Climate Change This Week: Arctic Frying Disaster, Community Solar Is Competitive, And More!

Climate Change This Week: Arctic Frying Disaster, Community Solar Is Competitive, And More!
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Today, the Earth got a little hotter, and a little more crowded.

And the chances of Donald Trump's family and fortune surviving climate change are small, dwindling daily and irreversibly.

2016-11-30-1480540089-3163728-monkeyfacebizarreorchidsDraculasimiaPeruEcuadorSourcewww.hideme.ioccr312.jpg

Saving BUB, Beautiful Unique Biodiversity, as in these monkey face orchids that occur in Peru, is another reason to preserve carbon storing forests. Source www.hideme.io

Forests: the cheapest way to store carbon

OO Morocco Plants Millions Of Trees Along Roads To Fight Climate Change - A government-led tree-planting program is aiming to offset carbon emissions while propagating protected species.

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Source mongabay.com

OO Peru Rainforest, the Size of 10 Manhattans, Further Lost To Illegal Gold Mining new aerial surveys show. Although currently declining, it's not likely to end anytime soon, and there are new incursions into primary forests and protected areas.

The world lost out on yet another sizeable chunk of cheap carbon storage.

When we harm forests, we harm ourselves.

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WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

@@ Climate Change 101: Why Care?
What You Need to Know
- Bill Nye tells it all in five minutes amid graphic, dynamic, engaging, compelling imagery. Check it Out!

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ARCTIC MELTDOWN

@@ How Melting Arctic Ice Could Cause Uncontrollable Climate Change

OO Arctic Ice Melt Could Trigger Uncontrollable Climate Change Globally
- says a major new international
, 5 years in the making. Takeaways:
  • Arctic temperatures are right now 20 C (that is, about 40 F) hotter than normal - off the charts!
  • Sea ice is at a record low for November.
  • Arctic summer ice is disappearing,
  • Greatly increasing heat absorption,
  • Accelerating global warming,
  • Which will change wind and rain patterns globally.

2016-11-02-1478115176-7674612-greenlandicemeltcanyonCreditJamesBalogccr326.jpg

Greenland Melt Canyon
Credit James Balog
  • The melting of Greenland ice is speeding up,
  • Adding to rising sea levels;
  • Its ultimate loss will change climate dynamics globally.

Defunding NASA climate research "would be like ripping out the aeroplane's cockpit instruments while you are in mid-flight," notes lead co-author Marcus Carson.

Related Headline:

OO Sea Ice In Arctic And Antarctic At Record Lows For this time of year.

OO Arctic Stunner: North Pole Is
An Insane 36 Degrees F Warmer Than Normal
as winter descends.

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Imagine These Starving Many are linking a massive die off of tufted puffins to the off-the-charts hot Bering Sea that produced far too few fish to feed all the puffins, and will dramatically reduce the commercial fish harvested by the US fishing industry. Source news.nationalgeographic.com

OO A Hot Bering Sea, Dead Puffins,
And Major US Fisheries Threatened
- Takeaways:

  • The most productive seafood area in North America
  • is off-the-charts hot
  • with even the bottom layer about 12 F warmer than normal.

2016-11-30-1480540154-4967274-overfishingfishinghaulinArcticfisheriesfishSourcefollowgreenliving.comccr357.png

A Looming Bust in US Fisheries is likely: dangerously hot waters in the Bering Sea are upending the marine food chain that produces huge commercial catches. Source followgreenliving.com

  • This has devastated the marine food chain,
  • resulting in far fewer, less nutritious plankton at the base,
  • producing far fewer fish, and
  • mass starvation of puffins.
  • Major US commercial fisheries are also at risk:
  • their fish and crab depend on this food chain, too.

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Puffins Plummeting Globally as the food stocks of these endearing birds, both in the north Pacific and Atlantic, are plummeting due to hot waters, linked to climate change and global warming.

  • Extensive periods of warm Pacific weather
  • helped create the giant blog of hot Pacific water,
  • which similarly starved birds and seals along California in 2014-2015.
  • Some of that hot water was pushed into the Bering Sea,
  • and persistent hot weather heated it further.

Such weather is expected to occur, and already is occurring, under continued climate change from global warming.

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FIXING CLIMATE CHANGE

@@ A Simple And Smart Way To Fix Climate Change given by Dan Miller in 2014 at a Ted talk suggests a way to profit as we tackle climate change, by finally charging those who sell and use fossil fuels - and distributing the revenues back to all of us.

