Green Stories of the Day

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<big><big><big><big>'''Green stories changing our world'''</big></big></big></big> [[File:Best Practices check sm.png]]
  
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::::[[File:Green Branching Out.jpg |link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/GreenLinks]] [[File:Green Branching Out.jpg|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/GP360_NewPages]]
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:[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Special:PopularPages <font color=green><big><big>'''''Visit GreenPolicy's Most Popular Pages'''''</big></big></font>]  
  
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::[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Special:MostLinkedCategories <font color=green><big><big>'''''Scan Our Most Linked-to Categories'''''</big></big></font>]
  
'''Green stories''' are changing the world. We encourage you to join in, create your own green stories, launch new initiatives, improve the environment, change the way governments run and how businesses work.
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:It is your time, our time, to change the world we know and experience. It is up to us to re-create the future, to dream, plan, and to positively impact the quality and sustainability of life on earth.
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: [[File:Map of the World wiki commons GTN800x370.png|link=https://greenpolicy360.net/w/GTN_GreenLinks_Trending_News]]
  
::As [http://www.planetcitizens.org planet citizens] we are interconnected [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Global_Security global citizens]. Now is time to go beyond old ways of thinking and to develop a new vision of our home, the only home we have. 🌎
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<big><big>'''[[Generation Green]]''' </big></big>
  
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:[[File:Earth gem.jpg]]   
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Young and old, in every nation, across every continent, and in every community
  
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: Here are stories from around the world, stories that Concern, Inform and Inspire
  
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:: Eyes Open, Listen, Think, and [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Citizen_Action '''Act to Make a Positive Difference''']
  
::[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Special:PopularPages <font color=green><big><big><u>'''''Visit GreenPolicy's Most Popular Pages'''''</u></big></big></font>]
 
  
::::[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Special:MostLinkedCategories <font color=green><big><big><u>'''''Scan Our Most Linked-to Categories'''''</u></big></big></font>]
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<big><big>'''[[GTN GreenLinks Trending News]]'''</big></big>
  
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: [http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic <big><font color=green>'''#PlanetCitizens @Work Day-by-Day'''</font></big>]
  
<big>'''''Cruise across the World Wide Web'''''... ''Visit what's trending today across our Green-Blue Planet Earth''</big>
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:: ''[[PlanetCitizen]]''
  
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:: ''[[Planet Citizens]]''
  
:::<big><big>'''''[[GTN GreenLinks Trending News]]'''''</big></big>
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:: ''[[Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists]]''
  
:::Click on #trending green links and away you go ;-
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:: ''[[EarthPOV]]''
  
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:: ''[[Earth Right Now]]''
  
[[File:Map of the World wiki commons GTN800x370.png]]
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:: ''[[Earth Science Vital Signs]]''
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<big><big>'''Connecting & sharing stories changing the world'''</big></big>
  
<big><big><big><font color=green>'''''#ActNow, Before It's Too Late'''''</font></big></big></big>
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[https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Green_Networking '''''Green Networking, Green Best Practices''''']
  
: <big>'''''[[Planet Citizen Action]]'''''</big>
 
  
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<big>'''GRN360: Turning Visions into Reality'''</big>
  
<big><big>'''''[[Environmental protection]]'''''</big></big>
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Green360 Projects in 2024 include:
  
: [http://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/isobaric/1000hPa/orthographic <big><font color=green>'''''#PlanetCitizens @Work Day-by-Day'''''</font></big>]  
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: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources '''The Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative''']
  
:: ''[[PlanetCitizen]]''
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: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/GreenLinks '''GreenLinks: Global Green Networking with Web 3.0''']
  
:: ''[[Planet Citizens]]''
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: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Green_Best_Practices '''Green Best Practices: Sharing Success Stories Community-to-Community''']
  
:: ''[[Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists]]''
 
  
:: ''[[EarthPOV]]''
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Please consider supporting the projects of Green360
  
:: ''[[Earth Right Now]]''
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Help to Give GRN360 our 'Green Wings'  
  
:: ''[[Earth Science Vital Signs]]''
 
  
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[https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=GQ8VYHB2UC4J4 <big><big><big>'''''Click here'''''</big></big></big>]
  
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[[File:Donate Button.png|link=https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=GQ8VYHB2UC4J4]]
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<big>'''''GreenPolicy360's eco Operating System (eOS)'''''</big>
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''Tens of Millions of Visits, Interactions & Shares''
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[[File:Blue green lines 1.png]]
  
  
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: '''''[[Look at how thin our atmosphere is]]'''''
 
: '''''[[Look at how thin our atmosphere is]]'''''
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[[File:ThinBlueLayer.png]]
 
[[File:ThinBlueLayer.png]]
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* https://www.climate.gov/about
 
* https://www.climate.gov/about
  
 
<big>U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit</big>
 
 
:* https://toolkit.climate.gov/content/us-climate-resilience-toolkit
 
  
 
<big>Climate.gov -- News & Features</big>
 
<big>Climate.gov -- News & Features</big>
  
 
:* https://www.climate.gov/news-features
 
:* https://www.climate.gov/news-features
 
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<big>Global Climate Dashboard</big>
 
<big>Global Climate Dashboard</big>
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🌎
 
  
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<big><big><big>'''2024'''</big></big></big>
  
<big><big>'''2022'''</big></big>
 
  
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<big><big>'''March'''</big></big>
  
<big>'''November 2022'''</big>
 
  
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'''As the upcoming US presidential election heats up, threats to US democratic institutions heat up...'''
  
[[File:Time Nov 10 2022 COP27.jpg]]
 
  
<small>* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Time_Nov_10_2022_COP27.jpg</small>
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:::[[File:Democracy Challenged, Democracy Awakening.png]]
  
  
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:::<small>* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Democracy_Challenged,_Democracy_Awakening.png</small>
  
<big><big>'''Climate Summit / COP27 Updates - November 11, 2022'''</big></big>
 
  
Via NY Times Reporters/Live - On Location
 
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/11/climate/cop27-climate-summit
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* https://time.com/6232753/bad-news-for-the-planet-as-global-carbon-emissions-continue-to-increase/
 
  
  
<big>Transcript of President Biden's Speech at the 27th International Climate Conference</big>
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'''A Living Earth, a Living Cell'''
  
* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/11/11/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-27th-conference-of-the-parties-to-the-framework-convention-on-climate-change-cop27-sharm-el-sheikh-egypt/
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: Macro to Micro on [[All Species Day]]
  
  
<big>More from the Global Climate Conference</big>
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[[File:Living Earth.png]]
  
COP27: Biden says the climate crisis is about ‘very life of the planet’
 
  
* https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1136000297/biden-says-u-s-will-rise-to-the-global-challenge-of-climate-change
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&nbsp;
  
* https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/president-bidens-cop27-speech-highlights-climate-progress-us-still-falling-behind-global
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[[File:Eukaryotic Cell SCU.jpg]]
  
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[[File:COP27 'opening speech'.png]]
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[[File:MethaneSat - 3.PNG]]
  
  
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More (without a paywall) on the opportunities to use MethaneSAT data, internationally, in the years to come. This Earth Imaging data, a consequence of decades of Earth research from satellites development, promises to be an environmental security/climate policy and enforcement game changer
  
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, Nov 7 (Reuters) - ''United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told countries gathered at the start of the COP27 summit in Egypt on Monday they face a stark choice: work together now to cut emissions or condemn future generations to climate catastrophe.''
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* https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/20/opinion/climate-change-methane-satellite-emissions.html?unlocked_article_code=1.fE0.e578.FGmfZfN2Lln2&smid=url-share
  
''The speech set an urgent tone as governments sit down for two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst of climate change, even as they are distracted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, rampant consumer inflation and energy shortages.''
 
 
  
[[File:COP27 logo.png]]
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On March 4, 2024, MethaneSAT detached from the SpaceX Transporter-10 rocket that carried the emissions-monitor into space.  
  
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The groundbreaking satellite is designed to help protect the Earth’s climate by accelerating reductions of this powerful greenhouse pollutant, focusing on oil and gas operations, a major source of methane.
  
<big><big>'''COP27'''</big></big>
 
  
: <big>'''Time for [[Planet Citizen Action]]'''</big>
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MethaneSAT data will become available, it has been announced, for download in the Google Earth Engine database...
  
:* https://stories.undp.org/cop27-a-chance-to-act
 
  
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'''MethaneSAT is the first satellite developed by an environmental non-profit and enables emissions tracking and business accountability. The net result -- faster reductions of methane gas.'''
  
[[File:COP27 A chance to act.jpg]]
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* https://www.methanesat.org/project-updates/methanesat-is-launching-today-on-groundbreaking-mission-to-protect-the-climate/
  
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* https://www.methanesat.org/press/
  
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* https://www.methanesat.org/
  
🌎
 
  
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<big><big>'''Climate Action Plans 360'''</big></big>
  
[[File:NASA has a new mission... against Methane.png]]
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In 2020/21 GreenPolicy360 first put forward a strategic initiative for "climate plans enforcement" developed and presented by nearly all nations of the world at climate summits. The Paris conference in 2015 was the first reveal of this plans and since then many promises for action have been made by nations and their political representatives -- but with sporadic follow up and performance.  
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:NASA_has_a_new_mission..._against_Methane.png
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We saw a pressing need to, as we put it, 'turn national climate plans and pledges into reality'. The plans/pledges/promises made on paper had to translate to action on the ground and, as we said, in the skies above. The [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/INDCs '''INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions)'''] had to bring in facts and data, and as we pointed to, the data was there in the form of satellite missions capable of surveying and reporting emissions, hot spots, 'code red' vital signs.
  
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In other words, as we have said for many years, science could be and should be used. [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:You_can_manage_only_what_you_can_measure_Dr_David_Crisp,_OCO-2,_June_2014_m.jpg ''' 'Measure-to-manage' '''] was a call to action for climate plans enforcement.
  
'''GreenPolicy360: Methane hot spots we're coming to find you, identify you, act to stop you and enforce climate laws.'''  
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The use of [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Imaging-New_Space '''Earth Imaging'''] systems via satellite programs was high on our list, as our GreenPolicy360 founder has been involved in [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space '''Earth Science research from space'''] since its beginnings in the 1970s.
  
:'''"Super emitters", we have a message for you, you can't hide....'''
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Now, with the launch of MethaneSAT, the vision of data that can be used for enforcement, to reduce methane emissions as a potent source of global warming, is now becoming a reality. Read on...
  
:* https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/methane-super-emitters-mapped-by-nasa-s-new-earth-space-mission
 
  
:* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:NASA_has_a_new_mission..._against_Methane.png
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'''Distributing the MethaneSAT data is the next step...'''
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'''GRN360: Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative'''
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources
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'''GRN3360: Methods to Enforce Climate Plan Pledges'''
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Methods_to_enforce_climate_pledges-NDCs_-_Dec_2021.png 
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: [[File:MethaneSat - 1.jpg]]
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: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:You_can_manage_only_what_you_can_measure_Dr_David_Crisp,_OCO-2,_June_2014_m.jpg Measure-to-Manage]
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* https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-03-07/michael-r-bloomberg-methane-tracking-satellite-s-powerful-potential
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* https://gizmodo.com/methane-satellite-monitors-oil-gas-companies-1851313982
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* https://www.houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-texas/environment/article/methane-satellite-spacex-pollution-tracking-18695764.php
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* https://www.space.com/methane-tracking-satellite-launch-spacex-transporter-10
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* https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/methanesat-revolutionizes-climate-action-satellite-launched-to-expose-global-polluters/ar-BB1jp4MK
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* https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-climate/methanesat-satellite-methane-emmissions-9197297/
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* https://www.theverge.com/2024/3/4/24090025/methanesat-satellite-launch-spacex-bezos-fund-google-map-methane-edf
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* https://english.elpais.com/climate/2024-03-07/the-big-brother-that-will-monitor-oil-industry-methane-leaks-is-orbiting-earth-already.html
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* https://optics.org/news/15/3/6
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'''''First satellite developed by an environmental non-profit will see methane emissions others can’t, paving the way for heightened accountability and faster reductions'''''
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:'''MethaneSat Media Kit'''
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* https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bgTObsvTOgQC5iaalJqSd6mf0ssjm5Sv
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* https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/11dR5BgbA7mReJ0XuO_NwCswqBId8RFf9
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* https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1hcuHOaduqd7vWLwfKCBu2eP4W_NqB292
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🌎
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[[File:GP360 tagcloud2.png|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_and_Space,_Politics]]
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<big><big>'''Along Comes Data'''</big></big>
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You don't need a degree in statistics to know that facts count and data is a key to seeing how to navigate to your goals and destination.
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'''Our World in Data''' is one of the best sources available online for gathering data in its various forms, fields, presentations and timelines. '''Our World in Data''' is now launching -- '''Data Insights'''.
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* https://ourworldindata.org/launching-data-insights
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'''The motto of '''Our World in Data''' is "Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems." GreenPolicy360 agrees.'''
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* https://ourworldindata.org/
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We regularly check with '''Our World in Data''' for their data-science. 
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One of GreenPolicy360's oft-stated axioms is 'facts count' and so, after checking out [https://ourworldindata.org/about '''Our World in Data'''] and bookmarking them as a favorite, perhaps it's time to surf through some of GreenPolicy360's popular facts and science pages. One of our key goals is to provide actionable facts, data, and science that powers up green work... 
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'''Data, Intelligence, Science '''
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:[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:You_can_manage_only_what_you_can_measure_Dr_David_Crisp,_OCO-2,_June_2014_m.jpg <big>'''Measure-to-Manage'''</big>]
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'''GreenPolicy360 & Science'''
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: GreenPolicy360, Facts & Data -- GreenPolicy360, Our Policy on Science
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Good_science_needs_good_data_.png 
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Stats_-_Green_Research_%26_Science 
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Change_-_Global_Warming_Keyword-Terms
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Merchants_of_Doubt
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Science_denial_graph.jpg (Graph)
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:FLICC_techniques_of_science_denial.png (Video)
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* http://www.nature.com/news/wikipedia-shapes-language-in-science-papers-1.22656
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Prepare to debate on the merits of the facts and the science... here are some means and methods, logic and argumentation, to employ when interacting with those involved in Climate Denial and Misinformation ...
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* https://secure.avaaz.org/campaign/en/facebook_climate_misinformation/
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* https://climatefeedback.org
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* https://climatecrocks.com/
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* https://www.vice.com/amp/en_us/article/y3z737/the-12-arguments-every-climate-denier-uses-and-how-to-debunk-them
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* http://www.desmogblog.com/
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* http://www.desmogblog.com/about
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* http://www.desmogblog.com/global-warming-denier-database
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* http://www.desmogblog.com/slamming-the-climate-skeptic-scam
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* https://www.beforetheflood.com/explore/the-deniers/top-10-climate-deniers/
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* https://www.drillednews.com/post/fake-science-is-a-real-danger
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* https://grist.org/series/skeptics/
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:PEN_America-Earth_Institute-Columbia_U..._How_to_defend_yourself_online.jpg
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_of_the_Humans,_a_documentary_film
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* http://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Change_Denier_Talking_Points_--_and_Rebuttals
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* https://skepticalscience.com/argument.php
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* https://skepticalscience.com/climate-models-intermediate.htm
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* https://www.snopes.com/collections/climate-change-denial-debunked/
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Science_denial_graph.jpg (Graph)
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:FLICC_techniques_of_science_denial.png (with Video)
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[[File:Bioneers 35.png]]
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'''Ready for a trip to our friends 35th Annual Conference?'''
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Join in. Make a Positive Difference... 'Your Life is Your Message'
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<big><big>'''[[Bioneers]]'''</big></big>
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Bioneers
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<big>'''October 2022'''</big>
 
  
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March 3
  
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<big>'''On World Wildlife Day'''</big>
  
:::::::::::<big><big>'''[[Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth]]'''</big></big>
 
  
::::::::<big>'''[[Planet Citizen Action]], [[Environmental protection]]. [[Quality of Life]]'''</big>
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[[File:EO and Fire Ants in the US - on World Wildlife Day.png]]
  
  
:::[[File:Blue Marble photo taken by the crew of Apollo 17 (1972).jpg]]
 
  
&nbsp;
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::: [[File:Fire Ants.png]]
  
<big><big><big>'''Planet Citizens / Scientists, Preserving & Protecting the Home Planet Earth'''</big></big></big>
 
  
  
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[[File:The Politics of Beauty - Oct 2022.png]]
 
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:The_Politics_of_Beauty_-_Oct_2022.png
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::::: [[File:Flaco the Eagle Owl.png]]
  
  
'''Stewart Udall Film Trailer''': http://vimeo.com/708323643
 
  
* https://vimeo.com/491417423
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'''February 26, 2024'''
  
  
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<big>'''Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, Has Died'''</big>
  
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* https://newsroom.wcs.org/News-Releases/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/22056/Flaco-the-Eurasian-Eagle-Owl-Has-Died.aspx
  
  
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The Owl who escaped from the NY Central Park Zoo, went wild and lived with Owl freedom in the middle of New York City has come to an end.
  
[[File:Post from Richard Falk, Global Justice - Oct 25 2022.jpg]]
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The saga of Flaco touches on many "Living Earth" threads that weave throughout the environmental protection movement and a long-time eco-journalist, Andy Revkin, touched many of these in his new thought piece exploring 'the many meanings of the death of Flaco'. We agree with Andy@Revkin. The passing of a 'wise' symbol, who chose freedom instead of regular comfort, food, and security, who had to forage and use their wits to survive amid a very loud, dangerous, and unforgiving world (albeit one with plenty of scurrying rats running about in the streets and alleys), did resonate with many species human.
  
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Here's Andy talking with cohorts who know about birds, and bird life, and threats that we humans can act to minimize as we look to protect life of Earth...
  
  
[[File:Nowhere to Hide.jpg|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Nowhere_to_Hide.jpg]]
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[https://revkin.substack.com/p/new-yorks-eagle-owl-flaco-embraced?publication_id=1136572&post_id=142070207&isFreemail=true&r=dcpew&open=false '''Via Sustain What'''] -- 
  
<small>* https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else</small>
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Andy's guests @ 1 PM EST Feb. 26:
  
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• Carl Safina, ecologist, conservationist and author, whose New York Times op-ed article was just posted. Here it is paywall-free - [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/26/opinion/flaco-owl-death-birds.html?unlocked_article_code=1.YU0.YIpc.FXsDG58eZpzE&smid=url-share '''“Like Many a Hero, Flaco the Owl Made His Choice.”''']
  
GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Green politics for decades has, in the community of nations, focused on the nuclear threat. The history of green parties and green, environmental movement has a record of activism that has been described as 'out in front' and in Europe, within the European governments, since the 1970s and 80s we see green organizing that demanded the removal of nuclear weapons. Green politics called for an end to the [https://strategicdemands.com/?s=hair+trigger ''''hair trigger' face-off'''] between the Soviet Union and Europe, the U.S. and a nuclear conflagration that threatened humanity and life on Planet Earth.
+
(from the article) - ''Almost from the moment he was released, Flaco became a symbol of hope for many of the people who followed his story and recognized parts of themselves in him. Some saw him as the embodiment of the American dream, an outsider who had come to Manhattan and made a life for himself here, like millions of others who arrived penniless and unconnected in their quest for freedom. Others saw him as a poignant reminder that you can find happiness even if you’re alone (as the only free-living Eurasian eagle-owl in the Western Hemisphere, he had no chance of ever finding a wild mate).'' ...
  
Today, the war in Ukraine and threat of nuclear war continues to grow with a waving of so-called "tactical, battlefield" and "strategic, intercontinental" nuclear weapons bristling with dangers of mistake, miscalculation, desperate or preemptive use, rogue forces or insane calculation. A new century is now seeing the collapse of nuclear arms controls and treaties, with media 'normalizing' nuclear weapons use in nightly news shows. The East and West stand on a precipice. 
+
''Though the animal literature is peppered with stories of animals — usually pets — who suffer hardships and return home, Flaco never retreated to the zoo. Perhaps freedom itself was the home he’d discovered.''
  
Now comes '''"Nowhere to Hide"''' by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
 
  
Read it -- https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else
+
Andy also interviewed Adam Smith and Brendon Samuels -
  
We at GreenPolicy360 and with our associate, Strategic Demands have worked alongside the Bulletin and its goals...
+
• Adam Smith, an architect and director of design at Synecdoche, a Michigan firm centering bird-safe features in its projects.
  
Now a flashing warning continues louder and brighter -- be aware of the danger. Act to reduce the danger of nuclear disaster.  
+
• Brendon Samuels, a Ph.D. candidate at Western University in London, Ontario, studying building design and bird behavior. Samuels, working with the Fatal Light Awareness Program, a k a FLAP Canada, has created and assembled an array of invaluable resources highlighting the bird-building collision crisis and ways to mitigate enormous losses, which, he stresses, are NOT restricted to cities.  
  
