the North Carolina Supreme Court. The Center’s amicus brief submitted in support of the appeal was also signed by other national nonprofits, including Greenpeace, Inc., Friends of the Earth U.S., Food and Water Watch and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance.

“From catastrophic super-storms to disastrous droughts, we’re already feeling the devastating effects of climate change,” said de Jong. “We urgently need to transition to cleaner sources of power for the planet and everyone who lives on it. Corporate, profit-driven utilities shouldn’t be allowed to stand in the way of a just and clean energy revolution.”

North Carolina is one of a handful of states that prohibits power purchase agreements. Others include Florida, Kentucky and Oklahoma. This legal mechanism is one way utilities have attempted to block or shut down distributed solar development. Other tactics, such as charging unfair fees and eliminating net metering programs, have hobbled solar growth in states like Arizona and Nevada.

[Vrede too]

Three Largest Meat Producers Rival Exxon in Greenhouse Gas Emissions
JBS, Cargill and Tyson emitted more greenhouse gas last year than all of France.

[O Really]

Trump's EPA will probably give them an award.

[Vrede too]

Trump's EPA will probably give them an award.

Debunking Climate Change Myths: A Holiday Conversation Guide
We asked our readers to share the top climate denial claims and global warming questions they hear from family. Here’s what science shows — and how to explain it.

[Vrede too]

Tell the World Bank: End All Finance for Fossil Fuel Exploration

Who says that petitions don't work?




World Bank Announces End of Financing of Upstream Oil and Gas


(recaptured methane flamethrower)

[Vrede too]

Global coral bleaching five times greater than 1980s: study

[billy.pilgrim]

I sure hope trump helps BP and Exon get rid of those job killing safety regulations that were put in place after the Horizon oil disaster. That idiot Obama made them take out the protocol for saving our Gulf of Mexico walruses and sea lions.
What does Obama hate our tropical walruses? MAGAt!

[Vrede too]

I sure hope trump helps BP and Exon get rid of those job killing safety regulations that were put in place after the Horizon oil disaster. That idiot Obama made them take out the protocol for saving our Gulf of Mexico walruses and sea lions.
What does Obama hate our tropical walruses? MAGAt!

Panama City Beach, Bay County FL:

[Vrede too]

These Southern Cities Are Going 100 Percent Clean (Energy)
Here’s how they’re getting started.

If the South were its own nation, it would be the seventh-largest carbon emitter in the world, according to the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC). The region has more than 200 coal-fired power plants, and renewable energy policies in southern states are few and far between.

But now a handful of cities in the South are cleaning up their acts. Promises to make the switch to 100 percent renewable energy over the next few decades are coming in from Atlanta; from Columbia, South Carolina; and from Orlando, Sarasota, and St. Petersburg, Florida. In the midst of President Trump’s withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord in the spring (and his administration’s more recent attempts to repeal the Clean Power Plan, among other dirty deeds), 41 cities around the country have committed to going 100 percent renewable to help fight climate change. (And five are already there: Kodiak, Alaska; Rock Port, Missouri; Burlington, Vermont; Aspen, Colorado; and Greensburg, Kansas.) Here’s how some of these southern stars are doing their part....

[Vrede too]

Indirect subsidies for fossil fuels:

$306bn in one year: US bill for natural disasters smashes record
Major hurricanes, wildfires, drought and tornadoes have led to highest ever damage costs, as expert says extremes have ‘climate change fingerprints on them’

[Vrede too]

EPA's Pruitt Suggests Global Warming May Not Be A 'Bad Thing' For Humans

[rstrong]

We've got hot weather compared to a couple weeks ago. Currently -12F, or -28F with the wind chill. Birds are bursting into flames in mid-air.

Our attitude towards global warming varies by temperature.

[Vrede too]

We've got hot weather compared to a couple weeks ago. Currently -12F, or -28F with the wind chill. Birds are bursting into flames in mid-air.

Our attitude towards global warming varies by temperature.

It'll be 51F here today, 64F Sunday.

[rstrong]

[O Really]

Highs in mid-80's, lows in upper 60's. Sunny and dry.
They must have built Winnipeg all at once during the summer. Nobody would have voluntarily decided to build a city if they had known about the winter, would they?