The strategy is sure to speed transition to clean renewable energy. What's not to like? Check it out!

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TRUMP TRUMPED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

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Donald Trump's Children Likely Face Climate Apocalypse in their lifetimes; the likely crash of civilization that follows will crash their fortune and survival chances for their kids - and all of ours. Unless, of course, Trump acts to cut emissions, hugely. Source heavy.com

OO Climate Change May Be Escalating So Fast It Could Be 'Game Over' scientists warn; new research suggests the Earth's climate could be more sensitive to greenhouse gases than thought, raising the spectre of an 'apocalyptic side of bad' temperature rise of more than 7C within a lifetime.

OO Trump's Paris Climate Deal Breaker:
Ignoring Science Could Literally End The World

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Credit David Horsey at the Los Angeles Times

OO How Steve Bannon Is Shaping Trump's Views On 'Climate Change' - Judging from the Breitbart News Network empire he led, environmentalists are "greentards" and "totally fu**ing wrong on climate change."

But he's not betting money that next year will be on average colder.

OO Dark Skies: Climate Protection Advocates Fear A Rollback Of Emissions Standards especially auto emissions standards, which could substantially affect pollution and emissions.

OO Could Donald Trump Kill The EPA?
Probably Not, But He Could Cripple It
Especially with choosing Myron Bell, a climate denier, to lead it.

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Show Us Your Not A Clean Energy Loser, Donald Trump! By taking action on two great deals: keep promoting clean energy and the US as a clean energy leader, and do that with a clean energy jobs program that will provide a huge number of good US jobs. We'll be watching.

OO Trump Can't Halt The Mostly Private-Driven March Of Clean Power

OO Trump May Slow But Not Derail America's Clean-Energy Transition

OO Trump Could Reverse 'Dramatic' Progress On Clean Energy experts fear.

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What A Kidder He Is!... Uh, he was kidding, right? No China, he wasn't. Thanks for pointing out how ridiculous his stand is that climate change is a Chinese hoax, and setting the record straight: GOP presidents started climate change negotiations in the 1980s.

OO China Rolls Its Eyes At Trump
Over His Ridiculous Climate Change Claim
"Look at the history of climate change negotiations: it was in launched in the late '80s under the administration of Republican President Reagan and George Bush," said Liu Zhenmin, China's vice foreign minister.

OO Trump's Pledge To 'Open Up The Water'
For Central Valley Farms: Easier Said Than Done
- Campaign promises are one thing, says a water policy expert, but, "... the laws of physics apply to everyone equally." So do a network of regulations governing water distribution.

OO With Trump's Election, Critical Climate Efforts Likely Fall To The States like Virginia, already feeling the effects of global warming.

CLIMATE LEADERSHIP

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Obama Climate Legacy Outshines Trump - given what Trump has said about acting on climate change... wait a minute... did he say ANYTHING?

OO Obama Blocks New Oil, Gas Drilling In Arctic Ocean where industrial activity will harm whales, walruses and other wildlife - and worsen global warming.

OO Obama's Govt Released A New Oil And Gas Rule to keep public and native American lands clean.

OO BLM Rule To Slash Methane Emissions

2016-11-30-1480540500-1564834-JohnKerryatCOP22inMoroccoclimatesummit2016CreditGettyImagesccr357.jpg

US Leads at Climate Summit with a Big Plan - Will Trump Keep Leading?
Credit Getty Images

OO White House Releases Optimistic, But Wishful Climate Pan before Trump takes office.

At COP 22, U.S. climate envoys lay out a vision to 'deeply decarbonize' the economy by 2050, just as a Trump presidency threatens to reverse all climate progress.

OO EPA Aims To Finish Climate Rules; Decisions Fall To Trump - Some of the largest ones, in fact. Oh boy.

OO US Already Ahead Of Clean Power Plan Targets
--And Bringing Back Coal Will Be Hard

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SPEAKING OUT

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Another Sign of HOT Times - yep, northern US states have been as much as 16 F above normal recently, and meteorologists are connecting the dots to climate change. Source PRISM, Oregon State University

OO America's TV Meteorologists: Symptoms Of Climate Change Are Rampant, Undeniable

OO CEOs, Leaders Urge Trump To Stand By Climate Pact - Nations, businesses and Washington's top diplomat urged president-elect Donald Trump recently not to withdraw the U.S. from the climate-rescue Paris Agreement and its commitments to preserve Earth for future generations.