  
  
<big><big>'''War in Ukraine Ratcheting Up, Threats of Nuclear Use Ratcheting Up'''</big></big>
+
GreenPolicy360 suggests all of us protect birds and wildlife.
  
: <big>June, July, August, September, October -- 'Bluffing' or Coming Cataclysm? </big>
+
The times we are in, times of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_species endangered species] and [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Extinction species extinction] suggest an [[All Species Day]], today.
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/ukraine-flashpoint/
 
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/ultimatum-time/
 
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/two-from-elon/
+
🌎
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/getting-nuked-thoughts-warnings-on-a-sunday/
+
 
 +
 
 +
[[File:Navalny.png]]
 +
 
 +
 
 +
'''February 19, 2024'''
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<big><big>'''Inside Aleksei Navalny’s Final Months'''</big></big>
 +
 
 +
Excerpts from the [https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/19/world/europe/navalny-letters-russia.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Wk0.FCsR.oX8eUDAG9UxE&smid=em-share '''Unlocked' NY Times Article''']
 +
 
 +
Quoted from letters sent from a small cell in the Arctic...
 +
 
 +
 
 +
Confined to cold, concrete cells and often alone with his books, Aleksei A. Navalny sought solace in letters. To one acquaintance, he wrote in July that no one could understand Russian prison life “without having been here,” adding in his deadpan humor: “But there’s no need to be here.” ...
 +
 
 +
Many details about his last months — as well as the circumstances of his death, which the Russian authorities announced on Friday — remain unknown; even the whereabouts of his body are unclear. ...
 +
 
 +
Even as brutal prison conditions took their toll on his body — he was often denied medical and dental treatment — there was no hint that Mr. Navalny had lost his clarity of mind, his writings show. ...
 +
 
 +
"I really miss the daily grind — news about life, food, salaries, gossip.”
 +
 
 +
Kerry Kennedy, a human-rights activist and the daughter of the Democratic politician Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968, also exchanged letters with Mr. Navalny. He told her that he had cried “two or three times” while reading a book about her father recommended by a friend, according to a copy of a letter, handwritten in English, that Ms. Kennedy posted on Instagram after Mr. Navalny died.
 +
 
 +
Mr. Navalny thanked Ms. Kennedy for sending him a poster with a quote from her father’s speech about how a “ripple of hope,” multiplied a million times, “can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”
 +
 
 +
“I hope one day I’ll be able to hang it on the wall of my office,” Mr. Navalny wrote. ...
 +
 
 +
 
 +
Mr. Krasilshchik... said he was left to ruminate on the last letter he received, in September. Mr. Navalny concluded it by positing that if South Korea and Taiwan were able to make the transition from dictatorship to democracy, then perhaps Russia could, too.
 +
 
 +
“Hope. I’ve got no problem with it,” Mr. Navalny wrote.
 +
 
 +
He signed off: “Keep writing! A.”
  
  
Line 263: Line 435:
  
  
GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: It is October 1st and we are looking at a "Week that Was". Under the heading of Climate News/Florida what has been described as one of the most costly hurricanes in the history of the state hit the west coast couth of Tampa Bay, Hurricane Ian hit not far from where Hurricane Charley devastated not many years ago. In Florida, the terrestrial home of GreenPolicy360, we faced a Hurricane named Ian -- and resulting catastrophe throughout our state. Hurricane Ian arrived from the Caribbean and target the Florida west coast from Naples in the south to Tampa Bay and further in the north and central Florida. Mandatory evacuations were ordered... many listened, many didn't and now the consequences are coming into view. The media and press are reporting, politicians speaking, emergency services, the Coast Guard, police, and regular citizens of all persuasions and backgrounds have acted, often as rescuers and/or protectors of families and homes. The consequences of the damage and the on the ground reality and experience will go on for months and years.
+
<big><big><big>'''GreenPolicy360: A Global Hub of Green Values and Green Action'''</big></big></big>
  
We have to ask, as now is the time to ask about Florida's future, what about Florida? Where is the 'trending' threads of concern acknowledging, risks, problems and identifying solutions to 'extreme weather events'. Here at GreenPolicy we have for years spoken of a warming Gulf of Mexico and tropical storms that 'rapidly intensify' as a result. Ian the hurricane did exactly that, surprising many but not out of line with the physics of a Gulf of Mexico that is heating due to climate change. The atmospheric science, earth science, ocean science, the statistics and the physics of interacting systems, and the political responses to the full scope of the devastation this extreme weather event/storm/typhoon, call it what you will, is on the radar. We are seeing connections between human decisions and nature's responses. Florida is, as we have written for years, "The frontlines of climate change".
+
: Being Green is a Quest and a Challenge
  
Change is in the air. It is time for reality check. The radar sees the moving vector. It's time that we see the threat speeding at us...
 
  
 +
[[File:Wiki Loves Earth - Landscape winner 2023.png]]
  
[[File:Change.jpg]]
+
International wiki photo contest
  
 +
* https://wikilovesearth.org/
  
 +
* https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:Wiki_Loves_Earth_2023/Report
  
🌎
 
  
  
<big>'''September 2022'''</big>
+
·····································
  
  
<big><big><big>'''Hurricane Ian Hits Florida'''</big></big></big>
 
  
 +
[[Planet Labs Doves Fly]]
  
<big><big>'''The Fast 'Intensification' of Ian'''</big></big>
 
  
: Hurricane Ian '''-- Close to Cat5 -- [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/E9731160-8940-4336-88FC-A73490CF3E63.jpeg Jim Cantore reporting] '''
+
[[File:Dove minisat m.jpg]]
  
:* https://twitter.com/JimCantore/status/1575076077914972160
 
  
 +
SJS/GreenPolicy360 Siterunner:
 +
 +
Planet Labs first came onto our radar screen here in 2011. We have been following the evolution of the Planet Labs' story (now re-branded ''Planet'' @ Planet.com) from its mission statement to today.
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''''Using Space to Help Life on Earth'''''</big>
 +
 +
''Planet is driven by a mission to image all of Earth's landmass every day, and make global change visible, accessible and actionable.''
 +
 +
 +
'''Planet, the Company'''
 +
 +
* https://www.planet.com/company/
 +
 +
 +
 +
We, at GreenPolicy360, have a special interest in the work of Planet, as we were 'in at the beginning' as it were. We were there, in person, close up, when the original NASA mission statement, including these words -- “To understand and protect our home planet..." -- were being spoken of by a US representative serving on the Space and Technology committee responsible for policy and oversight. [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr '''Congressman George Brown'''] from California showed your GreenPolicy360 Founder/Siterunner words that were motivating him to propose [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Landsat_data_users_handbook '''Landsat missions'''] that came to be called 'Big Science', Earth Imaging/Earth Science and Atmospheric-Climate Science. For 30+ years Representative George E. Brown led the charge, as it were, to gather the data needed to make informed and wise decisions about our home Planet.
 +
 +
A decade after George's passing away in 1999, youthful engineers from NASA 'spun off' from the 'home ship' to launch Planet Labs and their mission resonated with a mission we share. Our environmental work goes back to this mission and, as we have attempted to bring it into the light, it is again time to highlight Planet.
 +
 +
Take a look at their most recent add-ons to what we call a '''[[Planet API]]'''. It's AI time, artificial intelligence applied to analyzing the Earth imaging data that has been gathered over a decade by Planet and is being queried and utilized in ways that Rep. Brown used to explain was his dream, as he, also an engineer, explained how the public-private partnerships, with universities and educators, using fleets of satellite with new digital imaging and data banks, would enable a new vision for citizens across the Earth.
 +
 +
And now, here we are! Planet.com and GreenPolicy360.com, we're on mission ....
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_movement
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''Understanding AI’s Impact on Space Data with Planet’s Head of Product'''</big>
 +
 +
* https://payloadspace.com/understanding-ais-impact-on-space-data-with-planets-head-of-product/
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''[[Planet API]]'''</big>
 +
 +
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_API
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Labs_Doves_Fly
 +
 +
 +
 +
: <big>'''[[Planet Citizens]]'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
: [[File:Earth-fave-icon3.png|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/PlanetCitizen]]
 +
 +
 +
: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Strategic_Demands '''Strategic Demands''']
 +
 +
 +
 +
🦠 <big><big>'''[[Earth Science Vital Signs]]'''</big></big>
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Vital_Signs
 +
 +
 +
We, now at GreenPolicy360, are continuing on, presenting Earth science news, green politics and environmental movement recollections and highlights from the eco-journey:
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>New Ways to See & Experience Planet Earth</big></big>
 +
&nbsp;
 +
 +
Visit GreenPolicy360's story of Earth Science research from our decades of research, eco-activism and #PlanetCitizens education.
 +
 +
Our eco operating system (eOS) includes:
 +
 +
[[EarthPOV]]
 +
 +
ThinBlueLayer.com - [[Look at how thin our atmosphere is]]
 +
 +
[[Earth and Space, Politics]]
 +
 +
[[New Definitions of National Security]]
 +
 +
[[Earth Science Research from Space]]
 +
 +
[[Micro-satellites]]
 +
 +
[[Virtual Earth]]
 +
 +
[[HelloEarth]]
 +
 +
[[Democratization of Space]]
 +
 +
[[Earth Right Now]]
 +
 +
[[Earth Science Vital Signs]]
 +
 +
[[The Commons]]
 +
 +
[[Earth Imaging-New Space]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
·····································
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''Flashback -- 1978, Climate Action Memories'''</big></big>
 +
 +
: GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Our friend George steps up in Congress
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
 +
 +
 +
·······················································
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''First National Climate Act'''</big></big>
 +
 +
GreenPolicy360 Siterunner / SJ Schmidt: The beginnings of modern environmental and climate science can be traced to the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences played a key role in laying a foundation of scientific reports and data.'''
 +
 +
[http://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Energy_and_Climate_Report%2C_1977%2C_National_Academy_of_Sciences.pdf '''Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF via GreenPolicy360''']
 +
 +
Rep. George Brown took the findings of the 1977 Energy and Climate Report from the Academy of Sciences and made the science actionable. In a historic moment, he proposed and drafted the legislation of the first U.S. National Climate Program and shepherded its passage in 1978.
 +
 +
This first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change became a foundation for comprehensive initiatives, with an array of new Earth Science missions led by NASA and NOAA, the EPA and USGS.
 +
 +
 +
:[[File:US Public Law 95-367.png]]
 +
 +
&nbsp;           
  
 
🌎
 
🌎
  
 +
 
 +
<big><big>'''1992 -- Earth Summit''' </big></big>
  
<big>'''Climate-induced, warm water in the Gulf of Mexico is a feeder of intensity'''</big>
+
: We reported 'deep on the first Earth Summit'...
 +
: and worked to draft a [https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Jerry_Brown_92_Presidential_Platform_We_the_People.jpg 1992 US presidential campaign platform] 'heavy on the green'
 +
 
 +
 
 +
::: <big>'''Launch of Annual International Climate Conferences'''</big>
 +
 
 +
 
 +
::::: [[File:Earth Summit 1992-s.png|link=http://www.planetcitizens.org]]
 +
 
 +
::::: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Summit_1992.jpg '''Earth Summit (1992)''']
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
🌎                 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<big>'''GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Memories of Riding Free in Canyons and on Mesas of the Ghost Ranch'''</big>
 +
 
 +
: (And memories of my spirited & wild Appaloosa and [https://duckduckgo.com/?t=ftsa&q=pedernal+new+mexico&atb=v408-1&iax=images&ia=images '''Ghost Ranch exploring'''] after summer monsoons)
 +
 
 +
 
 +
Thank you David Lancaster for Your Magnificent Photo of the ...
 +
 
 +
: Milky Way above the [https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Pedernal_over_Ghost_Ranch,_Georgia_O%27Keefe_country,_Northern_NM.png '''Pedernal and Ghost Ranch'''], in [https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Pedernal_over_Ghost_Ranch,_Georgia_O%27Keefe_country,_Northern_NM.png '''Georgia O'Keefe Northern New Mexico''']
 +
 
 +
 
 +
[[File:Pedernal and Milky Way - Photo by David Lancaster.jpg]]
 +
 
 +
[https://www.davidlancasterphotography.com/p938113458/eaa399757 <small>Photo by David Lancaster</small>]
  
* https://twitter.com/ClimateCentral/status/1575116109744939010
 
  
  
Line 301: Line 624:
  
  
<big>'''Destructive Surges with Hurricanes, Extreme Weather Events'''</big>
 
  
'''Florida, we're pointing at Gulf Waters heating up and 'inducing' more powerful storms'''  
+
<big><big>''' "Democracy is on the ballot" '''</big></big>
  
'''Hurricane Ian, September 26, the 'spaghetti plot lines' warn of a historic Gulf Hurricane on the way...'''
+
:<big>'''US President Joe Biden's Speech in Pennsylvania Signals a Main Theme in the 2024 Presidential Campaign'''</big>
  
  
[[File:Ian, powered by a climate induced warmer Gulf of Mexico.jpg]]
+
January 2024
  
 +
"“We must be clear,” Mr. Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.” ...
  
 +
"Today, we are here to answer the most important of questions: Is democracy still America's sacred cause? ... it's what the 2024 election is all about...''
  
 +
*  https://www.cbsnews.com/news/joe-biden-marks-3-years-since-jan-6-2021-capitol-riot-valley-forge/
  
<big><big>'''[[Climate News]]'''</big></big>
+
&nbsp;
  
  
<big>'''''There are 'no easy fixes' in Florida. But could Hurricane Ian's havoc bring a call for better planning?'''''</big>
+
[[File:President Biden - January 5, 2024.png]]
  
Via USA Today
+
: <small>(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)</small>
  
''Researchers who study flooding, development and climate change were horrified by the emerging images but not surprised. For years, they have warned that sprawling development in Florida and other coastal states wasn't sustainable, especially with the warming climate supercharging hurricane rainfall.''
 
  
''"This is kind of what we had expected for days in advance, and it's still heartbreaking to see so many people stranded," said Kevin Reed, associate professor in atmospheric science at Stony Brook University...''
+
[[File:President Biden speaks of protecting democracy - Jan 5 2024.png]]
  
''"None of this is surprising," said Linda Shi, an assistant professor in Cornell University's city and regional planning department. "How much does it take for us to want to make a change? Our policies and our choices have led us to this point."''
 
  
''Reed and colleagues recently published a study looking at all hurricanes during the 2020 season and concluded climate change was adding up to 10% more rain to today's hurricanes. On Thursday, they used the same models to compare Ian's rainfall and concluded it was at least 10% higher than it would have been without the warming climate.''
+
[[File:President Biden speaks of protecting democracy - News on Jan 5 2024.png]]
  
''"This is one of the clearest indicators of how climate change is impacting storms," Reed said. It may not seem like a lot, but 2 inches on top of an already large amount of rainfall makes an enormous impact.''
 
 
  
'''''What can Florida learn from Hurricane Ian?'''''
 
  
''"Mother Nature keeps telling us homes don't belong where we built them, yet we continue to build homes where they don't belong."''
 
  
''"We can’t stop cyclone events or stop the rain from falling, but we can build communities that are better able to withstand these events,” says John Dickson, president of the national Aon Edge Insurance Company. "We need to think about more resilient structure, and we need to make a plan to handle the water and move it away from our people and our families and our property.''
+
<big><big>'''2023'''</big></big>
  
  
''Whether a storm water system is designed for rain that could occur once every 25 years or a rainfall event every 100 years, the system probably would be overwhelmed with rain like Ian's, said Chad Berginnis, executive director for the Association of State Floodplain Managers.''
+
<big>'''GreenPolicy360's 'Favorite Pic' from 2023'''</big>
  
''The state may have to accept the fact that developers will have to build at higher elevations.''
 
  
 +
[[File:Golden spiral - Fibonacci spiral via Massimo 2023.png]]
  
····································································
 
  
  
<big>'''''Re: Florida's Flood and Property Insurance Crisis'''''</big>
+
<big><big>'''December'''</big></big>
  
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — ''As hurricane season approaches, it’s not an understatement to say that water is heading to Florida. However, in addition to the rain and storms coming to the Sunshine State, residents are also likely to see higher flood insurance costs in 2022.''
 
  
Florida has 8,436 miles (13,576 km) of coastline, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the second highest number of shore miles in the U.S. by distance.''
+
<big>''Our Living Planet: Recalling the Message of a Presidential Farewell -- and the Anniversary of the US Endangered Species Protection Act'''</big>
  
  
~ The terms “coastline” and “shoreline” are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. The coastline of a place is defined as the boundary between the coast and the shore. In other words, a coastline is a big-picture view of the approximate line between the land and the sea. A shoreline is an ever-changing line that marks the specific place where the water and shore meet...
+
December 28, on the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act being signed into law:
  
 +
President Joe Biden, today on the anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, urged Americans to protect ecosystems and biodiversity and to ''“honor all the progress we have made toward protecting endangered species,” and to “come together to conserve our planet.” ''
  
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — ''Halloween isn’t the only scary thing coming up in October for Florida residents. More immediately, the state is going to see rate hikes on flood insurance as the Federal Emergency Management Agency implements a new risk rating system on Oct. 1.''
+
Presidents make a difference, as we can see.
  
''Flood insurance is a yearly cost to homeowners who use it, and it covers homes in danger of water damage, particularly during storms. For Florida, that’s all year but particularly in hurricane season.''
+
And today, thinking of life, we are remembering Jimmy Carter in his presidential farewell speech:
  
Starting on Oct. 1, FEMA is implementing a program update it calls Risk Rating 2.0, which will change the way that flood insurance rates are calculated and charged and could lead to price increases for thousands of homeowners with waterfront properties. The changes coming through the system update are part of FEMA’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan.''
+
President Carter left office by urging Americans to ''“protect the quality of this world within which we live…. There are real and growing dangers to our simple and our most precious possessions: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land which sustains us... The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people, all combine to create problems which are easy to observe and predict, but difficult to resolve.''
  
  
* https://coast.noaa.gov/states/florida.html
+
We, at GreenPolicy360, urge our Planet Earth community, as 2024 approaches, to move away from generation-to-generation war and to act to protect life and our common future.
  
* https://www.wfla.com/news/florida/88-of-florida-homeowners-to-see-higher-flood-insurance-rates/
 
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Living_coastline
+
Via the UCSB Special Collection Library
  
 +
* https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/farewell-address-the-nation-0
  
  
<big>'''''Ian threatens Florida's already unstable insurance market'''''</big>
+
······················································
  
* https://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/ian-threatens-floridas-unstable-insurance-market-90658469
 
  
 +
: [[File:Christmas in Bethlehem.png]]
  
'''''Six Florida property insurance companies were declared insolvent this year, and others are canceling or not renewing policies'''''
 
  
* https://www.axios.com/local/miami/2022/10/03/florida-property-insurance-crisis-litigation
+
······················································
  
  
·················
+
[[File:Aerial-storm-by-Santiago-Borja.jpg]]
  
 +
<small>Photo by Santiago-Borja</small>
  
<big>More:</big>
 
  
''A new federal summary of the globe's climate last year takes bits and pieces of grim news from the past 18 months and rolls it into a sobering report on the world's warming climate.''
 
  
''Long-term warming trends continue worldwide, even when interrupted by temporary cooler weather phenomena, such as the lingering La Nina in the Pacific, concluded the 2021 "State of the Climate" report released Wednesday (Sept. 28).''
+
<big><big>'''With 2024 in View'''</big></big>
  
''"The data presented in this report are clear – we continue to see more compelling scientific evidence that climate change has global impacts and shows no sign of slowing,” said Rick Spinrad, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The report is prepared by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information, with contributions from scientists around the world.''
 
  
   
 
~ The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's [https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/ '''6th IPCC'''] report is a "dire warning about the consequences of inaction" on climate change.
 
   
 
~ It's not just ecosystems and weather being affected by warming: People are suffering and dying, experts say.
 
   
 
~ In North America, human life, safety and livelihood will be at risk from sea-level rise, severe storms and hurricanes, especially in coastal areas.
 
  
 +
[[File:At Poynter, St Petersburg, Florida.png]]
  
* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2022/09/30/hurricane-ian-flooded-florida-climate-change/8125673001/
 
  
* https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2022/09/01/report-weather-extremes-climate-change-no-slowing/7949934001/
+
'''The Poynter Institute'''
  
 +
* https://www.poynter.org/about/
  
  
🌎
+
[[File:PolitiFact to expand in 2024 at Poynter Times.png]]
  
  
  
<big>'''On Florida's 'Space Coast', a Moon Ship is getting ready (and could be rescheduled again)'''</big>
+
The [https://www.tampabay.com/about/ '''Tampa Bay Times'''] | [https://www.poynter.org/about/ '''Poynter'''] home of fact-checking pioneer, '''PolitiFact''' announced today (Dec. 23) that it is expanding PolitiFact's coverage beginning in January 2024. Good news, especially here 'on the home front', as GreenPolicy360's global network originates in Tampa Bay. 
  
''Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature (wiki)''
+
GreenPolicy360 has been following PolitiFact from its initial beginnings [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PolitiFact '''(launched in 2007)''']. PolitiFact has changed the national and international news business as their original idea and model of a fact-checking news operation has grown into industry-wide fact checking around the world. It is evident that the need for focus on facts and evidence in these times of dis- and mis-information is an essential contribution by a free press and online fact checking sources to enable accurate judgment, decision-making and a successful democracy.
  
* https://www.space.com/artemis-program.html
 
  
* https://www.nasa.gov/specials/artemis/
+
The online world is especially convoluted these days... the demands for fact-checking of memes and gaslighting, dis- and mis-info is 24/7/365
  
* https://www.nasa.gov/nasalive
+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Disinformation_-_Online_-_Dangerous
  
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Fact_Checking
  
[[File:Florida via NASA 2022.png]]
+
* https://reporterslab.org/fact-checkers-extend-their-global-reach-with-391-outlets-but-growth-has-slowed/
  
  
 +
We at GreenPolicy360 are pleased to have shared the Poynter PolitiFact story and expansion of its 'best practices' networking model. At the end of last year, 2022, there were 424 fact-checking websites, up from just 11 in 2008, according to an annual census by the Duke University Reporters’ Lab. Poynter's PolitiFact and over 100 news publishing participants in a global fact checking network are confronting/battling an online proliferation of dis/misinformation, lies and political manipulation. Today and going forward, fact-checking operations are playing an increasingly essential role, delivering information, facts, opening eyes and bringing profoundly important ''veritas'' to people in every nation, community, market and political system.
  
'''September 21, 2022'''
 
  
 +
[[File:EO Snapshot 6-29-2016 10-44-49 AM.png]]
  
<big><big>'''Nuclear War Threats, Nuclear Disaster Dangers: Russia Ups the Ante in Ukraine Conflict'''</big></big>
 
  
'''Russian President Putin: If the territorial integrity of Russia is threatened, the Kremlin would — “certainly use all the means at our disposal to protect Russia and our people. It is not a bluff.”'''
 
  
* https://strategicdemands.com/ultimatum-time/
+
··································································································· 
  
  
The speech today by Russia’s president, it can be said, was not a surprise. Russia’s war against Ukraine was not, by any account, progressing the way the Russians expected and a shift in tactics was expected. What wasn’t expected was the mobilization of 300,000 reserves and a new wave of nuclear weapons threats
 
  
What we see is President Putin moving to declare parts of Russian-occupied Ukraine as legally Russian national territory. Then, after annexing these parts of Ukraine, we see a move to give NATO/Europe/US an ultimatum that *attacks in the Donbas region etc will be considered attacking the Russian nation, a nuclear-armed Russia.
+
<big>'''News from the International Climate Summit in Dubai...'''</big>
  
Let that sink in….
 
  
 +
::[[File:COP28 News - Dec 13 2023.png]]
  
·························
 
  
 +
'''December 13, 2023'''
  
'''September 6'''
 
  
 +
<big><big>'''A Dubai Surprise'''</big></big>
  
<big>'''''Russia Cuts Off Gas/Oil Exports to Europe'''''</big>
+
With Multiple [https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/caveat '''Caveats''']
  
'''''Fossil Fuels Crisis: Winter Approaching'''''
 
  
Via Wire Services / Interfax
 
  
''Europe has been thrown into its biggest energy crisis in decades with natural gas supplies from Russia becoming volatile and unpredictable even before the invasion of Ukraine began. Now, those supplies have come to a complete halt.''
+
'''CNBC'''
  
''Russia claims punitive economic sanctions imposed on it by the West are responsible for the indefinite halt to gas supplies via Europe’s main pipeline.''
+
''The latest proposal published by the UAE early on Wednesday. Dec. 13, calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.''
  
''“Problems in pumping arose because of the sanctions imposed against our country and against a number of companies by Western states, including Germany and the U.K.,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday, according to Russian state news agency Interfax.''
+
* https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/13/countries-agree-to-deal-at-cop28-climate-summit.html
  
''Asked whether pumping gas via Nord Stream 1 was completely dependent on the sanctions and that supplies would resume if these were lifted or relaxed, Peskov replied, “Of course. The very sanctions that prevent the maintenance of units, which prevent them from moving without appropriate legal guarantees, which prevent these legal guarantees from being given, and so on.”''
 
  
''“It is precisely these sanctions that the Western states have introduced that have brought the situation to what we see now,” Peskov added.''
+
'''Economist'''
  
''Coming directly from the Kremlin, such comments represent the clearest indication yet that Russia is seeking to pressure Europe to lift the economic measures, brought on to punish Russia over its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, in order for the taps to be turned back on ahead of winter.''
+
''The COP28 deal might be historic, but there are many caveats...'''
  
''European lawmakers have repeatedly accused Russia, traditionally its largest energy supplier, of weaponizing energy exports in an attempt to drive up commodity prices and sow uncertainty across the 27-nation bloc. Moscow denies using energy as a weapon...''
+
* https://www.economist.com/podcasts/2023/12/13/the-cop28-deal-might-be-historic-but-there-are-many-caveats
  
  
·························
+
'''Reuters'''
  
 +
''Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, signalling the eventual end of the oil age.''
  
'''September 1'''  
+
''The deal struck in Dubai after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations was meant to send a powerful message to investors and policy-makers that the world is united in its desire to break with fossil fuels, something scientists say is the last best hope to stave off climate catastrophe.''
  
 +
''COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber called the deal "historic" but added that its true success would be in its implementation.''
  
<big><big>'''''U.S. President Biden warns that Ex-President Trump's extreme MAGA Republicans are a 'danger' to U.S. democracy'''''</big></big>
+
''"We are what we do, not what we say," he told the crowded plenary at the summit. "We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions."''
  
* https://www.cnbc.com/2022/09/01/biden-warns-trumps-extreme-maga-republicans-are-a-danger-to-us-democracy.html
+
''Several countries cheered the deal for accomplishing something that until now eluded decades of climate talks.''
  
 +
''"It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels," Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide said.''
  
[[File:At Independence Hall - Sept 1, 2022.png]]
+
''More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the COP28 agreement to "phase out" oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition from the Saudi Arabia-led oil producer group OPEC, which said the world can cut emissions without shunning specific fuels.''
  
 +
''That battle pushed the summit a full day into overtime on Wednesday, and had some observers worried the negotiations would end at an impasse...''
  
 +
* https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/countries-push-cop28-deal-fossil-fuels-talks-spill-into-overtime-2023-12-12/
  
<big><big>'''A speech about Democracy -- and protecting Democracy and the Republic'''</big></big>
 
  
<big>At Independence Hall, site of President Biden's speech</big>
+
'''Financial Times'''
  
''President Biden delivered a speech on the “soul of the nation” Thursday evening in Philadelphia, with its famed Independence Hall as the backdrop. It’s far from the first presidential speech at the historic building. Here’s a primer on Independence Hall’s origins, transformations and key moments throughout its 269-year history.''
+
''COP28 is better than feared, but less than needed''
  
''Independence Hall is where the Declaration of Independence was approved in July 1776 and where the Founders debated and wrote the Constitution in the summer of 1787. It’s where the Liberty Bell rang and where George Washington was named commander in chief of the Continental Army at the start of the Revolutionary War. In 1797, he made his final public appearance as president next door at Congress Hall — which together with Independence Hall is now part of Independence National Historic Park...''
+
''Call to move away from fossil fuels lacks deadlines to phase them out...''
  
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/09/01/independence-hall-biden-history/
+
* https://www.ft.com/content/21852bf3-80e6-46f7-ad06-c94d89bc90de
  
  
Via Tom Nichols
+
'''NY Times'''
  
* https://twitter.com/TheAtlantic/status/1565837023688146945
+
''Two Words That Could Change the World''
  
* https://twitter.com/RadioFreeTom/status/1565828894392991745
+
''An unlikely breakthrough on fossil fuels at COP28''
  
* https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2022/09/the-speech-no-president-should-have-to-give/671338/
 
  
 +
''They are just two little words. They appear on just one page of an 11,000 word document.''
  
CNN's John Harwood covers the speech -- then departs from a newly configured CNN
+
''But the inclusion of the phrase “fossil fuels” in the final agreement from COP28 marks a potentially trajectory-altering moment in the fight against climate change. The global pact calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”''
  
* https://twitter.com/froomkin/status/1565752641279361025
+
''For almost 30 years, negotiators representing nations from around the world had struggled and failed to reach an obvious consensus: that the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas should be wound down to avoid further catastrophic global warming.''
  
 +
''But overnight, representatives from more than 170 countries arrived at a surprising deal, in Dubai of all places.''
  
·························
+
''The text is not as clear as many leaders, activists and scientists had hoped. It includes caveats and wiggle room, and is nonbinding. Nevertheless, the inclusion of explicit language calling for a move away from coal, oil and gas is being hailed as a major breakthrough...''
  
  
<big>'''August 2022'''</big>
 
  
 +
🌎
  
'''August 26'''
 
  
<big><big>'''''California Acts to Ban the Sale of New Gasoline Cars'''''</big></big>
+
::[https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-tracking-negotiating-texts-at-cop28-climate-summit/Interactive: '''Tracking negotiating texts at COP28 climate summit''']
  
''The decision, to take effect by 2035, will very likely speed a wider transition to electric vehicles because many other states follow California’s standards''
 
  
''After the California Air Resources Board approved Thursday regulations that ban the sale of new gas-engine vehicles by 2035, requiring all new cars to run on electricity or hydrogen, California Gov. Gavin Newsom told ABC News he was confident that more states would do the same to help combat climate change.''
 
  
 +
::[[File:Latest from Dubai.png]]
  
BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD | AUG. 26, 2022
 
  
* https://www.latimes.com/opinion/story/2022-08-26/california-gas-car-ban-zero-emission
 
  
''It’s hard to overstate the significance of California’s move this week to end the sale of new gas-powered cars.''
+
<big>'''Tracking Negotiating Texts, Tracking News on the Dubai 2023 Int'l Climate Summit'''</big>
  
''The California Air Resources Board’s vote Thursday setting a firm 2035 deadline is huge and consequential for climate change, air quality and health. The nation’s most populated and worst-polluted state is the first to adopt rules that will finally stop adding gas-fueled passenger vehicles to its roads.''
+
December 12, 2023
  
''The end of the internal combustion engine era, and the toll on our lungs and our planet, is finally on the horizon.''
 
  
''This regulation will require automakers to sell increasing percentages of zero-emission and plug-in hybrid vehicles starting with 35% of new car sales in 2026, reaching 68% in 2030 and 100% by 2035. Zero-emission vehicles account for 16.5% of California’s new sales today, a rate that leads the nation but lags behind Europe and China. So these rules help reestablish California’s climate leadership, putting it in step with other leading nations and making it one of the first — and the largest — vehicle markets in the world to require 100% of new sales be zero emissions.''
+
Read updates from Carbon Brief:
  
''It’s a pivotal moment for a state that has been shaped for decades, often negatively, by automobiles and the health-damaging pollution they generate.''
+
* https://www.carbonbrief.org/interactive-tracking-negotiating-texts-at-cop28-climate-summit/
  
 +
* https://www.carbonbrief.org/daily-brief/oil-states-face-outrage-as-fossil-fuel-phaseout-dropped-from-cop-draft/
  
'''More on California's decision to drive forward into a new world of transportation'''
 
  
* https://www.npr.org/2022/08/27/1119360031/california-gas-cars-electric-cars-zero-emission-climate-change
 
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/25/business/energy-environment/electric-vehicles-automakers.html
+
December 12
  
* https://www.motherjones.com/environment/2022/08/california-ban-cars-emissions-climate-change/
+
Dubai -- at the International Climate Summmit (COP28, Conference of the Parties)
  
:~
+
Today is the scheduled final day of the gathering of nations
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/24/climate/california-gas-cars-emissions.html
+
* https://unfccc.int/process-and-meetings/conferences/un-climate-change-conference-united-arab-emirates-nov/dec-2023/about-cop-28
  
* https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/24/us/california-new-gas-car-ban-2035/index.html
 
  
* https://www.theverge.com/2022/8/24/23320148/california-gas-car-ban-2035-ev-climate-change
 
  
* https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/california-hold-final-hearing-banning-sale-new-gas-cars-2035
+
::[[File:Waiting game.png]]
  
 +
::* https://www.cop28.com/en/schedule
  
·························
 
  
 +
Reuters question -- '''''Explainer - Why does OPEC oppose the idea of a fossil fuel phase-out at COP28?'''''
  
'''August 19'''
+
Reuters answer -- '''''Why does it matter for OPEC?'''''
  
''WASHINGTON / Via the NY Times and Online News Services  —  Fresh off signing expansive climate legislation, President Biden and his administration are planning a series of executive actions to further reduce greenhouse gas emissions and help keep the planet from warming to dangerous temperatures, senior White House officials said.''
 
  
''Mr. Biden is on track to deploy a series of measures, including new regulations on emissions from vehicle tailpipes, power plants and oil and gas wells, the officials said.''
+
(The international news service of Reuters answers in 'simple English' here...)
  
  
<big><big>'''''After Signing Climate Bill, Biden Prepares More Actions to Cut Emissions'''''</big></big>
+
''Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries together control nearly 80% of the world's proven oil reserves and about a third of global daily oil production.''
  
''Regulations from the E.P.A. and elsewhere will help the president meet his aggressive climate goals''
+
''OPEC+, which includes allies such as Russia and Kazakhstan, controls an even bigger share of global crude reserves and production at about 90% and 40% respectively.''
  
''The Green Climate Package continues to grow with Executive Orders and Agency Actions''
+
''The members rely heavily on oil and gas revenues as their main source of income.''
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/19/us/politics/biden-climate-bill-emissions.html
+
''Oil revenues averaged 75% of total budget revenues of OPEC's leader Saudi Arabia since 2010 and represent around 40-45% of its GDP.''
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Sen_Whitehouse_-_president_needs_to_put_forward_powerful_climate_agenda_-_July_15_2022.pdf
+
''For other OPEC+ members the share of oil and gas in the GDP varies between 16% and 50%. OPEC's net oil export revenue stood at $888 billion in 2022, a 43% rise vs 2021.''
  
 +
''Hence, any language that calls for the phasing out of fossil fuels threatens the model on which these oil- and gas-producing countries' economies are built.''
  
'''Speed & Scope Is Up: Green Transition / Climate Action on the Move'''
 
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/17/opinion/environment/inflation-reduction-act-climate-change.html
+
 
 +
🌎
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<big>'''On the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights'''</big> 
 +
 
 +
'''By Heather Cox Richardson'''
 +
 
 +
[https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-10-2023?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=139680920&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=dcpew&utm_medium=email '''December 10, 2023''']
 +
 
 +
 
 +
''Seventy-five years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)...''
 +
 
 +
''President Harry S. Truman had appointed Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and much beloved defender of human rights in the United States, as a delegate to the United Nations. In turn, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie from Norway put her on the commission to develop a plan for the formal human rights commission. That first commission, in turn, asked Roosevelt to take the chair.''
 +
 
 +
''Drafted over the next two years, the final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”''
 +
 
 +
 
 +
[https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/december-10-2023?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=20533&post_id=139680920&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=dcpew&utm_medium=email '''Story of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights''']
 +
 
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:EleanorRooseveltHumanRights.png
 +
 
  
  
Line 587: Line 911:
  
  
<big><big>'''U.S. House of Representatives Passes Historic Legislative Package'''</big></big>
 
  
'''Inflation, Taxes, Health -- Energy and Climate'''
+
<big><big>'''''Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Block a Global Deal to End Fossil Fuels, Negotiators Say'''''</big></big>
  
After lengthy 'rip-roaring attack speech' by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and speeches by Democratic Leaders Hoyer and Pelosi, the vote is strictly partisan
+
December 10 / NYT International
  
With a vote of 220 to 207, the House agreed to the single largest federal investment in the fight against climate change and the most substantial changes to national health care policy since passage of the Affordable Care Act. The bill now goes to Mr. Biden for his signature
+
* https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/10/climate/saudi-arabia-cop28-fossil-fuels.html
  
  
<big>'''House approves Biden’s flagship climate and tax package'''</big>
+
''Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading exporter of oil, has become the biggest obstacle to an agreement at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where countries are debating whether to call for a phaseout of fossil fuels in order to fight global warming, negotiators and other officials said.''
  
''Final passage of $700bn bill marks significant legislative victory for U.S. president''  
+
''The Saudi delegation has flatly opposed any language in a deal that would even mention fossil fuels — the oil, gas and coal that, when burned, create emissions that are dangerously heating the planet. Saudi negotiators have also objected to a provision, endorsed by at least 118 countries, aimed at tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030.''
  
''The House vote is party-line 220-207 to pass the legislation''
+
''Saudi diplomats have been particularly skillful at blocking discussions and slowing the talks, according to interviews with a dozen people who have been inside closed-door negotiations. Tactics include inserting words into draft agreements that are considered poison pills by other countries; slow-walking a provision meant to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change; staging a walkout in a side meeting; and refusing to sit down with negotiators pressing for a phaseout of fossil fuels.''
  
  
[https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2022-08-12/the-climate-future-just-changed-eight-predictions-for-2030 <big>''Cleaner air, greener cities, shifted politics: 8 visions of the future after the new climate bill''</big>]
 
  
 +
<big>'''''Open secret at global climate talks: The top temperature goal is mostly gone'''''</big>
  
<big>More:</big>
+
: ''Researchers injected a sobering finding into global climate negotiations Sunday by saying the world will likely fail its most important warming test''
  
* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/aug/12/us-house-passes-climate-bill-inflation-reduction-act
+
: * https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/03/cop28-global-temperature-goal-00129766
  
* https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-12/us-climate-bill-keeps-hope-alive-for-halting-warming-at-1-5-c
 
  
* https://www.wsj.com/articles/house-set-to-pass-democrats-climate-healthcare-and-tax-package-11660296604
 
  
* https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/08/12/nation/congress-oks-dems-climate-health-bill-biden-triumph/
+
🌎
  
* https://grist.org/politics/house-passes-the-inflation-reduction-act-the-most-significant-climate-bill-in-us-history/
 
  
 +
<big>'''November'''</big>
  
  
 +
 +
[[File:Earth Summit 1992-s.png|link=http://www.planetcitizens.org]]</center>
 +
 +
<small>[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Summit_1992.jpg '''Earth Summit (1992)''']</small>
 +
 +
 +
November 30 thru December 12, 2023 - Visit the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_United_Nations_Climate_Change_Conference '''28th International Climate Conference'''.]
 +
 +
This is the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference. Approximately 75,000 are in attendance this year at Expo City, Dubai.
 +
 +
The conferences began with the first [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Summit_1992.jpg '''Earth Summit'''] UN climate agreement in 1992.
 +
 
 +
 
 
🌎
 
🌎
  
  
 +
[[File:Planet Dove satellite image over Dubai.png]]
  
<big><big>'''''Sweeping climate bill pushes American energy to go green'''''</big></big>
 
  
* https://apnews.com/article/technology-science-congress-climate-and-environment-f084d23d61ebb068068d4aa92c82fdbb
+
Image of Dubai from GreenPolicy360's Earth-imaging friends at the Planet headquarters in California.
  
Associated Press / August 12, 2022
 
  
By SETH BORENSTEIN, MATTHEW DALY and MICHAEL PHILLIS
 
  
 +
<big>'''Expo City, Dubai. Perspective from an Earth-orbiting Planet.com satellite as COP28 starts'''</big>
  
''WASHINGTON (AP) — After decades of inaction in the face of escalating natural disasters and sustained global warming, Congress hopes to make clean energy so cheap in all aspects of life that it’s nearly irresistible. The House is poised to pass a transformative bill Friday that would provide the most spending to fight climate change by any one nation ever in a single push...''
+
* https://x.com/planet/status/1730283890483589183
  
''The crux of the long-delayed bill, singularly pushed by Democrats in a closely divided Congress, is to use incentives to spur investors to accelerate the expansion of clean energy such as wind and solar power, speeding the transition away from the oil, coal and gas that largely cause climate change.''
+
November 30, 2023
  
''The United States has put the most heat-trapping gases into the air, burning more inexpensive dirty fuels than any other country. But the nearly $375 billion in climate incentives in the Inflation Reduction Act are designed to make the already plummeting costs of renewable energy substantially lower at home, on the highways and in the factory. Together these could help shrink U.S. carbon emissions by about two-fifths by 2030 and should chop emissions from electricity by as much as 80%.''
 
  
''“This legislation is a true game-changer. It will create jobs, lower costs, increase U.S. competitiveness, reduce air pollution,” said former Vice President Al Gore, who held his first global warming hearing 40 years ago. “The momentum that will come out of this legislation, cannot be underestimated.”''
 
  
 +
<big>'''[[Planet API]]</big>
  
''The U.S. action could spur other nations to do more — especially China and India, the two largest carbon emitters along with the U.S. That in turn could lower prices for renewable energy globally, experts said.''
 
