ENVIRONMENT/CLIMATE

CLIMATE VOTERS GUIDE HERE

The UN has declared that the world must reduce its GHG emissions by 45% from 2010 levels by 2030 in order to keep global temperature below 1.5 C  degree increase, i.e.to prevent the most catastrophic consequences of climate change.

  1. Two hundred countries agree catastrophic global warming is a problem. Only US Republicans, funded by polluting corporations, disagree.
    (Global Warming)
    SOURCE: This Changes Everything (2014), Naomi Klein
    Between 2005 and 2006, the weather futures market increased from $9.7B to $45.2B
    Between 2008 and 2010, 261 patents were filed related to growing “climate-ready” crops (i.e. seeds able to withstand extreme weather conditions)
    Climate change deniers are overwhelmingly: conservative, white, male—with higher than average incomes
    American insurance companies have begun dispatching teams of private firefighters to high- end clients (in California & Colorado) when their property is threatened by wildfires, a “concierge” service pioneered by AIG
    Fossil fuel companies receive more than $775B annually in global subsidies
    From 2001 to 2010, the top five oil companies earned $900 billion in profits [ExxonMobil holds the record for highest corporate profits in the U.S. ($41B in 2011; $45B in 2012)]
    In 2013, the U.S. oil and gas industry spent almost $400,000 per DAY lobbying Congress and government officials. [During the 2012 election cycle, the fossil fuel industry contributed $73M in federal political donations.]
    The 2005 Energy Bill exempted the fracking industry from regulations imposed by the Safe Drinking Water Act (1974). [Gas & oil companies are NOT required to disclose the chemicals being injected underground.]
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Agreement
    Wikipedia- Paris Agreement.
    As of Nov 2017 195 countries have signed the agreement to respond to the global warming climate threat by limiting the increase in global temperature to 2 degrees centigrade (3.6F).
    https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/recips.php?ind=E01&recipdetail=A&sortorder=U&mem=Y&cycle=2018
    In 2016 and 2018, 19 of the top 20 Congressional recipients of fossil fuel donations were Republican.
    http://scorecard.lcv.org/members-of-congress
    According to the League of Women Voters, when it came to fighting climate change in 2016 only one Republican Senator scored above 50% (out of 100%) in their voting record. For Democrats it was just the opposite, with just one Democratic Senator scoring below 50 %. The Republican Democratic dichotomy on fighting global warming is just as strong in the House.

  2. If 97 of 100 doctors diagnosed you with cancer, would you take action? 97% of climate scientists warn human behavior is a direct cause of global warming.

  3. If we do not address global warming, none of the other issues will matter.

  4. Global warming is not about climate change; it's about the survival of the human species.
    (Global Warming)
    SOURCE: This Changes Everything (2014), Naomi Klein
    Fifty million U.S. citizens are “food insecure”
    Per a 2013 WSJ investigation: more than 15 million Americans reside within one mile of a natural gas well that has been drilled and fracked since 2000 [Proximity to fracking sites increases the likelihood of congenital heart and neurological defects, low birth weights, and unsafe Apgar scores in newborns.]
    During 2012, there were more than 6,000 spills and other “mishaps” at onshore oil and gas sites in the U.S.
    More than 70% of the chemicals mass-produced in the U.S. have never been tested for their impact upon fetuses or children
    http://news.mit.edu/2017/deadly-heat-waves-could-hit-south-asia-century-0802
    Without big reductions in carbon dioxide, large areas of SE Asia home to one-fifth of humanity could be devastated by heat waves within a few decades.

  5. 97% of climate scientists warn human misuse of resources is a direct cause of global warming.
    (Global Warming)
    Support data: 
SOURCE: This Changes Everything (2014), Naomi Klein
    In 2013, global carbon dioxide emissions were 61% higher than they were in 1990 (when climate treaty negotiations began)
    Approximately one-third of all greenhouse gas emissions are generated by heating, cooling, and lighting buildings
    Once carbon has been emitted into the atmosphere, it remains for hundreds of years— trapping heat
    The global food system now accounts for 19-29% of world greenhouse emissions
    The U.S. military is the largest single consumer of petroleum in the world
    Renewable energy creates more jobs (per unit of energy delivered) than fossil fuels
    Methane emissions caused by fracking natural gas are 30% greater than emissions caused by conventional gas extraction. [Methane gas is 34 times more effective at trapping heat—and carries a warming potential that is 86 times greater than carbon dioxide.]
    Coal, left undisturbed, helps sequester the carbon extracted by plants and absorbs groundwater toxins (including uranium, cadmium, and mercury)
    Sulfur dioxide emissions are the primary cause of acid rain
    Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) techniques release more than twice as much greenhouse-gas as conventional extraction
    From 2008 to 2013 (in the U.S.), the number of rail cars transporting oil increased 4,000%
    In 2012, (in the U.S.) the fracking industry created 280 BILLION gallons of toxic wastewater
    Climate change is the result of cumulative emissions: the carbon dioxide humans emit remains in the atmosphere for one to two centuries
    Developed countries (representing less than 20% of the world population) have emitted almost 70% of the greenhouse pollution currently destabilizing the planet. [The United States (representing less than 5% of the world population) contributes approximately 14% of global carbon emissions.]
    https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/
    97 percent or more of actively publishing climate scientists agree that climate warming trends over the last century are extremely likely due to human activities.