3 Presidential Candidates Vow to Refuse Fossil Fuel Money
Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley, and Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, have pledged not to accept contributions from fossil fuel companies. The Nation magazine and 350.org called on candidates to sign a pledge not to solicit or accept donations “from any oil, gas or coal company.” Hillary Clinton and 14 Republican candidates contacted by The Nation editors have not replied.
Report: Exxon Knew of Climate Change in 1981, Still Funded Deniers
And The Guardian reports a newly surfaced email shows oil giant ExxonMobil knew about climate change seven years before it became a public issue, but still spent millions of dollars to fund climate change denial for nearly 30 years. The email from Lenny Bernstein, Exxon’s former in-house climate expert, says the company first “got interested” in climate change in 1981. According to Greenpeace, Exxon spent more than $30 million on think tanks and researchers promoting climate change denial.
http://democracynow.org – In a Fourth of July holiday special, we begin with the words of Frederick Douglass. Born into slavery around 1818, Douglass became a key leader of the abolitionist movement. On July 5, 1852, in Rochester, New York, he gave one of his most famous speeches, “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro.” He was addressing the Rochester Ladies Antislavery Society. This is actor James Earl Jones reading the speech during a performance of historian Howard Zinn’s acclaimed book, “Voices of a People’s History of the United States.” He was introduced by Zinn.
SECRETS OF ARCHAEOLOGY: Cities Of The Sea And Wind (Ancient History Documentary)
Take a virtual reality tour of history’s most intriguing ancient civilizations. Uncover the secrets of the pyramids as the Pharaohs reach for immortality, walk the streets of the Eternal City of Rome, relive a step-by-step reconstruction of Pompeii under the shadow of mighty Vesuvius, experience life in bustling Baghdad and journey to Latin America to the mythical “El Dorado.” SECRETS OF ARCHAEOLOGY makes history come alive!
CITIES OF THE SEA AND WIND
In between the 1st and 3rd centuries A.D., the rich Roman province Tripolitania was comprised of three coastal cities named Sabrata, Leptis Magna and Oea, better known as Tripoli. Thanks to advanced digital reconstruction, we will see the Forum off Leptis Magna come to life again. The Forum was already famous in ancient times for the Severus’ Bascilica, one of the largest buildings ever erected.
Sea-level rise due to polar ice melt and thermal expansion of the ocean water is one of the major threats of climate change.
Not only will sea-level rise submerge parts of some coastal cities, but it will also make them more vulnerable to storm surges, flooding and even tidal waters.
Eastern Antarctica, and in particular the enormous Totten Glacier, has escaped much public awareness. This video points to similarities between glacier melt in eastern and western Antarctica, as scientists explore a potentially concerning future for the vast glacier.
Those wishing more information and a deeper dive can follow these links:
The Grantham Institute for Climate Change Annual Lecture 2013, given by Professor Thomas Stocker, University of Bern, Switzerland and Co-chair of IPCC WGI
CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere are now unprecedented in at least the last 800,000 years, and they rise more than 100 times faster than during the past 20,000 years. This is caused by anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases by burning fossil fuels and land use change with consequent changes in the entire Earth System.
The newest comprehensive assessment Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change documents a rapidly and profoundly changing Earth System and provides the latest understanding of changes ahead of us. There is no doubt that warming and many of the consequent changes are caused by human activity which makes this new geological epoch: the Anthropocene. How climate scientists many centuries and millennia hence will characterize the Anthropocene depends on us, on our decisions today.
The implementation of international agreements to “prevent dangerous anthropogenic interference with the climate system” requires limiting CO2 emissions substantially and sustainably. Specific climate targets to limit the warming to 2°C, or even 1.5°C, are already now ambitious. But both further delay and insufficient emissions reductions close the door on limiting global mean warming, and consequent impacts, permanently.
“The recipient of this award was never in doubt. Derrick Jensen’s Endgame, released in late spring, was the best work of nonfiction in 2006. Given the significance of its subject matter and the urgency of Jensen’s message, Endgame is the most important book of the decade and could stand as the must-read book of our lifetimes. But be careful. The book is likely to send you into periods of despondency over the bleak future of the planet. But Jensen explains that if enough of us stand up and work together to fight the fascists, the crash won’t be as devastating. And the long struggle will eventually result in an explosive renewal of all forms of life on the planet.”
“Having long laid waste our own sanity, and having long forgotten what it feels like to be free, most of us too have no idea what it’s like to live in the real world. Seeing four salmon spawn causes me to burst into tears. I have never seen a river full of fish. I have never seen a sky darkened for days by a single flock of birds. (I have, however, seen skies perpetually darkened by smog.) As with freedom, so too the extraordinary beauty and fecundity of the world itself: It’s hard to love something you’ve never known. It’s hard to convince yourself to fight for something you may not believe has ever existed.” –from Endgame, Volume I
“Hailed as the philosopher poet of the ecological movement, best-selling author Derrick Jensen returns with a passionate forecast of how industrial civilization, and the persistent and widespread violence it requires, is unsustainable. Jensen’s intricate weaving together of history, philosophy, environmentalism, economics, literature and psychology has produced a powerful argument that demands attention in the tradition of such important books as Herbert Marcuse’s Eros and Civilization and Brigid Brophy’s Black Ship to Hell.”
Welcome to Transition Studies. To prosper for very much longer on the changing Earth humankind will need to move beyond its current fossil-fueled civilization toward one that is sustained on recycled materials and renewable energy. This is not a trivial shift. It will require a major transition in all aspects of our lives.
This weblog explores the transition to a sustainable future on our finite planet. It provides links to current news, key documents from government sources and non-governmental organizations, as well as video documentaries about climate change, environmental ethics and environmental justice concerns.
The links are listed here to be used in whatever manner they may be helpful in public information campaigns, course preparation, teaching, letter-writing, lectures, class presentations, policy discussions, article writing, civic or Congressional hearings and citizen action campaigns, etc. For further information on this blog see: About this weblog. and How to use this weblog.
Calendar – Click on Date for links entered on that Day
Transition Studies 