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OO Bill O'Reilly:
Trump "Should Accept The Paris Treaty On Climate
To Buy Some Goodwill Overseas"
- Trump will need it.

OO Largest Bank In Norway Sells Its Assets In Dakota Access Pipeline which accounts for 10 % of its funding. Thanks for leading, Norway!

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ASTHMA STORMS

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Connecting the Dots Between Asthma and Thunderstorms - the more intense the storm, the more likely pollen will be broken up into lethally small pieces that can be inhaled and cause fatal asthma attacks. Source www.harvard.health.edu

OO 'Thunderstorm Asthma:' Increases As Storm Intensity Does Under Climate Change - as an unusually intense thunderstorm in Australia recently illustrated, leaving 4 people dead from asthma attacks.

The deadly illness can be caused by especially more intense thunderstorms, which will occur globally more frequently under continued climate change.

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CLIMATE FOG OF LIES

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Nature Doesn't Care About Misleading Climate Change Websites - it will continue to respond -- via the same physical laws that govern gravity -- with climate change that is increasingly blatant and undeniable.

OO Seeding Doubt: How Self-Appointed Guardians Of 'Sound Science'
Tip The Scales Toward Industry
- Funded deeply by the corporate sector, including tobacco, oil and gas, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, the lobbying organization Sense About Science promotes anti-regulatory voices. Surprise, surprise.

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HOT NEWS


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OO 2016 Will Be The Hottest Year On Record, UN Says - World Meteorological Organisation figures show global temperature is 1.2C above pre-industrial levels and will set a new high for the third year running.

GLOBAL WARMING SYMPHONY

@@ 150 Years Of Global Warming In A Minute-Long Symphony - Sometimes, a tune can say so much more than an image or words. Here, we turn almost 150 years of global temperatures into music.

The higher the temperature, the higher the pitch of the note. And the louder the note, the more carbon there is in the atmosphere.

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GOOD CLEAN NEWS

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Clean Energy Can Be Colorful Source greentechmedia.com

OO The Clean Path Chosen: How Denmark Won, And Texas Lost on an energy challenge. After the 1970s oil embargo, Denmark and Texas reacted differently. Takeaways:

  • Denmark used government policies
  • To increase energy efficiency
  • And shift away from fossil fuels,
  • Making these a major economic focus
  • And source of national pride.

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Source Greenpeace

  • Now, Denmark ranks 1st globally in
  • energy security, energy equity and sustainability,
  • says the UN accredited World Energy Council.
  • Texas, by contrast, doubled down on oil and gas,
  • kept supplying climate changing fuels
  • that increased US pollution.
  • Texas wind power is finally being developed,
  • as weather gets ever more extreme there.

2016-04-20-1461185106-8774350-sunsetoncoalSourcewww.coalisdirty.comccr301.JPG

Source www.coal-is-dirty.com

OO The Coal Industry Isn't Coming Back Market forces, not environmental regulations, have doomed coal.

OO Analysis Cuts Coal Growth Outlook In Half As China Peaks says the International Energy Agency, as it dramatically scales back its outlook over the next 25 years.

OO Canada: Ottawa To Announce Coal Phase-Out,
Aims For Virtual Elimination By 2030

2016-11-30-1480540775-6763779-PacificislandUSSamoaspring2003creditAcepharmaviawikimedia.jpg

Climate Change Is Slowing Drowning Island Paradises. Credit Acepharma via Wikimedia

OO Climate-Threatened Nations Aim For 100 % Renewable
Energy As Soon As Possible
- as part of efforts to limit global warming to below 1.5 degrees Celsius.

These include Pacific island nations, which are starting to flood from rising sea levels.

OO Fossil Fuel Emissions Stay Flat 2013 To 2015 but will rise unless nations act. to speed up new emissions policies, scientists say.


OO Germany Reasserts Climate Leadership,
Outlines Path To Carbon-Neutral Economy By 2050

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SOCIAL REPERCUSSIONS

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Source News.com.au

OO The Cost Of Climate Change:
World's Economy Will Lose $12 Trillion
Unless Climate Changing Emissions Tackled
- Damage caused by rising seas, increased storms and other climate-related problems pose 'a very serious challenge' to erasing poverty in the developing world.

