Published on Mar 16, 2018
The Trump administration has accused Russia of a series of cyberattacks on American and European power plants, water facilities and electrical grids, dating back to 2015. Why target a country’s infrastructure? And what are the risks of such acts of cyberwarfare? John Yang talks to David Kennedy of TrustedSec.
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The Climate Change Advisory Task Force has completed its task of identifying potential future climate change impacts to Miami-Dade County, and has submitted various recommendations to the Board of County Commissioners. Please visit the County’s GreenPrint website for the implementation of these recommendations.
If you have any further questions regarding climate change, please call 305-375-5593.
In July, 2006, the Board of County Commissioners established the Miami-Dade County Climate Change Advisory Task Force (CCATF), through the adoption of Ordinance 06-113 sponsored. This unanimous action by the Board further cemented Miami-Dade County’s commitment to continuing its greenhouse gas reduction efforts and established the County as a leader in climate change adaptation planning.
The CCATF served as an advisory board to the Board of County Commissioners and was charged with identifying potential future climate change impacts to Miami-Dade County, while providing recommendations regarding mitigation and adaptation measures to respond to climate change. The Mayor and the Board were responsible for making the decisions to accept and implement the CCATF recommendations concerning climate change. Some of the implemented recommendations then became a part of the County’s sustainability plan, GreenPrint.
Seven CCATF committees/subcommittees were established to focus on specific areas of climate change mitigation and adaptation. In addition to the appointed members, various County and municipal liaisons and representatives from numerous universities, local businesses and environmental and regional organizations participated in CCATF meetings and associated committee meetings.
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WGBHForum
Published on Jul 29, 2014
Paul Kirshen examines the threat of rising sea levels brought about by climate change, and discusses how serious the threat is. An internationally recognized expert in integrated water resources management, he has developed detailed models mapping the impact of sea level rise on coastal communities in New England, Florida, and California. Kirshen has been conducting research on climate change since 1988 and leads an initiative to develop a climate change adaptation practice that will address the multidimensional impacts of climate change. This talk is part of Cambridge Forum’s After Copenhagen: Global Climate Change Conference, recorded by Steve MacAusland.
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CCCommissionVideo
Published on Jun 2, 2014
Video used as a walk through for the application built for the ESRI Climate Challenge.
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Association to Preserve Cape Cod
Published on Feb 17, 2015
Sea level rise is threatening Cape Cod’s coastline, but the impacts are not always visible. Funded by the Massachusetts Environmental Trust, the Association to Preserve Cape Cod teamed up with the US Geological Survey and the Cape Cod Commission to map and model how rising seas are causing groundwater to rise under our feet. As USGS Hydrologist Peter Weiskel puts it, this could be called “an inundation from below” study.
Bob Oldale, a homeowner in New Silver Beach, North Falmouth, explains what happened to his neighborhood when groundwater level became too high after Hurricane Bob: three septic systems and a sewer installation later, he warns that we need to adapt to ever-changing water levels, before it’s too late.
Bob’s story is rounded out by comments from George Heufelder, the director of the Barnstable County Department of Health and the Environment, on the public health risk of septic systems and sewer lines that are too close to groundwater. Laurel Schaider, a research scientist with the Silent Spring Institute, talks about her study of pharmaceuticals and other unregulated contaminants in wastewater, and how they’re getting from septic systems and into drinking water.
APCC Director Ed DeWitt, follows up with a call to action: we need to stem the rising tides by reducing our carbon footprint, and mitigating its inevitable effects of sea level rise by protecting our vulnerable coastline.
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Who Will Tell the People is a passionate, eye-opening challenge to American democracy. Here is a tough-minded exploration of why we’re in trouble, starting with the basic issues of who gets heard, who gets ignored, and why. Greider shows us the realities of power in Washington today, uncovering the hidden relationships that link politicians with corporations and the rich, and that subvert the needs of ordinary citizens.
How do we put meaning back into public life? Greider shares the stories of some citizens who have managed to crack Washington’s “Grand Bazaar” of influence peddling as he reveals the structures designed to thwart them. Without naiveté or cynicism, Greider shows us how the system can still be made to work for the people, and delineates the lines of battle in the struggle to save democracy. By showing us the reality of how the political decisions that shape our lives are made, William Greider explains how we can begin to take control once more.
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Published on Feb 26, 2018
https://democracynow.org – This week marks six months since Hurricane Harvey caused historic flooding in Houston, Texas, the most diverse city in the nation and one of its largest. Houston is also home to the largest refining and petrochemical complex in the country. As federal money for rebuilding trickles in, Houston’s chief “recovery czar” is the president of Shell Oil, Marvin Odum, whose past experience includes rebuilding Shell’s oil and gas facilities after Hurricane Katrina. Meanwhile, immigrants and fenceline communities who suffer from pollution along Houston’s industrial corridor are still largely absent from much of the discussion about how the city plans to recover. For more, we host a roundtable discussion with Dr. Robert Bullard, the “father of environmental justice”; Bryan Parras of the Sierra Club; undocumented immigrant activist Cesar Espinosa; and Goldman Environmental Prize winner Hilton Kelley in Port Arthur, Texas.
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The fossil fuel lobby preached its gospel in Virginia. Now, black churches are fighting back.
By Kenya Downs on Mar 14, 2018
Rev. Paul Wilson fastens enough buttons on his jacket to stay warm on a chilly fall afternoon but still keep his clergy collar visible. He’s whipping up a crowd of demonstrators in downtown Richmond, Virginia, where they’re waiting to make a short march from Richmond’s Capitol Square Bell Tower to the nearby National Theatre. His eyes covered by sunglasses, and his head by a newsboy hat, Wilson speaks to the assembled about their Christian responsibility to protect the planet.
They’ve gathered for the Water Is Life Rally & Concert, an event to protest the proposed construction of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. The development, a joint venture between several energy companies (including Richmond-based Dominion Energy), would carry natural gas 600 miles from West Virginia to North Carolina.
The pipeline’s proposed route runs directly between Union Hill and Union Grove Baptist churches, the two parishes where Wilson serves as pastor in rural Buckingham County, 70 miles south of Richmond. The proposed site for the pipeline’s 54,000-horsepower, gas-fired compressor station is also set to be built right between them.
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Transition Studies 