  
''Because of the specific legislative process in which this compromise was formed, which limits it to budget-related actions, the bill does not regulate greenhouse gas emissions, but deals mainly in spending, most of it through tax credits as well as rebates to industry, consumers and utilities.''
+
We look down at the opening of the 28th international climate summit, the "UN Conference on Climate Change" gathering in an eco-region that is among the richest in oil/gas on Earth. The contrast between climate change and oil/gas could not be more stark. The scientific data has added up, producing a cause-effect case that now will be put on view by the nations of the world gathered in the UAE. Decades of Earth-monitoring and Atmospheric science, including from constellations of of Earth observations from space, are measuring and monitoring, and tracking changes, modeling and projecting. The reality of the fossil fuel 'externalities' in the form of greenhouse gases emitted by carbon-based fossil fuels is now, again, in focus, even as climate change denial forces attempt to slow and stop progress toward renewable energy.
  
''Investments work better at fostering clean energy than regulations, said Leah Stokes, an environmental policy professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The climate bill is likely to spur billions in private investment, she said: “That’s what’s going to be so transformative.”''
+
Tune in to the news coverage this week and next. It will be an event to remember -- and time to get with the action.
  
  
''The bill promotes vital technologies such as battery storage. Clean energy manufacturing gets a big boost. It will be cheaper for consumers to make climate-friendly purchasing decisions. There are tax credits to make electric cars more affordable, help for low-income people making energy-efficiency upgrades and incentives for rooftop solar and heat pumps.''
+
: [http://www.planetcitizen.org '''PlanetCitizen.org''']
 +
: [http://www.planetcitizens.org '''PlanetCitizens.org''']
  
''There are also incentives for nuclear power and projects that aim to capture and remove carbon from the atmosphere...''
+
: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Citizens,_Planet_Scientists '''Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists''']
 +
: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Planet_Citizen_Action '''Planet Citizen Action''']
 +
: [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Problems,_Climate_Solutions '''Climate Problems, Climate Solutions''']
  
  
''The Rhodium Group research firm estimates the bill would dramatically change the arc of future U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, cutting them by 31% to 44% in 2030, compared to what had been shaping up to be 24% to 35% by 2005 without the bill, said Rhodium partner John Larsen. Clean power on the grid, an upcoming Rhodium report says, would jump from under 40% now to between 60% and 81% by 2030, he said.''
 
  
''“It’s not as big as I want, but it’s also bigger than anything we’ve ever done,″ said Sen. Brian Schatz, a Hawaii Democrat who leads the Senate climate caucus. “A 40% emissions reduction is nothing the U.S. has ever come close to before.″''
+
🌎
  
  
''As decisive a change as it is for U.S. policy and emissions, it still does not reach the official U.S. goal of cutting carbon pollution roughly in half by 2030 to achieve net-zero carbon emissions across the economy by 2050.''
 
  
 +
Nov. 22 / World News
  
''Republicans, who unanimously opposed the bill in the Senate, say it would add to consumers’ energy costs, with House GOP Whip Steve Scalise claiming it “wastes billions of dollars in Green New Deal slush funds.”''
 
  
 +
<big>'''''Israel and Hamas have reached a deal on a cease-fire and hostages'''''</big>
  
''“It’s a mark of shame that it took this long for our political system to react,” said Bill McKibben, a long-time climate activist, adding that it leaves the fossil fuel industry with too much power. “But this will help catalyze action elsewhere in the world; it’s a declaration that hydrocarbons are finally in decline and clean energy ascendant, and that the climate movement is finally at least something of a match for Big Oil.”''
+
[https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-ceasefire-what-to-know-af1cfbc9dcaa1485ed7a9efaca7ec2b7 Associated Press]
  
  
 +
Peace, it's a step away, a step-by-step away from the [https://strategicdemands.com/costsofwar/ '''deep costs of war''']
  
[https://www.congress.gov/117/bills/hr5376/BILLS-117hr5376eas.pdf '''The 730-page bill is here''']
 
  
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Peace <big>'''Peace, a New Vision'''</big>]
  
  
:: [[File:US Senate passes 430 billion climate bill.png]]
+
  
  
<small>* https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-democrats-fend-off-amendments-430-bln-climate-drug-bill-2022-08-07/</small>
+
<big>'''Gaza-Israel War Worsens as It Expands'''
  
 +
: The Costs of War Extend Far from Today's Fighting, Bombing and Death Count
  
<big>'''August 7, 2022'''</big>
+
:: The Term "Blowback" Is Used to Describe Consequences that Follow in the Days and Years After
  
 +
:::* https://strategicdemands.com/blowback-far-beyond-gaza-israel/
  
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/User:Siterunner '''Steve Schmidt / Founder, GreenPolicy360''']: It took 45+ yrs to pass real climate action called for in the 1970s w the first National Climate Act. Our #GreenPolicy360 network thanks Rep George E. Brown, a main mover at the beginning, who'd be smiling now if he were here ...
 
  
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:US_Public_Law_95-367.png
+
  
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
 
  
 +
<big>'''Online, a Social Media Fight Hits as War in the Mideast Heats Up'''</big>
  
<big><big>'''''Five Decades in the Making: Why It Took Congress So Long to Act on Climate'''''</big></big>
+
'''Fact-Checking, 'Facts Count' '''
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/07/climate/senate-climate-law.html
+
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Disinformation_-_Online_-_Dangerous '''Disinformation-Misinformation''']
  
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Fact_Checking '''Fact Checking @GreenPolicy360''']
  
<big>'''Bookmark Climate Policy @GreenPolicy360'''</big>
+
[https://reporterslab.org/fact-checkers-extend-their-global-reach-with-391-outlets-but-growth-has-slowed/ '''100+ Countries-391 Fact-Checking Sites (2022)''']
  
* http://bit.ly/GreenPolicy360Climate
+
[https://reporterslab.org/fact-checking/ '''Fact-Checking News''']
  
  
Line 702: Line 1,038:
  
  
[[File:Surprise climate deal.png]]
+
<big><big>'''Beyond the 'Fog of War' '''</big></big>
  
  
<big><big>'''''Surprise Deal Would Be Most Ambitious Climate Action Undertaken by U.S.'''''</big></big>
+
[[File:The Other Side - Life in Gaza, Israel.jpg|link=https://wapo.st/3SmT6qs]]
  
''The announcement Wednesday (July 27) of an agreement in the Senate almost instantly reset the role of the United States in the global effort to fight climate change''
 
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/07/28/climate/climate-change-deal-manchin.html
+
''Atef Abu Saif is the author of six novels and since 2019 has been minister of culture for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.''
  
 +
''Abu Saif was visiting family in Gaza, where he grew up, when bombs began to fall Oct. 7 — in retaliation for Hamas’s surprise attack earlier that day that killed 1,400 Israelis. He began sending voice notes to friends abroad, describing the fraying texture of everyday life, creating a diary of life under siege...''
  
''WASHINGTON — The $369 billion climate and tax package forged in a surprise deal by Senate Democrats on Wednesday would be the most ambitious action ever taken by the United States to try to stop the planet from catastrophically overheating.''
+
* https://wapo.st/3SmT6qs
 +
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:The_Other_Side_-_Life_in_Gaza,_Israel.jpg
  
''The agreement, which Senate Democrats hope to pass as early as next week, shocked even some who had been involved in the sputtering negotiations over climate legislation during the past year. The announcement of a deal, after many activists had given up hope, almost instantly reset the role of the United States in the global effort to fight climate change.''
 
  
  
Line 720: Line 1,056:
  
  
(NYT) Until yesterday, the Democratic Party seemed as if it were on the verge of squandering a major opportunity to combat climate change. Democrats control both Congress and the presidency, and yet they had been unable to agree on a package of climate policies to accelerate the use of clean energy and reduce emissions. Senator Joe Manchin had been blocking any deal, and the Senate is so closely divided that the Democrats cannot afford to lose a single vote.
 
  
Yesterday, however, Manchin appeared to change his mind. He announced that he had agreed to include hundreds of billions of dollars for climate and energy programs in a bill that would also reduce prescription drug prices, raise taxes on the affluent and shrink the federal deficit.
+
<big><big><big>'''Humanitarian Disaster in Israel/Gaza... War and Generational Disaster'''</big></big></big>
  
If Manchin and other Democrats remain united, it would be a very big deal. “This has the opportunity to be an enormous breakthrough for climate progress,” Sam Ricketts, co-founder of Evergreen Action, an environmental group, told The Times.
+
: '''Where Next?'''
  
It’s especially significant because congressional Republicans have almost uniformly opposed policies to slow climate change (a contrast with conservatives in many other countries). And it remains unclear whether Democrats will again control both Congress and the White House anytime soon. If Congress fails to pass a climate bill this summer, it may not do so for years — while the ravages of climate change worsen.
+
::At the United Nations, US and Israel Isolated as Votes Near Unanimously Reject Collective Punishment
 +
 
 +
:::China, Russia, BRIC Nations Put Forward Statements Opposing Conditions 'On the Ground'
 +
 
 +
 
 +
<big><big>'''Fog of War'''</big></big>
 +
 
 +
: Opinion / In association with StrategicDemands.com
 +
 
 +
 
 +
Amplified by barrages across global social media landscapes, an online war is accompanying war in the Middle East. The surprise incursion of Hamas forces into Israel, and Israel's mobilization and declaration of war, has grown into a worldwide battle for hearts and minds. In previous wars of the 20th/21st centuries, propaganda was to be expected. This war, following the expansion of the Internet into the everyday lives of billions on Earth, in both the global north and south, east and west, has brought new levels, billions of dollars-rubles-yuan etc. in psyops / dis- and mis-information / skirmishes / e- and bot-attacks / crypto incursions / gaslighting / military communications disruption and targeting / data-gathering by intelligence services and operational actions / monitoring by remote agents (e.g. from private sector satellite services) and a host of related sigint (signals intelligence), elint (electronic intelligence) and humint (human intel ops, online/internet ops)...
 +
 
 +
 
 +
The recent Reuters associated '''"Digital News Report"''' on the state of online news media addresses the international range/reach, engagement and power of online influencers. News, contemporary events, ideas, opinions reaching out to hearts and minds, available for every connected life on the planet, begins to bring public facing elements of this new online battlefield into view.
 +
 
 +
The type of war reporting that has been in evidence in previous wars has radically changed, as has the audience. There are no longer media 'gatekeepers' as they used to be, in control of most all news, opinion, in newspaper/magazine and on broadcast TV channels. As corporate news began to venture out in earnest during the Vietnam war, using reporters in the field with video cameras and broadcasting 'live-on-tape' coverage and wire-service 'as it happened' photography to Americans in the front of their TVs and papers, the world of media became last century techniques. The new century brought the wars of the Middle- and Near-East, often delivered from 'embedded' journalists (with military limiting their embedded coverage) to a larger audience. And with early 2000s roll-out of the internet/connectivity and citizen journalists, then digital smartphones, a network called 24/7/365 became the norm. Ubiquitous coverage and near instant worldwide sharing is here and now, for good and bad.
 +
 
 +
In the so-called "Global South", arraigned often in counterpoint and often in opposition to former colonial powers of the "Global North", the latest digital communication technologies are being utilized with the results delivering diverse and multi-layered opinions of the military actions of the Israel-Gaza war. The US, Israel and allies are being seen in new ways. The geopolitical conflict of the US and  Russia, as well as China are engaged deeply in this struggle for hearts and minds. 
 +
 
 +
The age old axioms about truth getting lost in the "fog of war" holds considerable power now, in these connected times where social and online media is reaching places and influencing minds as never before...
  
  
Line 732: Line 1,086:
  
  
 +
<big><big>'''Content creators surge past legacy media'''</big></big>
  
<big><big>President Biden needs to put forward a powerful 'executive' climate agenda</big></big>
+
: As the world receives news of war -- and the digital and social media in countries changes reporting and perceptions
 +
 
 +
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2023/10/31/creator-economy-news-outlets-influencers/
 +
 
 +
* https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2023-06/Digital_News_Report_2023.pdf
 +
 
 +
 
 +
(Intro from the Publisher) ''This year’s Reuters Institute Digital News Report provides further evidence that, even as much of the news industry globally has struggled in the face of the first waves of the move to a digital, mobile, and platform-dominated media environment, it now faces a much more fundamental change driven by generations who have grown up with and rely almost entirely on various digital media.''
 +
 
 +
''Whether or not legacy media feel they have completed their initial digital transformation from print- or broadcast-focused to digitally focused brands with a compelling news website and app, they now face a continual transformation of digital as generations come of age who eschew direct discovery for all but the most appealing brands, have little interest in many conventional news offers oriented towards older generations’ habits, interests, and values, and instead embrace the more participatory, personable, and personalised options offered via platforms, often looking beyond legacy platforms to new entrants (many of whom drive few referrals to news and do not prioritise news).''
 +
 
 +
''While there are important differences between countries and within generations, and no single uniform pattern of behaviour and preferences, it is important to underline that we have every reason to expect this to be a one-way change: people’s information needs and interests evolve in the course of their life, but their platform preferences rarely regress. Those born in the 1980s did not suddenly come to prefer landline phones over mobiles when they became parents or bought a house, nor did those born in the 1960s return to black-and-white television when they entered middle age. There are no reasonable grounds for expecting that those born in the 2000s will suddenly come to prefer old-fashioned websites, let alone broadcast and print, simply because they grow older. The public is voting with its attention and money, and – despite the very real reservations over uneven trustworthiness, the risks of harassment and misinformation, and sometimes problematic business and data protection practices – they are overwhelmingly, everywhere, voting for digital media. That is the media environment the public embraces, and the ‘new normal’ where journalists and news media have to carve out their places if they want to connect with the public.
 +
 
 +
''The Digital News Report account for more than half the world’s population...''
 +
 
 +
''The increasing number and diversity of markets covered – including 11 in Asia, five in South America, three in Africa and North America, as well as 24 in Europe – have led us to compare fewer data points across the whole sample and to focus on meaningful comparisons across markets that are broadly similar. We’ve provided more detail about differences in polling samples in both the methodolog pages and the relevant country pages...''
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Sen_Whitehouse_-_president_needs_to_put_forward_powerful_climate_agenda_-_July_15_2022.pdf
 
  
  
Line 741: Line 1,110:
  
  
 +
[[File:Israel reacts to UN - Oct 25.jpg]]
  
'''July 4th, 2022'''
 
  
 +
&nbsp;
  
[[File:Richard Jacobs and The Man in the Arena - on July 4 2022.png]]
+
<big><big>'''Mideast Disaster Escalates'''</big></big>
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Richard_Jacobs_and_The_Man_in_the_Arena_-_on_July_4_2022.png
+
* https://strategicdemands.com/october-disaster-in-the-mideast/
  
 +
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2023_Israel–Hamas_war
  
... '''''Our Challenge'''''
 
  
''In [https://www.amazon.com/Democracy-Dollars-Natural-Constitutional-Highest/dp/164456176X/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Democracy+of+Dollars&qid=1623934588&s=books&sr=1-2 '''Democracy of Dollars'''] I wrote: ''“Democracy doesn’t happen by accident. We have to defend it, fight for it, strengthen it, renew it.” ''
 
  
''It’s in the renewal, strengthening, and defense of democracy where you and I come in. It’s where achieving a healthy balance between individual liberty and the common good must be achieved, and we must insist on it being accomplished.''
+
🌎
  
  
-- Dick Jacobs,
 
July 4th 2022,
 
Tierra Verde, Florida
 
  
 +
'''October'''
  
··············································································
 
  
 +
<big><big>'''Disaster in Israel'''</big></big>
  
  
[[File:NASA Webb Telescope -- Top of Mind.jpg]]
+
[[File:War and Disasters in Israel.jpg]]
  
  
 +
<big><big>At Least 260 Bodies Found at Music Festival Site'''</big></big>
  
<big>'''''It's time to #UnfoldTheUniverse'''''</big>
+
'''Over 900 dead in Israel'''
  
: '''''You have a date with the Webb !'''''
+
'''War declared'''
  
  
<big>'''''Get your game plan ready for the reveal of Webb's first images on July 12! 🙌 '''''</big>
+
At dawn the surprise attack and massacre began... Hamas terrorist attacked the young and executed them...
  
''Find out how you can watch our broadcast, view the spectacular images, and participate in this historic event to #UnfoldTheUniverse''
+
War has begun. A next level of the cycle of violence. The zealots who have stoked the fires of death and vengeance as a means to an end are watching their work.
  
* https://go.nasa.gov/3NzC9De
+
Those of us who believe in peace and human rights are, once more, shocked by those who resort to terrorism and utter violence.
  
  
'''''"It's an emotional moment when you see nature suddenly releasing some of its secrets," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's associate administrator for science missions. "It's not an image. It's a new worldview."'''''
+
Thousands have died now in Israel and Gaza.
  
* https://twitter.com/NASA/status/1532018001310097408
+
Many more will die.
  
 +
The cycle, generation-to-generation, violence, eye-for-an-eye, old testament biblical history, an age-old story of power, and blowback, revenge and justice continues.
  
'''''On July 12, the first full color images and data from the world's most powerful observatory will be revealed'''''
 
  
: * https://go.nasa.gov/3t91EDV
+
Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said today (October 9) in a speech to the nation that "any place that Hamas operates will turn into rubble" and that the Israeli response will "echo for generations."
  
: * https://twitter.com/NASA_es/status/1532022116966666244/photo/1
 
  
 +
<small>{In Hebrew) ''What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will resonate (echo) with them over the generations...''</small>
  
······················
+
<small>-- Benjamin Netanyahu (בִּנְיָמִין נְתַנְיָהוּ)
  
  
<big>'''June 2022'''</big>
 
  
 +
··············································
  
[[File:SCOTUS News re West Virginia v EPA Decision.pdf]]
 
  
  
 +
[[File:Over the Mid East Christmas eve, 2015.jpg]]
  
<big><big>'''West Virginia v EPA'''</big></big>
 
  
: Click [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/SCOTUS_News_re_West_Virginia_v_EPA_Decision.pdf '''Here'''] for a scan of news/commentary and opinion re the June 30, 2022 decision
 
  
:* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/SCOTUS_News_re_West_Virginia_v_EPA_Decision.pdf
+
[[File:Laudate Deum - To All Peoples of Good Will - On the Climate Crisis.png]]
  
  
[[File:ClimateNews 360.jpg]]
+
October 4, 2023
  
  
 +
<big>'''Today is another historic Eco Day'''</big>
  
[[File:SCOTUS EPA decision - June 30 2022.jpg|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/SCOTUS_News_re_West_Virginia_v_EPA_Decision.pdf]]
+
'''On the first day of a global Catholic 'summit', a Laudate Deum''' call to protect the environment is announced following up the [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Laudato_Si '''Laudato Si encyclical'''], a first-of-its-kind "Integral Ecology" letter to the billion+ members and to the interfaith global community. The release of the Catholic leader's new environmental letter is a global event, the second environmental encyclical, and carries forward a profound interfaith-catholic announcement/doctrine.
  
  
 +
Many have spoken about a 'catholic' definition of citizen action and here a dictionary definition of the word -- catholic -- finds meaning in action.
  
 +
: kăth′ə-lĭk, kăth′lĭk
 +
: 1. Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive.
 +
: 2. Including or concerning all humankind; universal.
 +
: 3. Of or involving the Roman Catholic Church.
  
'''June 28'''
 
  
 +
Let's look more closely at the meaning and beliefs brought forward here. One can say, as with those who attempt to 'preserve and protect' life on Earth, that this is an eco-platform of a church called Catholic and is an ecumenical outreach worth considering universally, by all humankind. The ideas and ideals of respecting life and quality of life, is a goal we can all share.
  
  
[[File:June 28 2022.png]]
+
<big><big>'''[[The Commons]]'''</big></big>
  
  
 +
<big>'''From Earthbeat, and environmental movement'''</big>
  
::::[[File:WV v EPA SCOTUS poll - June 27 2022 before court decision.png]]
+
Planet citizens in action
  
 +
* https://www.ncronline.org/earthbeat/viewpoints/popes-laudate-deum-must-elevate-those-ecological-peripheries
  
  
[[File:Environmental laws in US - Supreme Court votes soon.png]]
+
_____________
  
  
<big><big>'''Republican Drive to Tilt Courts Against Climate Action'''</big></big>
+
''Media release:''
  
'''A Supreme Court environmental case being decided this month is the product of a coordinated, multiyear strategy by Republican attorneys general and conservative allies'''
+
''Via Vatican News''
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/19/climate/supreme-court-climate-epa.html
+
<big>'''''“Laudate Deum”: the Pope’s cry for a response to the climate crisis'''''</big>
  
 +
''Pope Francis has published an Apostolic Exhortation building on his 2015 encyclical. We’re not reacting enough, he says, we’re close to breaking point. He criticises climate change deniers, saying that the human origin of global warming is now beyond doubt. And he describes how care for our common home flows from the Christian faith.''
  
