Moms For Climate Action

The climate crisis is our responsibility, not our children’s

Frida Berry Eklund and Yoca Arditi-Rocha, December 16, 2019 (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

“…For the past year, young people have been taking to the streets every Friday to fight for a secure and livable future…[M]ore than 7.6 million people from 185 countries took to the streets to demand action during the Global Climate Strike of Sept. 20–27…For parents, these climate strikes are both hopeful and heartbreaking. We are proud of our children for standing up to big and powerful governments, but it breaks our hearts to see our children so desperate for us to listen to the science that they are stepping out of their classrooms and into the streets to make themselves heard…

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If business as usual continues, our children will be living in a world that can’t feed itself and where billions are displaced, the air we breathe is toxic, the water we drink is contaminated and wildlife has been all but banished. Leaving a planet for our children with livable conditions should not be a partisan issue. It should be a basic human right…

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[T]he message from the youth is clear: Adults must act to protect their futures…This climate crisis has escalated throughout our lifetimes and it is our responsibility to solve it, not our children’s…We must put pressure on political leaders to make brave political decisions to completely de-carbonize our economies and reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050 at the latest. We must act like adults and take responsibility for our actions and put the needs of our children first…” click here for more

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Solar Will Fight On Against White House Disdain

Industry Vows to Continue Fight for Pro-Solar Policies, Despite Missed Opportunity This Year

December 17, 2019 (Solar Energy Industries Association)

“…Congress and the White House were unable to agree on including an extension of the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC) in an end of year tax package, meaning the credit will decrease at the end of this year. The measure also failed to include energy storage in the ITC. This represents a missed opportunity to take an achievable step to boost the economy, add jobs and reduce carbon emissions…

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The solar ITC is a proven way to generate tens of billions of dollars in private investment each year, while substantially reducing carbon emissions…[ Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, promised to continue the] fight for meaningful policy, including provisions for clean energy storage in 2020…” click here for more

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Climate Talks Flop

COP25 was meant to tackle the climate crisis. It fell short

Tara John, Arwa Damon, Ingrid Formanek and Sheena McKenzie, December 15, 2019 (CNN)

“The message from climate activists was passionate, the warning from the scientific community and countries already experiencing the effects of climate change, urgent. The action from world powers has been excruciatingly slow and inadequate…What had been scheduled as a 12-day summit [of nearly 200 countries] aimed at hammering out the rules of the 2015 Paris Climate accord, instead dragged on two extra days and highlighted the huge disconnect between the world's biggest polluting nations, and the global community demanding change...[Many observers, scientists and climate activists called the summit’s] agreement a monumental failure, strewn with watered-down language that kicks urgent items down the road to COP26 in 2020…

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Negotiators struggled to find common ground at the summit, especially over rules for a new global carbon trading market…The US, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, India and other big polluters are accused of obstructionist behavior while Australia and Brazil stand accused of seeking loopholes to recycle old carbon credits in order to meet their commitments…There were some signs of hope…[F]inance ministers from more than 50 countries unveiled an action plan that would see them incorporate climate solutions into their policies…” click here for more

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Southeastern Utility Giant Throwing Its Weight Around

Southern Cities' Renewable Energy Push Could Be Stifled as Utility Locks Them Into Longer Contracts; The utility has only modest plans for emissions cuts over the next 20 years. Its shift to longer contracts would prevent customers in 7 states from leaving.

James Bruggers, December 16, 2019 (Inside Climate News)

“As cities in the South start exploring ways to expand renewable energy, some are running into an obstacle that could set those plans back decades…The Tennessee Valley Authority, a public utility owned by the federal government, serves a population of 10 million in seven southeastern states through a distribution network of local power companies. While it has a lower carbon footprint than many utilities right now, its plans envision only modest improvements over the next 20 years…[It has persuaded many of those power companies] to agree to 20-year contracts—a much longer timeframe than its past agreements…

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Conspicuously absent from that list, however, are some of the largest local power companies in the TVA system, including those that serve Memphis, Knoxville, Chattanooga, and Huntsville, Alabama. Together, the hold-outs account for nearly half of TVA's operating revenues…[Their] fear is that signing long-term deals now will limit their bargaining power over everything from electricity rates to significantly boosting renewable energy, which some customers are demanding…” click here for more

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Oil Biz And The Climate Crisis Don’t Mix

As the climate crisis grows, Big Oil finds itself over a barrel

Joel Makower, December 9, 2019 (GreenBiz)

