Where Has Earth Day-2013 Gone?

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Toasty

Where has Earth Day gone?  Once a day of reflection, learning and community involvement, Earth Day now appears to be little more than a day of sales by plant nurseries and big-box hardware stores.  Have we given up hope, or are we so jaded and self-absorbed that we just don’t care?  Hopefully none of the these possibilities are true, because the real lesson learned from the first Earth Day celebration was the power of an informed, involved citizenry. Continue reading →

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President Obama Addresses Climate Change

Posted on November 15, 2012 by Toasty

In a November 14, 2012 press conference newly re-elected President Obama responded to a question by Mark Landler, of the New York Times,  on the President's plans for action on climate change during his second term.  The official transcript, in its entirety, of the exchange is:

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Earth Day 2012

Posted on April 22, 2012 by Toasty

As we celebrate another Earth Day it is perhaps instructive to place today into perspective by looking  backwards at the first Earth Day, held in 1970.   In 1970, 20 million – 1 out of every 10 – Americans participated in an Earth Day event, today’s participation will undoubtedly be far lower.  On the other hand, the 1970 Earth Day was primarily a U.S. event, having been conceived only a few months prior to the actual event by a U. S. Senator.  The first Earth Day  was rapidly followed by a flood of environmental legislation in the U.S. and is considered as the beginning of the environmental movement.  Earth Day has now spread around the globe and Earth Day 2012 is a international event.

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A Message from a Republican Meteorologist on Climate Change

Posted on April 19, 2012 by Toasty
The thought-provoking post below was originally posted on Neorenaissance and has since been published elsewhere.  Mr. Douglas, is a  respected meteorologist and his views are well worth reading.
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Acknowledging Climate Science Doesn’t Make You A Liberal

By Guest Blogger Paul Douglas | Mar 28, 2012 

Paul Douglas

Meteorologist Paul Douglas

I’m going to tell you something that my Republican friends are loath to admit out loud: climate change is real. I am a moderate Republican, fiscally conservative; a fan of small government, accountability, self-empowerment, and sound science. I am not a climate scientist. I’m a meteorologist, and the weather maps I’m staring at are making me uncomfortable. No, you’re not imagining it: we’ve clicked into a new and almost foreign weather pattern. To complicate matters, I’m in a small, frustrated and endangered minority:  a Republican deeply concerned about the environmental sacrifices some are asking us to make to keep our economy powered-up, long-term. It’s ironic. The root of the word conservative is “conserve.”  A staunch Republican, Teddy Roosevelt, set aside vast swaths of America for our National Parks System, the envy of the world. Another Republican, Richard Nixon, launched the EPA. Now some in my party believe the EPA and all those silly “global warming alarmists” are going to get in the way of drilling and mining our way to prosperity. Well, we have good reason to be alarmed.

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Migration Revisited: Poleward and Upwards

Posted on November 5, 2011 by Toasty

In 2009 I wrote about two diverse research studies, conducted on different continents, that demonstrated the poleward migration of animals in response to a warming climate.  We now have a more exhaustive meta-study(1) that describes significantly faster migration toward the poles and toward higher elevations than previously reported.  With 2,000 species included in the study, poleward migration in response to climate change was found to be an average rate of 17.6 kilometers (10.9 miles) per decade and the upwards rate of migration averaged 12.2 meters (40 feet) per decade.  According to the Dr. Chris Thomas, lead investigator of the study,"These changes are equivalent to animals and plants shifting away from the Equator at around 20 cm (8 inches) per hour, for every hour of the day, for every day of the year. This has been going on for the last 40 years and is set to continue for at least the rest of this century” .

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7 Billion and Counting

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Toasty

When the first Earth Day was celebrated in 1970, population growth was of high concern.  The 1968 book  The Population Bomb(2) become quite popular',  spawned organizations such as Zero Population Growth, and entered population into the mainstream of environmental concerns.  When The Population Bomb was published the world population stood at 3.5 billion(3); it has now doubled.

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Climate Change is Here

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Toasty

toles - shuttle

There can no longer be any doubt about a changing climate.  Our climate is changing now and it is too late stop it, or perhaps even significantly slow it down.  Our only choice is to finally recognize the reality of climate change, and learn to live with a climate  that differs from the one in which we, and the ecosystems upon which we depend, evolved.

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Earth Day 2011

Posted on April 22, 2011 by Toasty

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government in order to save the environment.”

The above quote by famed photographer Ansel Adams has been attributed to a statement that he made in conjunction with the first Earth Day, in 1970.  In any event it is an apt sentiment as we mark the 4oth Earth Day as our environment is once again imperiled by our government. Continue reading →

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A Climate Activist Prepares

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Toasty

One of our leading climate activists, Mr. Mike Tidwell, Executive Director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, recently published a thought provoking opinion piece in the Washington Post that has attracted a fair amount of attention.  Mr. Tidwell, a resident of suburban Washington, D.C. has long practiced a “green lifestyle” with solar panels, a corn-burning furnace and other energy conservation measures;  and in his public speaking appeared optimistic that we can control climate change if we act.  But in this uncharacteristically negative article he describes a change of direction – fortifying his house, the purchase of a generator and vegetable seeds, and taking firearm lessons.

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U.S. House of Representatives Budget for 2011

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Toasty

As the U.S. Congress and Administration continue negotiations on the funding of the government for the remainder of this fiscal year, which ends September 30, 2011, we must remain cautious of the funding cuts made by the House of Representatives in their version of the budget.  Lead by newly elected Republican members, the House drastically reduced spending for science,  education and the environment with serious implications for the American future.  Passed by the House on February 19,  2011 the bill (House Resolution 1) has been sent to the Senate for its action. 

Addressing climate change, the House virtually eliminated all funding for climate research and prohibits the Environmental Protection Agency from regulating greenhouse gas emissions from stationary sources such as power plants, factories and refineries.

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