·························································································································· 
+
* https://www.vaticannews.va/en/pope/news/2023-10/laudate-deum-pope-francis-climate-crisis-laudato-si.html
  
 
 
[[File:Protect Democracy.png]]
 
  
 +
''In a new document titled “Laudate Deum,” or “Praise God,” the pope criticizes oil and gas companies for greenwashing new fossil fuel projects and calls for more ambitious efforts in the West to tackle the climate crisis. In the landmark apostolic exhortation, a form of papal writing, Francis says that “avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people.”''
  
<big><big><big>'''Protect Democracy'''</big></big></big>
+
''“Laudate Deum” is a follow-up to the pope’s 2015 encyclical on climate change, known as “Laudato Si’,” which lamented the exploitation of the planet and cast the protection of the environment as a moral imperative. When it was released, “Laudato Si’” was viewed as an extraordinary move by the head of the Catholic Church to address global warming and its consequences.''
  
: ''"Our Democracy Is in Danger"'' - https://protectdemocracy.org/
+
''Nearly a decade later, the pope’s message has taken on new urgency.''
  
  
''“When specific actions threaten democracy, they should be covered as major news stories in themselves, not as part of a political or ideological debate.”''
 
  
''Our U.S. democracy is facing threats we haven’t seen in generations. Protect Democracy is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to fighting efforts, at home and abroad, to undermine our right to free, fair, and fully informed self-government. Together, armed with our Constitution and the rule of law, we can renew our democracy and protect it from those who would do it harm.''
+
<big><big>'''[[Pope Francis on the Environment]]'''</big></big>
  
  
<big>'''Electoral Count Act'''</big>
+
<big><big>'''[[Laudato Si]]'''</big></big>
:* https://protectdemocracy.org/project/electoral-count-act/
+
  
<big>'''Securing Consequences for the January 6th Insurrection'''</big>
 
:* https://protectdemocracy.org/project/securing-consequences-for-the-january-6th-insurrection/
 
  
<big>'''The Authoritarian Playbook: A Media Guide'''</big>
+
<big><big>'''[[Integral Ecology]]'''</big></big>
:* https://protectdemocracy.org/project/the-authoritarian-playbook-media/
+
  
  
 +
<big><big>'''[[The Commons]]'''</big></big>
  
································
 
  
  
<big>See '''[[GreenLinks]]'''</big>
+
🌎
  
GreenLinks @GreenPolicy360
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/GreenLinks
 
  
  
<big>See '''[[Fact Checking]]'''</big>
+
[[File:Nature.JPG]]
  
  
'''Fact Checking @GreenPolicy360'''
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Fact_Checking
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Strategic_Demands
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Disinformation_-_Online_-_Dangerous
 
  
 +
<big>'''September'''</big>
  
'''Voting Rights / Election Law'''
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Voting_Rights
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Voting
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Voting_Systems
 
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Election_Law
 
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Election_System_Reform
 
  
 +
<big>'''Where did all of these worldwide circles come from?'''</big>
  
  
··············································································································
+
[[File:Mysterious circles around the world.png]]
  
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Mysterious_circles_around_the_world.png
  
  
<big>'''June 17, 2022'''</big>
+
GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Meanwhile, back in the early 70s when my old friend George Brown was proposing and pushing the start up of US earth science imaging w Landsat and what became over decades a constellation of earth observation satellites, we never thought it would eventually find global evidence of "mysterious fairy circles". We talked about the need of data, digital data, but proof of aliens? Nah.
  
  
<big><big>'''Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American'''</big></big>
+
* https://futurism.com/scientists-ai-mysterious-circles
  
: heathercoxrichardson@substack.com]
+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
  
:* https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/june-16-2022
+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Landsat_data_users_handbook
  
''On CNN this morning (June 16), Representative Jamie Raskin (D-MD), a member of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the U.S. Capitol, said: “New evidence is breaking every single day now. Suddenly, a lot of people want to tell the truth.”''
+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/LANDSAT_and_Virginia_Tower_Norwood
  
''So far, the committee has used testimony and evidence only from those high up in Trump’s own administration. Today was no exception. The committee covered the former president’s pressure campaign against his vice president, Mike Pence, to overturn the results of the 2020 election. Instead of following the law, codified in the 1887 Electoral Count Act, Trump wanted Pence to use his role as the person charged with opening electoral votes to throw out the votes that gave Democrat Joe Biden victory, or at least to recess the joint session of Congress for ten days to send the electoral slates back to the states, where pro-Trump legislatures could throw out the decision of the voters and resubmit slates for Trump.''
+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space
  
''In interviews with Pence’s former counsel Greg Jacob, as well as retired federal judge J. Michael Luttig, formerly of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, the committee established that this plan, advanced by lawyer John Eastman, was illegal. Indeed, Eastman himself called it illegal, first at length in October 2020, and then in both written and verbal admissions after the election. And the committee established that Eastman, as well as others, told Trump the plan was illegal.''
 
  
''The hearings today hammered home that the centerpiece of our government is that the people have the right to choose their leaders. That concept is central to the rule of law. And yet, Trump embraced an illegal and unconstitutional theory that, instead, the vice president—one man—could overrule the will of the people and choose the president himself. Such a theory is utterly contrary to everything the Framers of the Constitution stood for and wrote into our fundamental law...''
 
  
 +
[[File:Landsat, a 50 year legacy.png]]
  
  
::····················································································································································
 
  
 +
🌎
  
:: [[File:PFAS - 1.png]]
 
  
  
 +
<big><big>'''US Government Agencies to Account for Climate Change in Budgets'''</big></big>
  
'''''Per- and polyfluoroalkyl''''' ...
+
September 21, 2023
  
''PFAS PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid) and PFHxA (perfluorohexanoic acid)''
+
* https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/21/climate/biden-climate-change-economic-cost.html
  
  
<big>'''PFAS - 'Forever Chemicals''''</big>
+
''A directive issued today by the Biden administration would, for the first time, have federal agencies consider the economic damage caused by climate change when deciding what kinds of vehicles, equipment and goods to buy.''
  
* https://www.eenews.net/articles/epa-sets-new-advisories-in-forever-chemicals-crackdown/
+
''The new guidance from President Biden could affect purchasing decisions across the government, from agriculture to defense to health care. The idea is to take into account the greenhouse gases generated by goods and projects, how they contribute to global warming, and the cost of that to the economy.''
  
 +
''The potential impact is significant. The federal government is the world’s largest consumer of goods and services, spending roughly $600 billion each year. The changes could shift purchases for the federal government’s fleet of roughly 600,000 cars and trucks from gasoline-powered to all-electric vehicles, redirect the flow of billions of dollars of government grants and reshape or kill some major construction projects.''
  
[[File:PFAS - 2.png]]
+
''“It will be the first time this ‘whole of government approach’ is used to evaluate the climate consequences of government actions,” said Richard Revesz, Mr. Biden’s regulatory chief, who is helping lead the initiative. Mr. Revesz, a climate law expert, has focused on using cost-benefit analysis when designing policies meant to protect human health and the environment...''
  
  
 +
🌎
  
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
 
  
 +
[[File:Earth conditions dynamic map.png]]
  
'''June 14, 2022'''
 
  
 +
Planet Citizen, Where Are You on Planet Earth?
  
[[File:Too Hot in US - 2.png]]
 
  
 +
<big>Dynamic Change Is All Around Us</big
  
[[File:Too Hot US June 2022.png]]
+
* https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic=-46.74,44.98,403/loc=-45.541,-53.340
  
 +
* https://earth.nullschool.net/#current/wind/surface/level/orthographic
  
  
○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○
+
🌎
  
  
 +
[[File:Telling stories of solutions for the climate crisis.jpg]]
  
<big><big><big>'''Nuclear Threats, Responses & Ripple Effects'''</big></big></big>
 
  
 +
''If someone were to ask you – what tools do we need to combat climate change? – a few things might first come to mind. We undoubtedly need laws aimed at reducing fossil fuel emissions, such as a tax on carbon. We also need innovative, scalable technologies for building more efficient electric cars and pulling carbon out of the atmosphere.''
  
[[File:Nuclear Threats and Responses.png]]
+
''But in a democracy, there’s another tool that is at least as essential as these to overcoming climate change: effective solutions-driven storytelling.''
  
  
: '''The Russia - Ukraine War Continues Raising New Nuclear Risks'''
+
Read more from the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media:
  
::'''Visit GreenPolicy360's Colleague 'Strategic Demands' for More...'''
+
* https://web.sas.upenn.edu/pcssm/commentary/how-storytelling-helps-combat-the-climate-crisis/
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/nuclear-threats-and-responses/
 
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/nuclear-threats-again-from-the-north/
+
🌎
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/quotes-rattling-ratcheting-nukes/
 
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/eyes-on-the-global-security-threat/
+
<big>'''“One Earth, One Family, One Future"'''</big>
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/will-russia-lose-the-war/
+
Nations of the World, the G20, Gather in India
  
:* https://strategicdemands.com/sanctions-bite-russias-putin-responds/
 
  
 +
Thank you 'for the kind words'...
  
 +
* https://www.firstpost.com/india/indias-message-of-one-earth-one-family-one-future-resonated-at-g20-summit-imfs-gita-gopinath-13105802.html
  
<font color=blue>○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○ ○</font>
 
  
 +
International media reporting green talk -- and hope....
  
 +
* https://www.msn.com/en-in/lifestyle/smart-living/g20-media-centre-how-journalists-from-across-globe-worked-as-one-family/ar-AA1gvBjH
  
<big>'''''Biden’s Pick for the EPA’s Top Air Pollution Job Finds Himself Caught in the Crossfire'''''</big>
+
* https://www.msn.com/en-in/news/other/several-g20-leaders-hail-pm-modis-initiatives-to-combat-climate-change/ar-AA1gvEqZ
  
''At his confirmation hearing, Joseph Goffman was assailed by coal state Republicans for contemplating too much regulation, while Rhode Island Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse chastised him and his agency colleagues for doing too little''
+
* https://www.livemint.com/opinion/online-views/new-delhi-declaration-it-s-a-document-of-hope-11694356220833.html
  
  
'''''Inside Climate News'''''
 
  
May 26, 2022
+
<big><big>'''As the G20 Meets, the United Nations 'Urges' the "Top Economic Powers" of Our Planet's Economy to Change Direction'''</big></big>
  
  
''“I believe that all Americans, no matter where they live or what they do for a living, deserve clean air to breathe, a secure job and healthy, safe communities in which to raise a family.''
+
NEW DELHI  (International News Services) -- ''U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged the Group of 20 top economic powers, which are responsible for more than 80% of the emissions that cause global warming, to use their weekend summit to send a strong message on climate change.''
  
 +
''Guterres said all licensing or funding for new fossil fuel projects should be stopped and that the G20 must keep the “1.5-degree goal alive,” referring to the 2015 Paris climate agreement that set 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) as a global guardrail in atmospheric warming, with countries pledging to try to prevent that much long-term warming if possible.''
  
'''''West Virginia again'''''
+
''Earlier this year, the U.N. weather agency had said that there’s a two-out-of-three chance that the world will temporarily hit a key warming limit within the next five years.''
  
* https://insideclimatenews.org/news/01032022/conservative-justices-supreme-court-epa-greenhouse-gases/
+
''July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin...''
  
 +
* https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-66753909.amp
  
''The Biden EPA is confronting obstacles to its climate agenda in both the Supreme Court and in Congress, as the Goffman confirmation hearing made clear.''
 
  
''Although the Obama Clean Power Plan never went into effect—the Supreme Court blocked it without ruling on its legality—Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) argued it had a lasting negative impact on her state. “Its mere proposal sent a shock through the energy sector, and combined with other regulations, it contributed in my state to hopelessness, poverty, drug overdoses and despair,” she said.''
 
  
''The state of West Virginia, in fact, is currently seeking a Supreme Court ruling making clear that the EPA has only limited authority to act on greenhouse gas emissions under the Clean Air Act.''
+
<big>''Time to take stock, "Stocktake", and act...''</big>
  
''When pressed by Capito over that legal question, Goffman declined to take a position but made clear that the EPA was waiting for the Supreme Court’s ruling—expected some time before July—before proposing its own proposal to cut carbon pollution from power plants.''
+
''"One could also see the call for system transformations as a recognition that, while we still can, we should take our destiny in our own hands," said Dr Richard Klein from the Stockholm Environment Institute, who was involved in the initial stages of the stocktake.''
  
''“Do you now have plan B already created in your office, to react to what the potential of a Supreme Court decision might be?” asked Capito.''
 
  
''“We have identified different options for responding,” Goffman responded, “depending on what the Supreme Court tells us the nature and contours of our authority are.''
+
'''''This means that every aspect of our societies needs to change to rein in rising temperatures...'''''
  
''The fact that Biden has not yet proposed a regulation for the power sector, which accounts for one-quarter of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, drew Senator Whitehouse’s ire. “I don’t subscribe to the formulation that you should not do anything” while waiting for the Supreme Court ruling, he said.''
+
''This includes the way we make energy, the way we travel, work and produce food. Experts say this type of change needs governments to take the initiative and make sure that their climate actions aren't immediately nullified by other policies and investments.
  
''The Biden administration had hoped that it would not have to rely on EPA regulation to tackle power plant pollution. Upon taking office, the administration sent Congress a national Clean Electricity Standard. But that was one of the first things that Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) insisted on removing from Biden’s sweeping Build Back Better package.''
 
  
''Even after the White House dramatically scaled back Build Back Better—hoping to rely on a suite of clean-energy tax credits and other incentives to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the power sector—it still has not garnered Manchin’s approval and therefore does not have the votes to pass in the 50-50 Senate...''
+
<big>'''''"Either we transform society in a way that avoids the worst of climate change, or climate change will transform society for us..."'''''</big>
  
 +
* https://news.yahoo.com/un-global-stocktake-climate-change-191618644.html
 +
* https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/what-is-worlds-first-global-stocktake-climate-change-2023-09-08/
 +
* https://www.msn.com/en-xl/news/other/what-is-the-un-global-stocktake-and-how-will-it-help-countries-limit-global-warming/ar-AA1gjMxo
 +
* https://www.sciencemediacentre.org/expert-reaction-to-un-global-stocktake/
 +
* https://indianexpress.com/article/india/as-g20-drags-feet-uns-global-climate-stocktake-flags-large-deficits-8931143/
 +
* https://www.rte.ie/news/world/2023/0909/1404345-world-leaders-gather-in-new-delhi-as-g20-summit-begins/
  
··········································································
 
  
  
<big>'''NASA Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request'''</big>
+
<big>'''August'''</big>
  
May 2022
 
  
GreenPolicy360: We are putting forward a proposal to restore the Earth Science provisions to the Mission Statement of NASA.  
+
[[File:The Daily Puffin.png]]
  
Journalist Andrew Revkin wrote about the removal of this initial provision that was an essential part of the beginning of NASA as a government agency. We believe that, although these provisions were 'silently' removed in 2006, they continue to playing an essential role in the missions of NASA and NASA's work.
+
[https://twitter.com/CarlBovisNature/status/1693319996925976769 '''Photo credit: Carl Bovis''']
  
Here is what Andrew Revkin wrote some 15 years ago:
 
  
>Andrew Revkin/July 22, 2006/ NY Times
 
  
>“To understand and protect our home planet; to explore the universe and search for life; to inspire the next generation of explorers ... as only NASA can.”
+
<big>'''The Daily Puffin'''</big>
  
>In February 2006, the phrase "to understand and protect the home planet" was quietly removed from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)'s official mission statement.
+
* https://twitter.com/CarlBovisNature
  
>It is the first time since NASA’s founding in 1958 that the mission statement does not explicitly include mention of the Earth.
 
  
  
Here is part of NASA Administrator Bill Nelson's testimony before the Senate oversight committee this past week:
+
'''Protect Our Living Earth, Biodiversity'''
  
INDEED A LOT OF PEOPLE THINK OF NASA AS THE SPACE AGENCY. DON'T FORGET TO THE FIRST A, AERONAUTICS. BUT ALSO, PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE IT IS ALSO THE POINT OF THE SPHERE ON CLIMATE AND CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE ALL THE MEASUREMENTS THAT ARE BEING MADE ARE DONE BY INSTRUMENTS THAT WE DESIGN, BUILD, LAUNCH AND MANY OF THEM WE OPERATE.  
+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Biodiversity
  
OVER THE COURSE OF THE NEXT DECADE WE ARE GOING TO HAVE A GREAT '''OBSERVATORY OF FIVE ADDITIONAL MAJOR SPACECRAFT''' THAT ALL OF THIS INFORMATION IS GOING TO BE PUT INTO A 3D COMPOSITE ON PRECISELY WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE EARTH'S CLIMATE. WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THE WATER, TO THE LAND, TO THE ICE, TO THE ATMOSPHERE. WE ARE PUTTING UP AT THE END OF THIS YEAR A MISSION THAT IS GOING TO BE ABLE TO MEASURE FOR THE FIRST TIME THE ELEVATION OF THE STREAMS AND RIVERS AND LAKES, THE FRESHWATER. WE'VE BEEN ABLE TO MEASURE THE ELEVATION OF THE OCEANS, THE SALTWATER. WE ARE GOING TO BE ABLE TO FIND OUT VERY PRECISELY WHAT IS HAPPENING TO THE ICE.
 
  
ALL OF THIS AND WE HAVE THE SUPPORT OF THE WHITE HOUSE ON THIS AND WE HOPE WE WILL HAVE YOUR SUPPORT. WE ARE GOING TO CREATE IF YOU CAN ENVISION IN SPACE TERMS A MISSION CONTROL CENTER. IT'S GOING TO BE CALLED THE EARTH INFORMATION CENTER. IT'S GOING TO BRING ALL OF THIS DATA IN AND IT'S GOING TO BE DISPLAYED AND IT'S GOING TO BE AVAILABLE TO EVERYBODY, NOT JUST GOVERNMENT AT ALL LEVELS INCLUDING YOUR LOCAL COUNTY COMMISSION WHEN THEY ARE PLANNING, BUT IT'S GOING TO BE AVAILABLE TO SCHOOLS AND UNIVERSITIES AND THE PRIVATE SECTOR AS WELL AS TO WHAT IS HAPPENING AND THE CHANGES THAT ARE HAPPENING TO THE CLAIMANT.
 
  
 +
[[File:Living Earth.png]]
  
Readers of GreenPolicy360 can look back at our founder's work with George E. Brown, who was instrumental as a leader in Congress for over 30 years and led Earth Science efforts, including advancing NASA's first generation of earth research from space.
 
  
Congressman Brown's point of view for over 30 yrs in Congress was that technology, science, data are guides necessary for smart policy decisions. Check out his record. George set in motion many of the programs and missions to accomplish multi generational envir protection goals that we have taken up and carried on...
 
  
The Original Mission Statement of NASA ((1958) provided Congressional intent and guidance to the first generation of space programs. George, if he were here, would've done everything within his power to protect the original mission statement, even as misinformation and denial are rampant these days ...
 
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/George_E._Brown_Jr
+
🌎
  
  
[[File:Earth System Observatory-2.jpg]]
+
<big>'''''Judge rules in favor of Montana youths in landmark climate decision'''''</big>
  
 +
''''' ‘This is a monumental decision,’ said a lawyer for the young plaintiffs, and could influence how judges handle similar cases in other states'''''
  
··············································
+
* https://www.axios.com/2023/08/14/montana-youths-climate-change-landmark-lawsuit
  
 +
* https://news.mongabay.com/2023/08/first-of-its-kind-legal-ruling-favors-youth-in-montana-climate-case/
  
April 29, 2022
 
  
<big><big>'''''Russian Invasion of Ukraine Expands to Energy Threats to Europe'''''</big></big>
+
''In the first ruling of its kind nationwide, a Montana state court decided Monday in favor of young people who alleged the state violated their right to a “clean and healthful environment” by promoting the use of fossil fuels...''
  
<big>'''''Germany to build LNG terminals at 'Tesla Speed' to shift away from Russian gas'''''</big>
+
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/08/14/youths-win-montana-climate-trial/
  
''... Floating Storage Regasification Units (FSRU) can be moored at Germany’s coastal deepwater harbours and will enable the German utilities to begin receiving shipments of LNG from as far away as the US and Qatar.''
+
* https://apnews.com/article/climate-change-youth-montana-trial-c7fdc1d8759f55f60346b31c73397db0
  
''Much of these developments will take place in Wilhelmshaven, which is due to host two of these floating terminals and have a permanent one constructed on land. Together, those projects will provide Germany with the capability to import around 38 billion cubic meters (bcm) of gas a year, almost matching the Russian gas flows of 40 bcm in 2021.''
+
* https://apnews.com/article/youth-climate-trial-montana-18e301a701fcf4badc904984455406fc
  
''But the project pipeline does not end there. In Brunsbüttel, a land terminal with a capacity of 8 bcm will be constructed, where the local government is already rushing through legislation that will limit environmental groups’ ability to delay the project through lawsuits.''
+
* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/14/montana-climate-trial-young-activists-judge-order
  
''Altogether, Germany plans to build upwards of 68 bcm in LNG import capacity, more than the amount of Russian gas that needs to be replaced – a move criticised as superfluous and climate-damaging by Environmental Action Germany.''
 