“…The world’s largest oil and gas companies are facing strong headwinds from activists, investors and communities, pitting the companies’ relentless growth ambitions against the worsening signs of climate change…Greenhouse gas emissions hit a record high in 2019, due in large part to the growth of oil (up 0.9 percent) and gas (up 2.6 percent) during the year, offsetting declining emissions from coal (down 0.9 percent)…[This continues the oil sector’s] decades-old efforts to suppress concerns about climate change…[And over] the next half decade, between 2020 and 2024, the oil and gas sector investments will lock in enough carbon emissions to push warming well beyond 2 degrees Celsius, let alone 1.5 degrees C…

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...[A new report shows that over the next half-decade,] the oil and gas sector plans to invest $1.4 trillion in new exploration and extraction…[The report] found that 85 percent of the expanded production is slated to come from the United States and Canada over that period…[and] just 25 companies are responsible for nearly half of the production…[The scientific evidence is fueling protests and disinvestment that could have implications for companies in other sectors,] from suppliers and partners to intensive oil-consuming customers…[But the oil and gas sector] doesn’t seem to be budging…Wall Street remains bullish on the sector…” click here for more

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All Sun All The Time? Not Exactly

Elon Musk revives his plan to power the United States entirely on solar; The CEO of the company that sells the Tesla Solar Roof speaks out.

Mike Brown, December 9, 2019 (Inverse)

“Could you meet the United States entirely from solar energy? Sure, claims tech entrepreneur Elon Musk…[Must recently tweeted that solar ‘is a Gigawatt per square km! All you need is a 100 by 100 mile patch in a deserted corner of Arizona, Texas or Utah (or anywhere) to more than power the entire USA’…The plan itself is clearly a flawed idea — collecting and storing electricity in one small patch of land is just a storm away from knocking the entire country offline — but it illustrates a more realistic proposal that people can meet their electricity demands from zero-emissions sources…

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…[M]uch like the idea to power the world by covering the Sahara Desert in solar panels, or putting a giant floating wind farm in the Atlantic Ocean, the suggestion isn’t so much a call to pick up a shovel and start covering a chunk of the Earth’s surface. It’s more to highlight how humanity has the technology to offer zero-emissions electricity.” click here for more

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When Action Slowed Climate Change (And Can Again)

Humans Already Slowed The Climate Crisis Once, New Research Shows

9 December 2019 (ScienceAlert)

“…[Regulations on emissions of an ozone-destroying class of greenhouse gas called chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) reduced projected global temperatures for 2050 by] at least one degree Celsius…[That one degree is far from trivial] when a projected rise of just two degrees in coming decades could return us to a climate that hasn't been seen in several million years, along with a host of devastating consequences…[New research on the 1989 Montreal Protocol that led to CFC regulations showed the Montreal Protocol was] a success story worth celebrating…

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In spite of a handful of rogues still pumping out pollutants, the protocol signed in Montreal is now regarded as a perfect example of what humanity can achieve when it puts a sustainable future ahead of business profits…[If not for action on the ozone hole, climate crisis-inducing] greenhouse gases would have ended up pushing Arctic temperatures up by as much as 4 degrees by mid this century…But the task ahead of us is unlike anything we've seen before. Compared to our taste for ozone-depleting chemicals, our hunger for fossil fuels is ravenous…The stakes have never been greater…[but the Montreal Protocol demonstrates superbly that international treaties to limit greenhouse gas emissions really do work…” click here for more

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Ocean Wind Pioneer To Test ‘Green’ Hydrogen

Orsted aims to invest in 'green hydrogen' pilot projects

Nikolaj Skydsgaard w/Edmund Blair, December 5, 2019 (Reuters)

“…[Danish wind farm developer Orsted and two partners secured funding in August from the British government for a pilot project] that will use wind power and other renewable energy sources to make hydrogen fuel…[‘Green’ hydrogen] is made from renewable resources rather than fossil fuel…[It] could be used to store energy and create a renewable power source to transform transport and industry…[Green hydrogen is still in its very early stage and] has considerable challenges regarding how to handle it…

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…Hydrogen gas has long been seen as a potential alternative to fossil fuels as it emits water when burned, not CO2, the greenhouse gas emitted by coal, oil and natural gas. But making hydrogen from water by electrolysis, using renewable power, requires large amount of electricity…Orsted, the world’s largest offshore wind farm developer, plans to invest $30 billion in green energy up to 2025 in efforts to be become a major renewable energy firm, leading a shift away from fossil fuels.” click here for more

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A Climate Crisis Refugee Every 2 Seconds

Climate change is forcing one person from their home every two seconds, Oxfam says

Jack Guy, December 2, 2019 (CNN)