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OO Disaster Loss Estimates Ignore Higher Cost To Poor - Natural disasters force some 26 million people into poverty each year, setting back global spending on goods and services by the equivalent of $520 billion annually, the World Bank said recently.

OO Zika Is Not A Global Emergency - It's A Crisis And Ongoing Threat like malaria, says the World Health Organization, worsened as climate change enables the spread of its carrier, mosquitoes.

2016-11-30-1480540894-6859742-southeastUSwildfiresSourcewww.wsj.comccr357.jpg

Source www.wsj.com

OO Southeast US Wildfires Char Over 80,000 Parched, Drought-Stricken Acres - With conditions set to worsen, some of the blazes could burn for weeks in the already rain-starved region.

Related Headline:

OO North Carolina: Drought, Fires Reach Crisis Level,
State Of Emergency Declared
as fires scorched thousands of acres as a result of extreme drought and human carelessness across 25 western counties.

OO Chile Battles Raging Wildfires Fueled By Heat Wave, Winds - About 20 wildfires are spreading quickly in Chile's central region, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of people recently.


2016-11-30-1480540914-8106175-octopusinparkinggaragemiamihightideNov2016Sourcewww.miamiherald.comccr357.jpg

What's This Octopus Doing In My Parking Spot? Source www.miamiherald.com

OO Climate Change 'Canary': Tide Flooding Brings Octopus Into Parking Garage As rising sea levels mean King high tides now regularly flood Miami, as this poor stranded octopus illustrates.

2016-11-30-1480540938-6503876-fulaniherdersislamicmilitarizeunderdroughtSourcewww.todaygh.comccr357.jpg

Drought Breeds Desperation, and Militancy Source www.todaygh.com

OO In Mali, Drought Disaster Of Fulani Herders Plays Into Islamist Hands - Fulani anger spreads jihad to central and southern Mali as climate change dries up Niger River, exacerbating conflict.

OO Drought: Zimbabwe Funding To Prevent Starvation Is $140 Million Short -Suffering from Zimbabwe's worst drought in a quarter of a century millions of people need food aid, says the UN.

This is the dark danger of continuing climate change: donor fatigue will mean thousands of children, women and men will starve from a drought worsened by climate change.

OO Syria's Food Production Edging Nearer To Collapse, UN Warns with wheat production having halved since its war began in 2011, and was already in the grip of a long, devastating drought worsened by climate change, and likely help fuel the war.

The drought continues, and the area of fields planted now are at an all-time low.

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GOOD IDEAS

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Source www.watershedcouncil.org

OO During Superstorm Sandy,
Wetlands Averted US $625-Million In Damages
a new analysis confirms the protective role played by wetlands.

OO A Haven For Growing Clean Tech Startups: The Accelerator At Cyclotron Rd - Hit hard by a venture capitalism slump, startups here are funded by the Department of Energy to develop cutting edge concepts on energy efficiency and clean energy that might then attract venture capitalists.

OO Fighting Poverty Cleanly:
Turning Shipping Containers Into Solar Stations, Hydroponic Farms
- is what a new company, co-founded by an ex MSNBC talk show host, does.

2016-11-30-1480540984-1091903-climatechangetyphoondamageChinaSept2016SourceChinatopixatwww.ctvnews.caccr357.jpg

A Common Post-Typhoon Scene in China Source Chinatopix at www.ctvnews.ca

OO China Says Insurance Industry Must Respond To Climate Risks - its government is pushing the insurance industry to offer climate risk policies.

OO With Tougher Rules, China Wants Fewer, But Better, Electric Car Makers

OO Delhi's Air Pollution: What China Got Right And Where India Falls Behind - China has actually undertaken far-reaching and difficult measures to ensure that the worst is over.

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The Swansea Tidal Plan for the world's first tidal energy lagoon. Source subseaworldnews.com

OO For A Welsh City, The Tides Offer Renewable Energy And Economic Renewal

OO How Electric Vehicles Are Becoming A Tool For Grid Stability for California and Hawaii, as recent reports illustrate.

NATURAL REPERCUSSIONS

california tree forest die off, Source USFS at SF Chronicle, ccr 357.jpg

Source USFS

OO Massive Forest Death Continues In California where long-term drought has claimed another 36 million trees, the U.S. Forest Service said recently.

Since 2010, more than 100+ million trees have died across 7.7 million acres, the agency said.