  
'''''For Habeck, a Green party politician who is both minister of the economy and climate action''', pushing for fossil fuel projects seems contradictory.''
+
<big>The Decision:</big>
  
''But “the attack on Ukraine has changed an incredible number of things,” he told German citizens on Tuesday (26 April). “A fundamental part of the change is that Germany must become independent of Russian energy imports.”
+
August 14, 2023
  
* https://www.climatechangenews.com/2022/04/28/germany-to-build-lng-terminals-at-tesla-speed-in-shift-away-from-russian-gas/
+
RIKKI HELD, et al., Plaintiff, V. STATE OF MONTANA, et al., Defendant
  
 +
* https://static1.squarespace.com/static/571d109b04426270152febe0/t/64da53511de19d2889830a2c/1692029780262/08%3A14%3A23+Findings+of+Fact%2C+Conclusions+of+Law+and+Order.pdf
  
 +
* https://www.ourchildrenstrust.org/
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''Hawaiian impacts of climate change'''</big></big>
 +
 +
'''How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox'''
 +
 +
: Declining rainfall, rising temperatures and invasive species have left the islands more susceptible to wildfires
 +
 +
:* https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/climate/hawaii-fires-climate-change.html
 +
 +
:* https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-wildfires-climate-change-92c0930be7c28ec9ac71392a83c87582
 +
 +
 +
[https://www.globalforestwatch.org/map/?map=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&menu=eyJkYXRhc2V0Q2F0ZWdvcnkiOiJmb3Jlc3RDaGFuZ2UiLCJtZW51U2VjdGlvbiI6ImRhdGFzZXRzIn0%3D '''Global Forest Watch, monitoring forest loss, fires...''']
 +
 +
* https://www.globalforestwatch.org/
 +
 +
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/index.php?title=Special:Search&search=global%20forest%20watch&fulltext=Policy+Search&profile=images&redirs=0 '''Global Forest Watch @GreenPolicy360''']
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Global_Forest_Watch
 +
 +
 +
Causes and effect of the Maui fire...
 +
 +
* https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/11/opinions/maui-wildfires-paradise-tourism-climate-change-nathaniel/index.html
 +
 +
* https://apnews.com/article/hawaii-wildfires-climate-change-92c0930be7c28ec9ac71392a83c87582
 +
 +
* https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/aug/09/hawaii-wildfires-maui-explainer
 +
 +
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/08/12/hawaii-fires-climate-change-maui/
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Hawaiian fires and climate.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''An Indictment Is Announced: The United States of America versus Donald J. Trump, defendant'''</big>
 +
 +
The people of the US and world are hearing today's news. Reverberations echo. The former president has been charged with federal crimes of grave consequence -- attempting to obstruct the outcome of the 2020 US election for president and attempting to defraud the people of the United States and the democratic republic.
 +
 +
One notable attorney put the profound news this way: '''''Read the Indictment yourself'''''. We agree. There comes a time to turn to what is being presented, now, solemnly, words, facts, evidence, law... The path ahead is perilous, but necessary to travail.
 +
 +
 +
''Set aside an hour or two, or find ten minutes here and there over the course of the next week. You’ll understand it better if you read it for yourself. The indictment is written in a manner that makes it clear prosecutors wanted it to be comprehensible to anyone who wanted to read it.''
 +
 +
* https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump_23_cr_257.pdf
 +
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/documents/8a7503af-fde7-4061-818c-7d7e0ee06036.pdf
 +
 +
 +
🇺🇸
 +
 +
 +
'''United States Department of Justice'''
 +
 +
Statement of Special Counsel Jack Smith, August 1, 2023
 +
 +
* https://www.justice.gov/sco-smith/speech/special-counsel-jack-smith-delivers-statement-0
 +
* https://www.justice.gov/sco-smith/video/statement-special-counsel-jack-smith
 +
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkkQig5uyA0
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''July'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
'''Oppenheimer'''
 +
 +
Read highlights & reviews -- https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Oppenheimer_movie_-_2023.jpg
 +
 +
[[File:Oppenheimer movie - 2023.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
<big><big><big>'''Oppenheimer'''</big></big></big>
 +
 +
The Movie / July 2023
 +
 +
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYPbbksJxIg
 +
* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bK6ldnjE3Y0
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''A Republican Party 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy'''</big>
 +
 +
: [https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/04/climate/republicans-climate-project2025.html?unlocked_article_code=nqYfzu86yDyWph7LaCGRrq7yGPOHI5ScJEZTFniJuSz_5OFeWoulkqXl4LJtRgER9MaQxT1XN4csp8vAj0xLbt6KvaA3RJeMfqdi56yBxlmDceM1O6xSJzSJGl8RK7YzDQp3ncYg_dwD-ViR2zSBTXqgmOqPuREYs9wzNVZSLI_OeAhmpa83E1eruwoYHVCYVOG5oEyqTehh4QFDawsvUKjtcNRYqk1uIW90qEQvSO1mQbfW2FFXozm-_LSEorzCFfTeOORiiFmVjKSL7PVSQJdn3lPQWY24oSWCccJfLz6g1IznZksiCb04SWOM3snKqrEJTA8cnSeuK5WcgV69On4hqQvO4kqMfQ&smid=url-share Via the New York Times, August 4, 2023, Unlocked article]
 +
 +
:: ''The New York Times asked the leading Republican presidential candidates whether they support the Project 2025 strategy but none of the campaigns responded''
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''Project2025'''</big>
 +
 +
: '''A 920-page Republican Party Political Plan'''
 +
 +
:* https://www.project2025.org/policy/
 +
 +
 +
Politico.com has published an advance outline of climate and environment related policies that a next US president, if Republican Party, would be urged to adopt. The goals of the [https://www.project2025.org/about/advisory-board/ '''groups'''] who contributed to the plan, led by the Heritage Foundation, are described as a 'battle plan'.
 +
 +
:* https://www.politico.com/news/2023/07/28/far-right-climate-plans-00107498
 +
 +
 +
''“Project 2025 is not a white paper. We are not tinkering at the edges. We are writing a battle plan, and we are marshaling our forces,” said Paul Dans, director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation, which compiled the plan as a road map for the first 180 days of the next GOP administration. “Never before has the whole conservative movement banded together to systematically prepare to take power day one and deconstruct the administrative state.”''
 +
 +
 +
As described in Politico:
 +
 +
''The initiative has previously drawn attention for its efforts to prepare a systematic conservative takeover of the federal bureaucracy, in contrast to the perceptions of chaos that marked much of former President Donald Trump’s term. Those include plans to assemble a database of as many as 20,000 people who could serve in the next administration — “a right-wing LinkedIn,” as The New York Times described it in April — and proposals to impose sweeping Oval Office control over spending decisions, civil service employees and independent federal agencies.''
 +
 +
''(I)ts implications for U.S. climate policy — at a time of record heat waves sweeping the globe — have drawn far less attention.''
 +
 +
''The comprehensive plan covers virtually all operations of the federal government, not just energy and climate programs.''
 +
 +
''It’s much more ambitious than the pledges that all the Republican presidential primary candidates have made so far to roll back Biden’s signature climate law. It also wouldn’t simply nullify Biden’s climate executive orders, something that a Republican president could easily do just after taking office.''
 +
 +
''(T)he ideas laid out in Project 2025 show that conservative organizations want to achieve a more fundamental shift — moving federal agencies away from public health protections and environmental regulations in order to help the industries they have been tasked with overseeing, said Andrew Rosenberg (a former senior official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration''.) ...
 +
 +
''Preventing the expansion of the electric grid would slow down renewable energy projects, threatening U.S. climate goals while cooling the sector’s economic growth, said Mike O’Boyle, a senior director at the nonpartisan policy firm Energy Innovation and head of its electricity program.''
 +
 +
''“If we totally step away from the role of the federal government, our economy is going to miss out in a big way because the rest of the world is moving on climate, so they’re poised to reap the benefits both for their energy consumers but also in terms of manufacturing.”'' ...
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''(An) increase in state power wouldn’t apply to California, which has a history of setting more aggressive environmental standards than those of the federal government under a Clean Air Act waiver. The Project 2025 plan would “ensure that other states can adopt California’s standards only for traditional/criteria pollutants, not greenhouse gasses.”''
 +
 +
''Another key goal is to restructure how EPA uses science, particularly research that supports regulations by showing risks to public health from industrial pollution.''
 +
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 +
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<big>'''Deep cuts in environmental protection have extensive, long-term consequences'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
: [[File:3M lawsuit re forever chemicals - June 2023.png]]
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<big>'''Could the world go PFAS-free? Proposal to ban ‘forever chemicals’ debated'''</big>
 +
 +
'''A European agency is considering sweeping restrictions on fluorinated chemicals used in jet engines, electric cars, refrigeration systems, semiconductors and many consumer products'''
 +
 +
Via Nature
 +
 +
* https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02444-5
 +
 +
* https://echa.europa.eu/-/echa-publishes-pfas-restriction-proposal
 +
 +
 +
'''Proposal' could lead  to the world’s largest-ever clampdown on chemicals production. The plan, put forward by environmental agencies in five countries — Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden — would heavily restrict the manufacture of more than 12,000 substances, collectively known as forever chemicals.''
 +
 +
''These chemicals, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), are all around us. They coat non-stick cookware, smartphone screens, weatherproof clothing and stain-resistant textiles. They are also used in microchips, jet engines, cars, batteries, medical devices and refrigeration systems.''
 +
 +
''...the idea is to shrink PFAS use to a minimum. “We are asking society to make quite a shift.... We are asking to reverse all of it, go back to the drawing table and invent alternative solutions.”''
 +
 +
''Change is already under way for consumer use of PFASs. The notoriety of the toxic examples has pushed more than 100 companies and brands, including Apple, to pledge to phase out PFASs, even before it’s clear whether other materials can do the same job.''
 +
 +
''For industrial users, however, the idea of life without PFASs is a more shocking prospect. So February’s proposal has ignited debate about which uses of fluorinated chemicals the world could leave behind — and which must stay.''
 +
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For more on International Environmental Laws:
 +
 +
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Montreal_Protocol
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_protection
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Environmental_Laws
 +
* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources
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 +
 +
 +
<big>'''Daniel Ellsberg dies at 92'''</big>
 +
 +
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[[File:Daniel - June 16, 2023.png]]
 +
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Photo: Wally Fong/Associated Press
 +
 +
 +
GreenPolicy360 founder knew Dan [https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Daniel_-_June_16,_2023.png '''up close and personal'''].
 +
 +
Read a remembrance of Dan and his quest for peace.
 +
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<big><big>'''Daniel Ellsberg'''</big></big>
 +
 +
In Memory of a Man Named Daniel
 +
 +
By Steven Schmidt
 +
 +
June 17, 2023
 +
 +
 +
The  moon was bright that night as I visited Daniel Ellsberg at his house on the beach in Southern California. It was mid 1970 and Dan was surrounded by boxes. "Papers," he called them. He was packing to leave for Cambridge and a new position at MIT and he was worried that night as he showed me the study he had put together at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica.
 +
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As we sorted through documents I noticed some had Top Secret stamped on some of them. I learned later that these were part of the 7000 page, forty plus volume report soon to be called the "Pentagon Papers."
 +
 +
Dan spoke of President Nixon and famed advisor, Henry Kissinger with first-hand knowledge. He mentioned he had met with Kissinger recently at Nixon's San Clemente estate. I remember his fear, both that Nixon and Kissinger were repeating mistakes of previous administrations as "the Papers" demonstrated, and how the truth needed to go public. He broke off from the packing and said let's go, "I need to swim".
 +
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Dan was depressed, I knew, and I was not going to convince him not to go into the loudly crashing night surf. I watched as he plunged into the waves. He then reappeared for a moment in the moonlight. He swam straight out, then disappeared. I waited on shore looking out at the dark ocean. Time passed, no sign of Dan. I began worrying. Is this the end of Dan Ellsberg? Did I just witness Dan ending it all? Did a riptide take him? I walked up and down the beach searching. Suddenly, Dan walked out of the surf, nodded then sprinted back toward the house. He quickly shifted back into work mode. Something happened, he had new resolve.
 +
 +
Today as I reflect on the life of Dan Ellsberg and the announcement of his death, I can say he lived life like few others. He pursued the truth and facts in a way that was astounding and committed. He went on to prove in his actions that he was brave to put his life on the line for the sake of the American people. His decision was purposeful. He thought deeply about the consequences. That night under the moon I saw his fear, and I saw his resolve.
 +
 +
A few months later, when Daniel released the Pentagon Papers to a NY Times writer, Neil Sheehan, the truth came out. Dan's history of the war study subsequently led to the end of the Nixon presidency and, as a consequence, the end of the Vietnam War. Dan would later say the Pentagon Papers themselves didn't directly end the war, but the American people learned of the “evidence of a quarter-century of aggression, broken treaties, deceptions, stolen elections, lies, and murder”. This, with Nixon's resignation, brought on the end of the war. 
 +
 +
I learned over the course of our relationship that Dan Ellsberg was gifted, literally. I still say he is the smartest man I've ever known. His 2002 book "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" is a must read. "On the evening of October 1, 1969, I walked out past the guards' desk at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica," he writes, "carrying a briefcase filled with top secret documents, which I planned to photocopy that night… How I came to do this is the focus of this memoir." Dan's memoir is a true American story.
 +
 +
Beyond the Pentagon Papers and resulting demise of the Nixon presidency, Dan Ellsberg's follow-on 2017 book "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" later explained the inner machinations of the nuclear war complex. He was, as a younger man, a systems man and followed orders. His nuclear war gaming was a Pentagon nuclear plan that he, as an old man, brought into the light with this revelatory book. The extent of humanity's threat to life on earth is part of Dan Ellsberg's legacy now.
 +
 +
Daniel Ellsberg's life is a testament to what generations to come have to deal with -- perpetual wars, the realities of nuclear weapons, modern states with awesome powers for good and bad. Dan Ellsberg revealed and pointed us to harsh realities.
 +
 +
Will we listen to Dan Ellsberg's message that he, risking all, brought to us?
 +
 +
Daniel Ellsberg, after all is said and done, was a man who taught us. He was a man of peace. Dan was a believer in the power each of us has to make a difference and move toward a better world.
 +
 +
 +
-- Steven J Schmidt / Founder/Siterunner of GreenPolicy360
 +
 +
 +
 +
Read more about Daniel Ellsberg at GreenPolicy360 and StrategicDemands.com
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/index.php?title=Special%3ASearch&profile=default&search=daniel+ellsberg&fulltext=Search
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* https://strategicdemands.com/?s=Daniel+Ellsberg
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::[[File:Peace s.jpg]]
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🌎
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<big>'''Ex-President Criminally Charged'''</big>
 +
 +
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'''June 13, 2023'''
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A day in US history that is unprecedented, a former US president is charged in Federal Court with criminal actions...
 +
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Opinion-makers/commentators/pundits, citizens and politicos engage in heated debate. We will be brief -- This is not unexpected given the past hundreds of court cases, charges, convictions and record of Mr. Trump.
 +
 +
The challenges to democracy that are growing, and are already extreme, will be magnified throughout the nation. Global impacts will follow in turn.
 +
 +
The indictment has delivered new risks, new costs, new unknowns. The coming presidential election has been given a new urgency amid today's news.
 +
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[[File:Former president Trump - June 13, 2023, charged with Federal crimes Google News.png]]
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[[File:Donald Trump criminally charged in Miami, Florida - CNN.png]]
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·······································································
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''Looking Back, Looking Forward:'''</big></big>
 +
 +
: <big>Recalling Beginnings of the US Earth Science Mission and Giving a Nudge to NASA's Continued Research & Science'''</big></big>
 +
 +
 +
This past first week of June found GreenPolicy360 again pushing the advisory councils at NASA to return language about scientific study of the "home planet" as a top mission in the Mission Statement/Charter and follow on strategic planning. The original NASA Mission Statement and subsequent updates continued to have a top emphasis on earth science from space over decades, providing essential data for measuring/monitoring/managing the home planet. Then in 2006 the phrase "to understand and protect the home planet" was removed from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration official Mission statement.
 +
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GreenPolicy360 for years has advocated for the return of this language, updated and highlighted, as an essential, continuing mission.
 +
 +
Take a look at this page for a better idea of what is going on behind the scenes as NASA advisory councils gathered to suggest and propose changes to the NASA's strategic planning.
 +
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Earth missions continue to be top of mind -- and it follows, in our considered opinion, that "home planet" language about earth science to "understand and protect" should be again at the top of a NASA Mission Statement... and pointed at and highlighted.
 +
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-- SJS/GreenPolicy3360 Siterunner
 +
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[[File:NASA logo1.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''The Original Mission Statement of NASA'''</big></big>
 +
 +
: '''Quote: NASA's Mission, “To understand and protect our home planet..."'''
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:* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:The_Original_Mission_Statement_of_NASA.png
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[[File:Earth and Space, Politics.png|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_and_Space,_Politics]]
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🌎
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<big><big>'''May'''</big></big>
 +
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[[File:SCOTUS decision on water protection.png]]
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 +
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<big>'''SCOTUS, the Supreme Court of the United States, acts again in the environmental arena'''</big>
 +
 +
: The headlines in media are blunt in their news of the current court: US Supreme Court rules against EPA in wetlands regulation challenge ... The Supreme Court just narrowed protection for wetlands... The Supreme Court rolls back federal safeguards for wetlands ...
 +
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May 25, 2023
 +
 +
''(Today, May 25th) the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to the nation’s wetlands by rewriting a statute the court does not like to mean something it does not mean. The court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA is one of the its most egregious betrayals of textualism in memory. Put simply: The Clean Water Act protects wetlands that are “adjacent” to larger bodies of water. Five justices, however, do not think the federal government should be able to stop landowners from destroying wetlands on their property. To close this gap between what the majority wants and what the statute says, the majority crossed through the word “adjacent” and replaced it with a new test that’s designed to give landowners maximum latitude to fill in, build upon, or otherwise obliterate some of the most valuable ecosystems on earth.''
 +
 +
...
 +
 +
''The law expressly protects “waters of the United States” (like rivers and lakes) as well as “wetlands adjacent” to these waters. Congress added the wetlands provision in 1977 to codify the EPA’s definition of “adjacent,” which also happens to be the actual definition: “bordering, contiguous, or neighboring.” Under that interpretation—the one Congress adopted—wetlands that neighbor a larger body of water remain protected, even if they aren’t directly connected.''
 +
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''Why did Congress make that choice? Because wetlands provide immense environmental benefits: They filter and purify water draining into nearby streams, rivers, and lakes. They slow down runoff into these larger bodies. And they serve as vital flood control. In other words, the Clean Water Act has to protect “adjacent” wetlands to serve its overarching goal of safeguarding the broader “waters of the United States” from pollution.''
 +
 +
* https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2023/05/samuel-alito-wetlands-opinion-lost-brett-kavanaugh.html
 +
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Wetlands
 +
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* https://eelp.law.harvard.edu/2022/06/sackett-v-epa-and-the-definition-of-waters-of-the-united-states/
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🌎
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[[File:Methane Reduction proposal passes in EU Parliament - May 2023.png]]
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 +
<big>'''''Methane Reduction Action by European Parliament / European Union'''''</big>
 +
 +
* https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230505IPR84920/fit-for-55-meps-boost-methane-emission-reductions-from-the-energy-sector
 +
 +
 +
''''Parliament today adopted its position on a new law to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector to reach the EU’s climate goals and improve air quality.''''
 +
 +
''The new law is the first piece of EU legislation aimed at cutting methane emissions and covers direct methane emissions from the oil, fossil gas and coal sectors, and from biomethane once it is injected into the gas network. MEPs also want the new rules to include the petrochemicals sector.''
 +
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 +
[[File:NASA has a new mission... against Methane.png]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
''Background''
 +
 +
''Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and air pollutant and is responsible for approximately a third of current global warming. It comes from a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, waste and energy, which are responsible respectively for 53%, 26% and 19% of EU methane emissions according to the European Environment Agency. Today, methane emissions are covered under the targets in the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation.''
 +
 +
''The EU has signed up to the [https://www.state.gov/global-methane-pledge-from-moment-to-momentum/ '''Global Methane Pledge'''], which aims to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2˚C warming by 2050.''
 +
 +
 +
''Since it launched at COP26 international climate summit, the Global Methane Pledge has generated unprecedented momentum for methane action.  Country endorsements of the GMP have grown from just over 100 last year to 150, more than 50 countries have developed national methane action plans or are in the process of doing so, substantial new financial resources are being directed to methane action, and partners have launched “pathways” of policies and initiatives to drive methane reductions in key methane-emitting sectors – a GMP Energy Pathway launched at the June 2022 Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate and a GMP Food and Agriculture Pathway and GMP Waste Pathway, both launched at COP27.''
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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Methane_cuts_pledge_-_COP27.png
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[[File:Methane emissions to be cut - COP26 pledges.png]]
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''Environmental Law & Enforcement''
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Environmental_Laws
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Methods_to_enforce_climate_pledges-NDCs_-_Dec_2021.png
 +
 +
 +
''Global Methane Pledge''
 +
 +
* https://www.globalmethanepledge.org/
 +
* https://www.iea.org/reports/global-methane-tracker-2022/the-global-methane-pledge
 +
* https://www.reuters.com/business/cop/cop27-more-countries-join-methane-pact-focus-turns-farms-waste-2022-11-17/
 +
* https://www.state.gov/global-methane-pledge-from-moment-to-momentum/
 +
* https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/the-global-methane-pledge-cop26-explainer/ (@COP26)
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
April 22, 2023
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Biden re Earth Day 2023.png]]
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''On Earth Day 2023'''</big></big>
 +
 +
:'''50+ years and counting from the first "Earth Day"'''
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>On the 50th Anniversary</big></big>
 +
 +
<big><big>Memories on the Road to the First Earth Day</big></big>
 +
 +
<small>•
 +
https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary</small>
 +
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/1969_beginnings_of_the_modern_environmental_movement.pdf '''Beginnings of the Modern Environmental Movement''']
 +
 +
<small>• https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Day</small>
 +
 +
<small>* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_movement
 +
 +
 +
Today the ideals and ideas that began in a serious way that first "Earth Day" in 1970 continue on .... We became a vital movement, a political cause, and now we are a diverse mix across the globe with our hopes. Our 'sleeves are rolled up' to go to work, getting with the action and employing the Internet with many voices, colors, ages and beliefs, especially with the enthusiasm and power of young people joining in. 
 +
 +
Green, environmental, national and global.... We are strongly confronting and working to solve our generation's existential challenges. Reaching across our home planet, touching and interacting with planet citizens, looking to share solutions to the pressing problems and challenges of our generation.
 +
 +
To our friends across our blue-green living Earth, GreenPolicy360 and [http://www.strategicdemands.com '''Strategic Demands'''], GreenPolicy360's associate with a geo-politics emphasis, send "Earth Day greetings" today and every day. The work carries on as together we face the challenges believing we can make a positive difference year after year, decade after decade....
 +
 +
 +
::[[File:Dove of peace s.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
International Climate Action:
 +
 +
<big>'''[[Going Green]]'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''''Climate envoy Kerry: No rolling back clean energy transition'''''</big></big>
 +
 +
''SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — So much has been invested in clean energy that there can be no rolling back of moves to end carbon emissions, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Sunday.''
 +
 +
''Kerry noted that if countries deliver on promises to phase out polluting fossil fuels, the world can limit average global warming to 1.7 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), better than the worst case scenarios but still above the current limit of 1.5 C global warming above pre-industrial levels.''
 +
 +
''“We’re in a very different place than where we were a year ago, let alone two and three years ago,” Kerry said in an interview with The Associated Press.''
 +
 +
''“But we’re not doing everything we said we’d do,” he said, after attending a meeting of energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy nations. “A lot of countries need to step up including ours to reduce emissions faster, deploy renewables faster, bring new technologies online faster all of that has to happen.”''
 +
 +
* https://apnews.com/article/kerry-climate-japan-g7-emissions-395aec4c70df0c8bf328677e4b3b454e
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Sea levels surge along southern US coast.png]]
 +
 +
::<small>* https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/10/sea-level-rise-southern-us/</small>
 +
 +
 +
'' “These rapid rates are unprecedented over at least the 20th century and they have been three times higher than the global average over the same period.”''
 +
 +
 +
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🌎
 +
 +
 +
GreenPolicy360: The threat horizon is near and far.... here, science reports from the 'bottom of the earth'.... warming waters in the coldest region of the planet are causing change, big change, month-by-month, year-by-year
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''''What happens in Antarctica doesn't stay in the Antarctic'''''</big>
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Thwaites.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''''Melting Antarctic ice predicted to cause rapid slowdown of deep ocean current by 2050'''''</big>
 +
 +
''New research by Australian scientists suggests 40% slowdown in just three decades could alter world’s climate for centuries''
 +
 +
* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/30/melting-antarctic-ice-predicted-to-cause-rapid-slowdown-of-deep-ocean-current-by-2050
 +
 +
* https://phys.org/news/2023-03-deep-ocean-currents-antarctica-collapse.html
 +
 +
 +
Abyssal ocean overturning slowdown and warming driven by Antarctic meltwater
 +
 +
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-023-05762-w
 +
 +
<small>''The abyssal ocean circulation is a key component of the global meridional overturning circulation, cycling heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients throughout the world ocean. The strongest historical trend observed in the abyssal ocean is warming at high southern latitudes, yet it is unclear what processes have driven this warming, and whether this warming is linked to a slowdown in the ocean’s overturning circulation. Furthermore, attributing change to specific drivers is difficult owing to limited measurements, and because coupled climate models exhibit biases in the region. In addition, future change remains uncertain, with the latest coordinated climate model projections not accounting for dynamic ice-sheet melt. Here we use a transient forced high-resolution coupled ocean–sea-ice model to show that under a high-emissions scenario, abyssal warming is set to accelerate over the next 30 years. We find that meltwater input around Antarctica drives a contraction of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), opening a pathway that allows warm Circumpolar Deep Water greater access to the continental shelf. The reduction in AABW formation results in warming and ageing of the abyssal ocean, consistent with recent measurements. In contrast, projected wind and thermal forcing has little impact on the properties, age and volume of AABW. These results highlight the critical importance of Antarctic meltwater in setting the abyssal ocean overturning, with implications for global ocean biogeochemistry and climate that could last for centuries.''</small>
 +
 +
 +
'''''If greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels, the current in the deepest parts of the ocean could slow down by 40% in only three decades.'''''
 +
 +
'''''This, the scientists said, could generate a cascade of impacts that could push up sea levels, alter weather patterns and starve marine life of a vital source of nutrients.'''''
 +
 +
'''''Antarctic ice melt could disrupt the world’s oceans ...'''''
 +
 +
 +
''The Antarctic overturning circulation is part of a global network of currents that shift heat, oxygen and nutrients around the globe''
 
