Most Americans Don’t Believe Climate
‘Consensus’, New Survey
U.S. Anti-Coal Dominoes Hit BRICS Wall
Despite the scientific consensus that global warming is
occurring and caused by human activity, a new survey conducted for the
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette demonstrates that many Americans remain uncertain about
the impact of climate change and the need for government action to address it.
Only 41 percent of Americans believe that ‘most scientists agree that climate
change is happening now caused mainly by human activities.’ --James P. O'Toole,
Pittsburgh
Post-Gazette, 10 August 2014
A year ago, U.S. President Barack Obama sought to
mobilize the nation behind a grand plan: fight climate change by slashing carbon
pollution at home, while prodding other countries to follow. A key part of that
strategy was for the United States to stop using public money to finance the
construction of most coal-fired power plants abroad, seen as one of the main
causes of rising pollution from heat-trapping gases. But a year later, momentum
has stalled on the Obama administration’s plan for a global “domino effect”
that would choke off financing for coal projects from public lending
institutions around the world. --Anna Yukhananov and Valerie Volcovici, Reuters, 12
August 2014
In the fall of 2013, Environmental Protection Agency head
Gina McCarthy testified before Congress defending the Obama administration’s
climate change policies – policies that have defined its second term by
political calculation, rather than diplomatic or legislative achievements. But
despite all the rhetoric on the issue, few nations are embracing the White
House’s approach, and an increasing number are doing just the opposite. Without
the global participation the administration agrees is needed to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions, reductions will be inconsequential. Around the world,
nation after nation has declined to follow the Obama administration’s lead, and
those who adopted similar measures have seen devastating economic results.
--Andrew Powaleny, The Daily
Caller, 11 August 2014
The dispute in California over cap and trade may just be
the harbinger of a wider conflict within the party nationally. Progressives
shrug at the loss of these regions and the associated white working-class
voters who, as the liberal website Daily Kos contended earlier this year, are
just a bunch of racists, anyway. But, at least here in California, much of the
working class is made up of minorities, who are increasingly the economic
victims of the enlightened ones. Essentially, you have on one side
overwhelmingly white, often very-affluent greens, allied with powerful
Democratic politicians, arrayed to obstruct the refinery. On the other side,
you have minorities, many of them union members, whose livelihoods and
high-paying jobs depend on the refinery. Many of today’s progressives not only
are determined to protect their privileges, but seek to limit the opportunities
for pretty much everyone else. -–Joel Kotkin, New Geography, 4
August 2014
China is finding it harder than it expected to unlock a
shale gas boom like the one in North America, calling into question its lofty
goals to use natural gas to help clean up its air and control the growth of
greenhouse gas emissions. Citing complicated geology and high production costs,
the Chinese government has cut its ambitious 2020 target for shale gas
development roughly in half. --Mike Orcutt, MIT Technology
Review, 12 August 2014
Green policies imposed by Brussels are endangering 1.5m
UK jobs by saddling manufacturers with high energy costs, an influential group
of business leaders has warned. A report published on Wednesday by Business for
Britain (BfB), a Eurosceptic lobby group, says that EU policies are to blame
for up to 9 per cent of costs on energy bills for industrial companies and
warns this could rise to 16 per cent by 2030. Manufacturers are now considering
moving their operations to countries where energy is cheaper, risking
“devastating” job losses in the UK, it warns. --Emily
Gosden, The Daily
Telegraph, 13 August 2014
No comments:
Post a Comment