OO Destruction Of Kelp Forests By Tropical Fish
Shows Impact Of Ocean Temperature Rises
- even small increases, an Australian study has found.


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FOSSIL FUEL FOLLIES

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Fracking, the Gift That Keeps On Giving Headaches. Source www.huffingtonpost.com

OO Fracking Can Cause Earthquakes That Last For Months after the controversial gas extraction process ends, a new study finds.

OO Natural Gas Demand Will Outpace Other Fossil Fuels, IEA Says but this fossil fuel will not prevent further dangerous climate change.

OO Pennsylvania Gas Fire Plants Commissioned -Just what this world needs - more generation of climate change and toxic pollution.

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Credit Tom Tole at the Washington Post

OO Environmental Groups Call Subsidies To
Fossil Fuel Industry An 'Anti-Carbon Tax'
Canada's attempts to set a price on carbon are being undercut by subsidies to the fossil-fuel industry, a new study shows.

OO Huge Deposit Of Untapped Oil Discovered In US
- But Must Stay In The Ground
- If we are to avoid dangerous climate change.

OO Maryland Asks EPA To Crack Down On Pollution From Midwest Coal Plants - 19 of them in five other states, whose emissions make MD air unhealthy to breathe on hot summer days.

Imagine what will happen with such a request under a Trump administration.

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A Forest Soiled by oil. Credit Paul Nicklen

OO Canadian First Nation Cleans Up Latest Fuel Spill Mess in beautiful Great Bear Rainforest, adding to pressure to cut fuel transport lines on Pacific Coast.

OO China's Response To Beijing's Persistent Pollution:
Scale Back Clean-Up Goals
- rather than confront government failure to enforce its regulations, due to lack of resources and planning. Now what's wrong with that picture?

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If we do not live sustainably,
Our children will die inhumanely.

@@ The Cost of Unintended Pregnancy: Too Young

Teen childbearing cost US taxpayers $9+ Billion in 2010
And the costs of raising a child usually ensures decades, if not a life, of poverty for its mother.
- US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

WHAT YOU CAN DO

Help prevent unintended pregnancies in your community:
publicize where women can access affordable contraception.

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They can go here to find locations:

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And there are many more actions you can do, right here.

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SOLAR Analysis Shows That Community Solar Is Competitive in the Vast Majority of the US FLYING

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OO $270+ Million More In Residential Solar Loans Secured as part of a trend that will allow residential solar production to be owned by homeowners rather than leasing companies.

OO Community Solar Is Competitive In The Vast Majority Of The US says a new analysis.

OO Renewable Energy Is Seeping Into Small-Town America where a vast majority of people support it.

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Check it out here, right now!

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WHY WE SHOULD ACT NOW: RISING RISKS

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Daily Climate Change: Global Map of Unusual Temperatures, Nov 29, 2016

How unusual has the weather been? No one event is "caused" by climate change, but global warming, which is predicted to increase unusual, extreme weather, is having a daily effect on weather, worldwide.

Looking above at recent temperature anomalies, you can see that what happens in the Arctic doesn't stay in the Arctic: a broad swathe of abnormally high temperatures runs from the North Pole uninterrupted until it peters out in Mexico. much of the US and the waters surrounding it are experiencing warmer than normal temperatures: the eastern Pacific warm spot continues and despite recent rains, so does the drought in much of California.

Much of the areas surrounding the North Pole are experiencing much warmer than normal temperatures - off the chart temperatures that are in some areas practically 40 F higher than normal! Insane!!! And not good news for our Arctic thermal shield of ice. Hotter than usual temperatures continue to dominate human habitats.

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There is, of course, much more news on the consequences and solutions to climate change. To get it, check out this annotated resource list I've compiled, "Climate Change News Resources," at Wordpress.com here. For more information on the science of climate change, its consequences and solutions you can view my annotated list of online information resources here.

To help you understand just what science does and does NOT do, check this out!

Every day is Earth Day, folks, as I was reminded by this wild flower I photographed one summer. Making the U.S. a global clean energy leader will ensure a heck of a lot more jobs, and a clean, safe future. If you'd like to join the increasing numbers of people who want to TELL Congress that they will vote for clean energy candidates you can do so here. It's our way of letting Congress know there's a strong clean energy voting bloc out there. For more detailed summaries of the above and other climate change items, audio podcasts and texts are freely available.

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