   
 
   
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+
''Global warming is accelerating the melting of ice in Antarctica, and the increased amount of fresh water flooding into the ocean is disrupting the flow of the Antarctic overturning circulation''
  
 +
* https://www.straitstimes.com/world/antarctic-ice-melt-could-disrupt-the-world-s-oceans-study
 +
* https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/monster-iceberg-released-billions-of-tonnes-of-fresh-water-into-ocean
  
:[[File:Earth Day 2022 - Act up.png]]
 
  
 +
<big>'''Meanwhile, up north....'''</big>
  
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+
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Arctic
  
  
April 20, 2022
 
  
 +
[[File:Blue green lines 1.png]]
  
[[File:Sarmat intercontinental ballistic missile - Apr 20 2022.png]]
 
  
 +
<big><big>'''PBS Tells a Story of a War and Nuclear Weapons Use Narrowly Avoided'''</big></big>
  
Recollections of the 'Satan Sarmat' (2016)
 
  
 +
GreenPolicy360: A new nuclear arms race is underway. We and our associate, Strategic Demands, call it [https://strategicdemands.com/nuclear-issues-cold-war-2-0/ '''"Cold War 3.0"''']... fortunately, humanity has not used nuclear weapons since the last days of World War 2 but since the beginning days of the nuclear era there have been too many close calls where an apocalyptic Pandora's Box, having been opened, has brought our world much too close to nuclear war and cataclysm.
  
[[File:Recollections of the Satan Sarmat.png]]
+
Here, in a new revealing documentary on PBS's "American Experience" series we look back at a close call in October/November 1969, one that involved GreenPolicy360 founder/siterunner.  
  
 +
The reality of a 'madman' plotting to use tactical nuclear weapons in this documentary wasn't revealed until years after the fact and after a peace movement prevented nuclear strikes. Now that this story is 'out in the open', we ask who is watching, who is listening?
 +
  
  
&nbsp;
+
[[File:Dan Ellsberg - the world is in your hands.png]]
  
April 17, 2022
 
  
  
[[File:Russia threats re nuclear weapons - Apr 17 2022.png]]
+
[[File:The Movement and the Madman - PBS - March 2023.png]]
  
  
[[File:Russia threats re nuclear weapons (2) - Apr 17 2022.png]]
+
PBS
  
 +
<big><big>'''The Movement and the 'Madman' '''</big></big>
  
 +
PBS PREMIERE MARCH 28 ON AMERICAN EXPERIENCE
  
························································································································································ 
+
The documentary film tells the little-known story of a dramatic showdown between a protest movement and a president.
  
 +
* https://www.movementandthemadman.com/home
 +
* https://www.movementandthemadman.com/history
 +
* https://www.movementandthemadman.com/preview
 +
* https://www.movementandthemadman.com/interviewees
 +
* https://www.movementandthemadman.com/filmmakers
  
[[File:Pope Francis - Easter 2022.png]]
 
  
  
 +
[[File:Doomsday Machine-Daniel Ellsberg-Recalling the Vietnam Moratorium Oct-Nov 1969.jpg]]
  
·································································································································
 
  
  
<big><big>'''Announcement from GreenPolicy360 & Strategic Demands'''</big></big>
+
🌎
  
  
[[File:Climate Plans Enforcement Project - 2.png]]
 
  
 +
[[File:Internet Freedom - Democracy Status - FH Map 2022-23.png]]
  
&nbsp;
 
  
·····························································································
+
<big>'''Mapping Internet Freedom - Democracy Status'''</big>
  
 +
* https://freedomhouse.org/explore-the-map?type=fiw&year=2023
  
<big>'''Biden's (and the World's) Imperiled Climate Agenda'''</big>
 
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/01/climate/biden-climate-change.html
+
About Freedom House
  
 +
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_House
  
''On Thursday (March 31st), President Biden said he would release one million barrels of oil a day from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve for as long as 180 days to help bring down global oil prices. The scale and duration of such a release would be historic. The United States also plans to increase exports of natural gas to help Europe wean itself from Russian supplies. Environmentalists are concerned that both of those moves will lead to more domestic drilling at a moment when scientists say nations must sharply and quickly cut fossil fuel use.''
+
* https://freedomhouse.org/
  
''The president used the announcement about the petroleum reserve to make a plea for his stymied climate legislation, saying that he was boosting gas and oil supplies to deal with an immediate crisis but that the country’s long term energy independence should be rooted in wind, solar and other renewable sources that are insulated from global market fluctuations.''
+
* https://freedomhouse.org/issues
  
''“Ultimately, we and the whole world need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels altogether,” Mr. Biden said. “We need to choose long-term security over energy and climate vulnerability. We need to double down on our commitment to clean energy and tackling the climate crisis with our partners and allies around the world. And we can do that by passing my plan that’s literally before the Senate right now, the United States Congress right now.”''
 
  
 +
News
  
··························································
+
* https://freedomhouse.org/article/reflecting-50-years-freedom-world
  
 +
* https://freedomhouse.org/article/new-report-global-freedom-declines-17th-consecutive-year-may-be-approaching-turning-point
  
  
<big><big>'''Progress, a Step at a Time'''</big></big>
+
''Global freedom declined for a 17th consecutive year in 2022 as 35 countries suffered deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties, according to a new report released today by Freedom House. A total of 34 countries made improvements during the year, however, meaning the gap between the numbers of countries that improved and declined was the narrowest it has ever been since the negative pattern began. The report suggests that the struggle for democracy may be approaching a turning point, and offers recommendations on how democratic governments and societies should work together to roll back authoritarian gains.''
  
'''Get it done, and get it done good'''
+
''The new report—Freedom in the World 2023: Marking 50 Years in the Struggle for Democracy—is the 50th edition of Freedom House’s annual global assessment of political rights and civil liberties.''
  
(which brings to mind an old aphorism [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfect_is_the_enemy_of_good ''' 'perfect is the enemy of good' '''])
+
* https://freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2023/marking-50-years
  
  
 +
  
········································································································
 
  
 +
March 29
  
  
<big><big><big>'''Ready for Webb's View of the Universe?'''</big></big></big>
+
<big>'''Judge Luttig (Again) Has a Warning for America'''</big>
  
'''Webb's far better than Hubble -- and Hubble brought unprecedented new visions of the Universe'''
+
: Our democracy is “under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack—from within.”
  
  
 +
Via [https://www.thebulwark.com/about-us/ '''The Bulwark''']
 +
  
'''March 16, 2022'''
+
''On the morning before the January 6th attack on the Capitol, one of the nation’s most prominent conservative jurists, former Federal Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luttig, posted a message aimed at Vice President Mike Pence.''
  
 +
''“The only responsibility and power of the Vice President under the Constitution is to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast,” Judge Luttig wrote.''
  
[[File:James Webb Telescope Unveils First Image - 1.png]]
+
''“The Constitution does not empower the vice president to alter in any way the votes that have been cast, either by rejecting certain votes or otherwise,” Luttig continued.''
  
 +
''If Pence had caved to Donald Trump’s demands and refused to count the electoral votes, Judge Luttig to''ld the House January 6th Committee last summer, the nation “would immediately have been plunged into what would have been tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis.”
  
[[File:James Webb Telescope Unveils First Image - 2.png]]
 
  
 +
''Now, Judge Luttig is back, with even a starker warning.''
  
 +
''The institutions of our democracy and law, he says, “are under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack — from within.”''
  
<big>'''''"Absolutely phenomenal"'''''</big>
+
''Last week, at the University of Georgia School of Law, Luttig said:''
  
* https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-webb-reaches-alignment-milestone-optics-working-successfully
+
''With the former president’s and his Republican Party’s determined denial of January 6, their refusal to acknowledge that the former president lost the 2020 presidential election fair and square, and their promise that the 2024 election will not be “stolen” from them again as they maintain it was in 2020, America’s Democracy and the Rule of Law are in constitutional peril — still. And there is no end to the threat in sight….''
  
* https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-better-than-expected-image
+
''We are a house divided and our poisonous politics is fast eating away at the fabric of our society….''
  
* https://www.inverse.com/science/nasa-webb-telescope-star-images
 
  
* https://cosmosmagazine.com/space/exploration/first-photos-james-webb-telescope/
+
* https://www.thebulwark.com/podcast-episode/judge-michael-luttig-a-betrayal-of-america-2/
  
* https://globalnews.ca/news/8690691/james-webb-telescope-first-images/
+
* https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/who-is-j-michael-luttig-and-why-is-he-testifying-in-the-jan-6-hearings
  
* https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/james-webb-telescope-captures-stunning-image-of-billion-year-old-galaxies-2828615
+
* https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/mike-pence-must-testify-about-conversations-he-had-with-donald-trump-leading-up-to-january-6-judge-rules/ar-AA19bzvT
  
* https://www.cnet.com/science/space/stunning-james-webb-star-image-shows-telescope-is-exceeding-expectations
 
  
* https://www.livescience.com/james-webb-telescope-image-limits-of-physics
 
  
* https://gizmodo.com/latest-image-shows-the-awesome-power-of-the-webb-space-1848662774
+
  
  
·············
 
  
 +
:::[[File:WaterAction - 2023.PNG]]
  
'''March 8'''
 
  
'''''Russia warns of $300 oil, threatens to cut off European gas if West bans energy imports'''''
+
[[File:Water Action News - March 2023.png]]
  
* https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/08/russia-warns-of-300-oil-if-ban-goes-ahead-threatens-to-cut-off-european-gas.html
 
  
 +
* https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/03/1134887
  
···············································································································
 
  
  
<big><big>'''Tactical, 'small battlefield' nuclear weapons aren't small'''</big></big>
+
<big><big>'''The UN 2023 Water Conference'''</big></big>
  
<big>''''Small' nukes are a misnomer''''</big>
+
March 22-24 | New York City
  
  
::[[File:Nuclear war - small nukes are a misnomer - Potsdam.png]]
+
Thread
  
 +
* https://twitter.com/Nature/status/1638538269225787392?s=20
  
················································································
 
  
 +
The first water-focused UN-summit in 46 years
  
<big><big>'''Sanctions Bite: War by Other Means'''</big></big>
+
UN Conference on Water Aims to Rally Support for Ambitious Goals
 +
  
: '''Democracies, Financial Systems, Governments and Businesses Fight Back Transactionally'''
+
The last time the United Nations hosted a conference dedicated to global water supply and sanitation the world looked vastly different. Half as many people were alive. China’s economy was smaller than the United Kingdom’s
  
:* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/business/economy/russia-sanctions-global-economy.html
+
* https://www.circleofblue.org/2023/world/un-conference-on-water-aims-to-rally-support-for-ambitious-goals/?mc_cid=58e31c1b66
  
  
[[File:UN General Assembly Vote - March 2 2022.jpg]]
+
The centerpiece of the conference, which runs from March 22 to 24, is the “water action agenda,” a compilation of voluntary commitments from national governments, nonprofits, businesses, and intergovernmental agencies. Together these commitments extend beyond the conference walls, pushing leaders to be more careful, inclusive water stewards in the years ahead.
  
 +
“It’s not what happens in three days... It’s what happens afterward.”
  
  
············································································································
+
Facts: About 300,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water. These deaths could have been avoided by access to daily clean water
  
 +
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a quarter of the global population, more than two billion people, lack access to safe drinking water.... 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services
  
<big><big><big><big><big><font color=orange>War in Ukraine, War on Ukraine</font></big></big></big></big></big>
+
Over half the global population, 4.2 billion people, lack safely managed sanitation services
  
 +
in 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. So, for instance, everyone has the right to enough water for personal and domestic uses, which is between 50 and 100 liters of water per person per day.
  
[[File:Nukes put on high alert.png]]
+
Water plays a fundamental role in sustainable development
  
  
 +
'''Global Commission on the Economics of Water''' (Read the Report)
  
[[File:War in Ukraine Feb 26 2022.png]]
+
The world is on the verge of a water disaster, with demand for fresh water predicted to outpace supply by 40% by the end of this decade
  
 +
The lack of access to clean water is a solvable crisis, but it requires good cooperation
  
 +
* https://turningthetide.watercommission.org/
  
[[File:War in the Ukraine - February 24 2022.png]]
 
  
 +
'''UN Conference on Water Aims to Rally Support for Ambitious Goals'''
  
<big><big>'''The Ukraine-Russia Crisis and Threats of Nuclear Weapons Use'''</big></big>
+
:'''Act to Make a Positive Difference'''
  
 +
:* https://www.circleofblue.org/2023/world/un-conference-on-water-aims-to-rally-support-for-ambitious-goals/
  
February 24, 2022
 
  
  
(AXIOS)
+
🌎
  
''Rarely in our lifetimes has the world heard more chilling and ominous words: Vladimir Putin said nations "will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history" if they interfere in his invasion of Ukraine.''
 
  
''Why it matters: This is a rare overt threat of nuclear attack...''
 
  
''Putin said in announcing the invasion:''
+
'''Sunday, March 12th'''
  
''To anyone who would consider interfering from the outside: If you do, you will face consequences greater than any you have faced in history. All relevant decisions have been taken. I hope you hear me."''
 
  
 +
<big><big>'''A 'Big Picture Day''''</big></big>
  
(CNN)
+
Yes, it's another day to take some time to take in the 'zeitgeist', to take a look at connections, trendlines, patterns, how 'it's all related' although in the quotidian reality it's a day at a time, a solar day in fact, as our planet spins through space.
  
''After Russian President Vladimir Putin announced he had ordered military action in Ukraine early Thursday, he threatened "those who may be tempted to intervene" on Ukraine's behalf.''
+
Today's 'Big Picture Day' is called geo-politics by some, and the weather by others, and money makes the world go round or the climate, the climate, the climate is changing, it's getting hotter, have you noticed?
  
''"Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted to intervene in ongoing events from the outside," Putin said.''
+
Let's take a quick look:
  
''"Whoever tries to interfere with us, and even more so to create threats to our country, to our people, should know that Russia's response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never experienced in your history. We are ready for any development of events. All necessary decisions in this regard have been made. I hope that I will be heard."''
+
Record-setting, historic oil/gas profits are being announced xxx, led by the House of Saud, called Saudi Arabia, where the nation's Aramco just announced a $121+ dollar (petrodollar) profit for 2022. This caps four other oil/gas giants announcing record 2022 profits.
  
  
(NYT)
+
<big>'''Profit-taking in a Profitable Year'''</big>
  
''In a rambling speech early Thursday, full of festering historical grievances and accusations of a relentless Western plot against his country, Mr. Putin reminded the world that Russia “remains one of the most powerful nuclear states” with “a certain advantage in several cutting edge weapons.”''
+
:'''Saudi oil giant Aramco posts record $161.1 billion profit for 2022'''
  
''In effect, Mr. Putin’s speech, intended to justify the invasion, seemed to come close to threatening nuclear war.''
+
::'''Four oil companies had total sales of $1 trillion last year'''
  
''In the context of Russia’s nuclear arsenal, Mr. Putin said, “there should be no doubt that any potential aggressor will face defeat and ominous consequences should it directly attack our country.”''
+
:::'''Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and Shell all reported record profits in 2022'''
  
  
(POLITICO)
+
''Oil giant Saudi Aramco has reported earning $161bn last year, claiming the highest-ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company and drawing immediate criticism from activists.''
  