“Climate-fueled disasters have forced about 20 million people a year to leave their homes in the past decade -- equivalent to one every two seconds -- according to a new report from Oxfam…This makes the climate the biggest driver of internal displacement for the period, with the world's poorer countries at the highest risk, despite their smaller contributions to global carbon pollution compared to richer nations…People are seven times more likely to be internally displaced by floods, cyclones and wildfires than volcanic eruptions and earthquakes, and three times more likely than by conflict…

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Low- and lower-middle income nations, such as India, are more than four times more likely to be affected by climate-fueled displacement than high-income countries like Spain and the US…[About 80% of those displaced live in Asia…[Small island developing states (SIDS), such as Cuba, Dominica and Tuvalu, are] seven of the top 10 countries with the highest rates of displacement from extreme weather disasters between 2008 and 2018…People living in SIDs are 150 times more likely to be displaced by extreme weather disasters than those living in Europe…” click here for more

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New Energy Crossing Over

Solar, wind and hydro power could soon surpass coal

Matt Egan, November 26, 2019 (CNN)

“…Solar and wind power are growing so rapidly that for the first time ever, the United States will likely get more power in 2021 from renewable energy than from coal…Coal provided about half of America's power generation between 2000 and 2010. However, coal usage started to fall sharply late in the last decade because of the abundance of cheap natural gas. Coal was dethroned by natural gas in 2016…Despite President Donald Trump's promise to save coal, the industry's decline has only continued. This was underlined by last month's bankruptcy of Murray Energy, America's largest private coal mining company...

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US power plants are expected to consume less coal next year than at any point since 1978…That will cause coal's market share to drop below 22%, compared with 28% in 2018… Global electricity production from coal is on track to fall by a record 3% in 2019…[It is] driven by record declines from Germany and South Korea as well as the first dip in India in at least three decades…If the crossover doesn't occur in 2021, it will without a doubt do so by 2022…This transition has already played out in Texas…During the first half of this year, wind power surpassed coal for the first time…Wind made up just 0.8% of the Lone Star State's power as of 2003. That figure has climbed to 22%, compared with 21% for coal…” click here for more

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U.N. Forecasts 3.2°C Long Term Rise

Cut global emissions by 7.6 percent every year for next decade to meet 1.5°C Paris target - UN report

November 26, 2019 (United Nations Environment Program)

“…Unless global greenhouse gas emissions fall by 7.6 per cent each year between 2020 and 2030, the world will miss the opportunity to get on track towards the 1.5°C temperature goal of the Paris Agreement…[Under] all current unconditional commitments under the Paris Agreement are implemented, temperatures are expected to rise by 3.2°C [by 2100], bringing even wider-ranging and more destructive climate impacts…[According to the United Nations Environment Program’s annual Emissions Gap Report, collective] ambition must increase more than fivefold over current levels to deliver the cuts needed over the next decade for the 1.5°C goal…

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The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that going beyond 1.5°C will increase the frequency and intensity of climate impacts…G20 nations collectively account for 78 per cent of all emissions, but only five G20 members have committed to a long-term zero emissions target…[All nations must substantially increase ambition] in 2020 and follow up with policies and strategies to implement them…The report finds that greenhouse gas emissions have risen 1.5 per cent per year over the last decade…[Cuts in emissions of 7.6 per cent per year from 2020 to 2030 are needed] to meet the 1.5°C goal and 2.7 per cent per year for the 2°C goal…” click here for more

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Battery Cost Drop Opens New Energy Era

Battery Storage Costs Drop Dramatically, Making Way to a New Era; A recent report continues to confirm that clean electrification through batteries is advancing at impressive rates.

Fabienne Lang, November 26, 2019 (Interesting Engineering)

“Clean electrification of transport vehicles is advancing at impressive, and rapid, rates…[E]xploding investment in battery technologies is revolutionizing the sector much faster than expected and setting in motion a seismic shift in how we will power our lives and organize energy systems as early as 2030…[Based on data from the U.S., the E.U., China, and India, a new report found] the more than $1.4 billion invested in battery technologies in the first half of 2019 alone, massive investments in battery manufacturing and steady advances in technology have set in motion a seismic shift in how we will organize energy systems as early as 2030…

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[It] will, by 2021,] push solar and wind power forward, and cut back the use of fossil fuels more quickly…[The three main takeaway points from the RMI report are that battery] cost and performance improvements are quickly outpacing forecasts…These improvements spell trouble for natural gas and internal combustion engine vehicle markets…Lithium-ion, while still the leading batter technology, is likely not the universal solution of future energy storage technologies…” click here for more

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