''"Suddenly, the 'unthinkable' is unfolding before our eyes." For context, "new deployments of nuclear weapons in Eastern Europe could station US and Russian nuclear weapons closer than at any time in history... this would not be a second Cuban missile crisis but a far more volatile situation."''
+
''The monster profit by the firm, known formally as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., came off the back of energy prices rising after Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022, with sanctions limiting the sale of Moscow’s oil and natural gas in Western markets.''
  
 +
* https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/12/oil-giant-saudi-aramco-records-historic-161bn-profit-in-2022
  
(TELEGRAPH UK)
 
  
'''''Vladimir Putin appears to threaten nuclear strikes if West launches reprisal attacks'''''
+
Then there is Saudi Arabia and Iran, both oil giants and in conflict for years, announcing a 'peace treaty' brokered by China. And Iran has announced another weapons agreement with Russia. Russia has previously announced submitting plans to build [https://www.thenationalnews.com/gulf-news/saudi-arabia/2022/12/13/russias-rosatom-embarks-on-bid-to-build-saudi-arabias-first-nuclear-power-plant/ '''Saudi Arabia's first nuclear energy producing power plant'''].
  
''Russian president warns that any attempt to interfere in Ukraine conflict will provoke a response ‘never seen in history’''
 
  
''In a stark reminder of Russia’s nuclear power, he warned that “no one should have any doubts that a direct attack on our country will lead to destruction and horrible consequences for any potential aggressor”.''
+
[[File:Iran to buy Russian SU-35 fighter jets.png]]
  
''The address amounted to a declaration of war on Ukraine, with the aerial bombardment and invasion following shortly afterwards.''
 
  
 +
China, with its world leading economic growth, has announced history-making "Energy Deals of the Century' with Iran's Shia-led government and Russia, and has built deep ties with the the Saudi royal family. Guaranteed oil/gas supplies -- and an alternative to Petrodollar payment -- are top of mind as the US meets Eurasian politics with deepening Mid-East connections.
  
 +
China's [https://strategicdemands.com/?s=belt+and+road ''' "Belt and Road" ('New Silk Trail')'''] geo-political plan is taking 'great leaps forward'.
  
'''''More''''':
 
  
A BBC and NYT fact check: Nukes, Proliferation and the Ukraine crisis --
+
Given this as background, let us shift our gaze to the United States as one of the world's largest oil/gas producers that is due, in large part due to 'fracking' technology tapping into old reserves in the Permian Basin (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, etc). What was previously unprofitable is now profitable and oil/gas tracts and 'frackable' reserves (in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and worldwide with corporate-controlled contracts) are coming online. New LNG (liquified natural gas) refineries, shipping, ports/docks are being built as the energy disruptions of the Russian-Ukraine war have ramped up demand for US oil/gas and OPEC oil/gas as alternatives to Russia's previous large supplies that had been piped to Europe.
  
* https://www.bbc.com/news/60477712
+
Then comes the intense interest of the US president in fossil fuel/oil/gas production with the previously approved "Willow" project in Alaska.  
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/23/us/politics/putin-ukraine-nuclear-weapons.html
+
Let's take a closer look at the Willow project in Alaska, about to be announced.
  
  
 +
[[File:Alaska Willow - March 12 2023.png]]
  
<big><big><big>'''Nuclear 'Drills' as Russian Forces Hold 'Firing Exercises'</big></big></big>
 
  
[[File:Russia holds nuclear weapons drills - Feb 19 2022 - News of the World.png]]
+
This is 'Big Picture'. Now go bigger and add in the costs, the consequences of increased oil/gas production. Consider a "cost-benefit analysis."
  
  
 +
On this 'Big Picture Sunday' to see a glimpse of this future simply peruse this photo from the Associated Press reporting on an exceptional winter in Europe. The European media is reporting they basically 'got lucky' this winter. Europe lost its major Russian LNG oil/gas supplies, a high percentage of which was used to heat Europe's homes and businesses, but Europeans were delivered a mild winter and the LNG oil/gas was not needed as projected.
  
  
<big><big>'''Diplomatic Solutions to the Ukraine-Russia Security Crisis Are Available'''</big></big>
+
[[File:Where is the snow.PNG]]
  
'''Will Mutual Security Answers Prove Sufficient?'''
 
  
* https://strategicdemands.com/russian-gas-europe-more-than-meets-the-eye/
+
In Germany, the foreign minister and environment minister are leading members of the Green Party who have been pushing German engineering to the forefront in clean energy production, EV products, and myriad clean energy heating/transportation/manufacturing alternatives. They are, as Greens have been saying, 'out in front'.
  
 +
While the US waged wars and political forces have attempted to block national security alternatives to the 'old ways' of regarding security as hard power and military projects, other realities have come into play and, as time goes by, will be more evident.
  
[[File:StratDem Russia-Europe.png]]
+
Visit StrategicDemands.com, GreenPolicy360's associate for more on the geo-politics.  
  
 +
The reality of climate change is arriving with a physics that has an inertia that humanity has set in motion.
  
[[File:StratDem Proposed Russia-Ukraine Fix.png|link=https://strategicdemands.com/a-proposed-ukraine-fix-act-now-to-expand-the-inf-agreement/]]
+
The historic profits of the oil/gas system are one part of the physics and another part is in our hands. '''[[Look at how thin our atmosphere is]]''' and do calculate the costs (a cost-benefit analysis (CBA)) of business-as-usual. We see historic oil/gas profits in 2022/23, but what about the accumulating costs? Atmospheric emissions, the externalities of greenhouse gas pollution, are producing consequences that are real and escalating. In the 1970s there were those who set out to provide the climate facts and data, the Earth system science. The world can begin to see the costs today and unless we act to ameliorate them, they will be grave for future generations.
  
 +
Now what about US politics? What about drilling in Alaska? Ask yourself what are the costs of drilling in Alaska, and what are the benefits?
  
 +
Consider the Big Picture. And consider Joe Biden thinking about oil and gas as he preps to announce he is running for president.
  
················································································································
 
  
  
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Externalities '''Externalities'''] | '''[[Environmental full-cost accounting]]'''
  
:: [[File:US interstate system.png]]
+
'''[[New Definitions of National Security]]''' | '''[[Climate News]]'''
  
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Fossil_Fuels '''Fossil Fuels'''] | [https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Strategic_Demands '''Strategic Demands'''] | '''[[Planet Citizen Action]]'''
  
<big><big>'''EV Charging Stations, US Highways, Biden 2021 Infrastructure and Transportation Plan'''</big></big>
 
  
February 10, 2022
 
  
Google News Headlines
+
··················································································
  
  
::[[File:EV charging stations, US circa Feb 2022.jpg]]
 
  
 +
<big><big>'''''Nations Agree on Language for Historic Treaty to Protect Ocean Life'''''</big></big>
  
[[File:EV charging stations news, US circa Feb 2022.jpg]]
+
''The United Nations agreement is a significant step toward protecting biodiversity under growing threat from climate change, overfishing and seabed mining''
  
 +
March 4, 2023
  
 +
* https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/04/climate/united-nations-treaty-oceans-biodiversity.html
  
···································································································
 
  
 +
''After two decades of planning and talks that culminated in a grueling race over the past few days in New York, a significant majority of nations agreed on language for a historic United Nations treaty that would protect ocean biodiversity.''
  
<big><big><big>[https://strategicdemands.com/a-proposed-ukraine-fix-act-now-to-expand-the-inf-agreement/ '''Strategic Demands for Mutual Security, Not Yet Evident''']</big></big></big>
+
''As marine life faces threats from climate change, overfishing, the possibility of seabed mining and other dangers, the treaty would make it possible to create marine-protected areas and enact other conservation measures on the “high seas,” the immense expanse of ocean covering almost half the world.''
  
 +
''“Today the world came together to protect the ocean for the benefit of our children and grandchildren,” said Monica Medina, an assistant secretary of state. “We leave here with the ability to create protected areas in the high seas and achieve the ambitious goal of conserving 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.”''
  
Feb. 7
+
''The open oceans of the world have no international body or agreement with a primary focus of protecting marine biodiversity. If enacted, this treaty would change that...''
  
[[File:Presidents Putin and Macron meet - Feb 7 2022.jpg]]
 
  
  
Re: question of diplomatic solutions, in Moscow... France's President Macron meeting with Russia's President Putin:
+
🌎
  
“Let us start building a response that is useful for Russia, useful for all of our Europe, a response that helps us avoid war and build all the elements of trust, of stability, of visibility. Together.”
 
  
* https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/02/07/world/russia-ukraine-news
 
  
 +
[[File:About the Doomsday Clock.png]]
  
Updated / First week of February 2022
+
&nbsp;
  
* https://strategicdemands.com/bigger-picture-beyond-the-ukraine-conflict/
+
[[File:Doomsday Clock 2023.png]]
  
* https://strategicdemands.com/a-proposed-ukraine-fix-act-now-to-expand-the-inf-agreement/
+
&nbsp;
  
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Nuclear_Nonproliferation
+
&nbsp;
  
 +
[[File:Doomsday Clock - January 2023.png]]
  
Russian President Vladimir Putin: Russia has not seen "adequate consideration of our three key demands regarding NATO expansion, the renunciation of the deployment of strike weapons systems near Russian borders, and the return of the [NATO] bloc's military infrastructure in Europe to the state of 1997, when the Russia-NATO founding act was signed."''
 
  
  
 +
:::·······························································································
  
: [[File:Tactical nukes question - as of January 28 2022.png]]
+
  
&nbsp;
+
<big>'''''Depleted Under Trump, a ‘Traumatized’ E.P.A. Struggles With Its Mission'''''</big>
  
Via CNBC and Wire Services
+
* https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/23/climate/environmental-protection-agency-epa-funding.html
  
January 28, 2022
+
''The agency’s administrator, Michael S. Regan, has promised that new regulations being written by his staff now will be made public by spring. Agency officials said that the E.P.A. has stepped up its recruitment efforts and has purchased software that has helped it identify more potential job candidates, particularly from universities.''
  
 +
''“The agency is moving further and faster than ever before,” Dan Utech, Mr. Regan’s chief of staff, said in a statement. He added that accomplishments had come “despite depleted staffing levels, persistent funding challenges and a previous administration that left the agency neglected and scientifically compromised.”''
  
''Talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are expected in the next few days...''
+
''The E.P.A. is at an unusual juncture. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and the climate law enacted last year have begun to pump $90 billion into the agency over the next 10 years for climate projects like $1.5 billion for new technologies to monitor and reduce methane emissions from oil and gas wells, $5 billion for states to purchase low-emission school buses and $3 billion to cut pollution at ports...''
  
''The reaction from the Kremlin comes a day after the U.S. delivered its written responses to Russia’s security demands — including that Ukraine never be allowed to join the U.S. and Europe’s military alliance NATO, and that the organization rolls back its deployments in Eastern Europe.''
 
  
''In its response, which was given to the Kremlin by the U.S. ambassador in Moscow, the United States repeated its previous refusal to concede to such demands, sticking instead to its commitment to NATO’s “open-door” policy...''
+
🌎
  
''Blinken told reporters in a press briefing that the U.S. response also offered Russia “a serious diplomatic path forward, should Russia choose it.”''
 
  
''“We’re open to dialogue, we prefer diplomacy, and we’re prepared to move forward where there is the possibility of communication and cooperation if Russia de-escalates its aggression toward Ukraine, stops the inflammatory rhetoric, and approaches discussions about the future of security in Europe in a spirit of reciprocity.”
+
<big>Year of the Rabbit</big>
  
 +
By Fefe Ho & Chloe Chiao
  
''Russia has repeatedly denied it is planning to invade Ukraine despite having amassed around 100,000 troops and military hardware at various points along its border with Ukraine. Tensions have been high with its neighbor since 2014, when it invaded and annexed Crimea. It has also supported a pro-Russian uprising in eastern Ukraine, provoking low-level fighting between separatists and Ukrainian troops ever since.''
+
''The Rabbit is the fourth of all zodiac animals. Legend has it the Rabbit was proud—arrogant even—of its speed. He was neighbors with Ox and always made fun of how slow Ox was. One day, the Jade Emperor said the zodiac order would be decided by the order in which the animals arrived at his party. Rabbit set off at daybreak. But when he got there, no other animals were in sight. Thinking that he would obviously be first, he went off to the side and napped. However, when he woke up, three other animals had already arrived. One of them was the Ox...
  
''Putin has said Russia can place its troops wherever it likes on its territory, and Russia has accused the West of stoking hostilities and hysteria in the region.''
+
''The Rabbit’s quiet personality hides their confidence and strength. They are steadily moving towards their goal...''  
  
''The U.S. and NATO are not prepared to take Russia at its word that it will not invade Ukraine. NATO has placed its forces on standby and reinforced its positions in Eastern Europe, with more ships and fighter jets being sent to the region. The U.S., meanwhile, has put thousands of troops on heightened alert, meaning they are ready to be deployed to the region if the crisis escalates.''  
+
''The Rabbit is also associated with the Earthly Branch (地支 / dì zhī) mǎo (卯)...''  
  
''Lavrov said Thursday that the U.S. response “allows us to expect the start of a serious conversation but on secondary issues.''
+
''In the terms of yin and yang (阴阳—yīn yáng), the Rabbit is yin...''
  
''“On the main question, there’s no positive reaction in this document,” he said, according to the Interfax news service.''
 
  
''He reportedly stated that the main issue for Russia is “the inadmissibility of further expansion of NATO to the East and the deployment of strike weapons that could threaten the territory of the Russian Federation.”''
+
[[File:Year of the Rabbit - 2023.jpg]]
  
''Before Russia had received the U.S. response, Lavrov said he had made it clear to Blinken “that any further disregard for the legitimate concerns of the Russian Federation, which are associated primarily with the continued military exploration of Ukraine by the United States and its NATO allies against the background of the largescale deployment of the alliance’s forces and weapons near our borders, would have the most serious consequences.”''
+
 
 +
🌎
  
 
&nbsp;  
 
&nbsp;  
  
···································································································
+
<big><big>'''2022'''</big></big>
  
&nbsp;
 
  
 +
<big>'''December 2022'''</big>
  
<big><big>'''New Definitions of National Security Demanded'''</big></big>
 
  
 +
December 25th, Christmas Day
  
: <big>'''GreenPolicy360 & Strategic Demands:'''</big>
+
:'''Remember that a simple act of kindness can change someone’s day, week and sometimes life'''
  
  
[[File:Ukraine tension January 21 2022.png]]
+
[[File:Be kind-2.jpg]]
  
: <small>* https://strategicdemands.com/russia-ukraine-belarus-nato-eu-us/</small>
 
  
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Biodiversity COP15 News - 1.png]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Democracy <big><big><big>'''Act to Protect Democracy'''</big></big></big>]
 +
 +
 +
[[File:January 6 committee votes to issue criminal referrals against Trump.png]]
 +
 +
 +
'''Report from'''
 +
 +
<big><big>'''The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol'''</big></big>
 +
 +
* https://january6th.house.gov/
 +
 +
* https://january6th.house.gov/news
 +
 +
* https://january6th.house.gov/news/press-releases
 +
 +
* https://january6th.house.gov/about
 +
 +
 +
'''December 19, 2022'''
 +
 +
After more than a year of interviewing witnesses, gathering evidence and holding public meetings, the House select committee concluded its final hearing on Monday by referring former President Donald Trump for four criminal charges.
 +
 +
The panel voted unanimously to refer Trump and others to the Justice Department on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by assisting, aiding or comforting those involved in an insurrection.
 +
 +
* https://apps.npr.org/documents/document.html?id=23466430-introductory-material-to-the-final-report-of-the-select-comm
 +
 +
* https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23466430/introductory-material-to-the-final-report-of-the-select-committee.pdf
 +
 +
 +
Key Findings From the Jan. 6 Committee’s Report, Annotated
 +
 +
* https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/19/us/politics/jan-6-committee-key-findings.html
 +
 +
 +
[[File:January 6 committee - on December 19 2022.png]]
 +
 +
 +
[[File:January 6 committee final hearing - news.png]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''Nations promise to protect 30 percent of planet to stem extinction'''</big></big>
 +
 +
December 19, 2022
 +
 +
Delegates at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Canada make major conservation commitment to try to halt loss of hundreds of thousands of plants and animals. Will nations follow through?
 +
 +
 +
Via Washington Post
 +
 +
* https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-solutions/2022/12/19/cop15-biodiversity-wildlife-extinction/
 +
 +
 +
''Today’s loss of biodiversity is being driven not by a space rock but by one species: humans. The loss of habitat, exploitation of species, climate change, pollution and destruction from invasive species moved by people between continents are all driving a decline in the variety of plants and animals...''
 +
 +
 +
''Nations now have the next eight years to hit their targets for protecting life. With few legal mechanisms for enforcement, they will have to trust each other to protect habitats and funnel hundreds of billions of dollars over conservation.''
 +
 +
''“This is an incredible milestone for the world when it comes to conservation,” said Brian O’Donnell, the director of the conservation group Campaign for Nature. “We have been on a rapid path of destruction of nature for hundreds of years, and this can mark a turning point.”''
 +
 +
 +
''The 10-year deal sets nearly two dozen targets. The banner commitment calls on nations to collectively conserve for wildlife at least 30 percent of land, inland waterways, and coastal and ocean areas by 2030 — the promise dubbed “30 by 30.”''
 +
 +
''“It’s a global goal. Every country commits what they are capable of committing,” said Masha Kalinina, a senior officer focused on biodiversity at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Some will do more, some will do less.”''
 +
 +
 +
''The world has a long way to go to achieving that goal. Right now, only about a sixth of the continents and a 12th of the oceans have some form of protection, according to the U.N.’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre.''
 +
 +
 +
 +
'''Associated Press'''
 +
 +
* https://apnews.com/article/china-united-nations-biodiversity-climate-and-environment-eee5683a8fac71540f94e9934031bd22
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Nearly Every Country Signs On to a Sweeping Deal to Protect Nature.png]]
 +
 +
 +
 
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''News from the US Department of Energy, Livermore Lab, of a Successful Fusion Demonstration'''</big>
 +
 +
'''The Former Director of DOE Speaks of Coming Engineering Challenges'''
 +
 +
The first laboratory demonstration of net energy gain by fusing hydrogen isotopes is a major physics accomplishment
 +
- a necessary step on the long road to a fusion power plant. Whether by compressing the fusion fuel (as was done at DOE's Livermore
 +
lab or confining it as a very hot plasma (the approach of TAE Technologies, the company on whose Board I sit, and of several others), other-worldly conditions of high temperature must be not only attained but also reliably sustained for an economically viable power plant.
 +
 +
The science underpinnings of several different fusion technologies may be well established in this decade, to be followed by engineering of commercial power plants that meet cost benchmarks. I am optimistic that such power plants can be demonstrated and initially deployed in the 2030's, and indeed over four billion dollars of private capital are betting on it.
 +
 +
-- Ernest J. Moniz, former U.S. Energy Secretary and CEO of the non-profit Energy Futures Initiative
 +
 +
 +
<big>Via The Bulwark</big>
 +
 +
''The fusion breakthrough "didn't just achieve breakeven—getting more energy back that it put in—it achieved ignition. That is, they lit a thermonuclear fire in the lab. This has never been done." It's a big deal...''
 +
 +
* https://twitter.com/bulwarkonline/status/1603404549666095106?s=21&t=MgNEVS81oRz1O5fe7juI-g
 +
 +
* https://www.thebulwark.com/heres-why-the-fusion-breakthrough-decades-in-the-making-matters/
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:The Oath and the Office.png]]
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''Time to Remember: "An Oath"  '''</big>
 +
 +
“I … do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”
 +
 +
 +
'''December 5, 2022'''
 +
 +
<big>'Thought for the Day' by Steve Clemons</big>
 +
 +
“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That is the beginning of the oath new members of the Senate and the House will be asked to take on January 3, but will they? Donald Trump said over the weekend that we should suspend the Constitution to illegally reinstall himself as president. We’ll find out where leading Republican voices stand this week, who will get another round of questions about whether his latest behavior is disqualifying.
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Trump on Termination of US Constitution - 1.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Trump on Termination of US Constitution - 2.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Trump on Termination of US Constitution - 3.PNG]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''New Climate TRACE Emissions Database Announced at the 2022 Global Climate Conference (COP27)'''</big>
 +
 +
Earth Observation technology, decades of earth science and imaging with a goal, is now ready for prime time
 +
 +
 +
GreenPolicy360: THIS announcement is a game changer (and a tip of our green hat to those who purposefully set in motion a 1970s era plan to develop and launch a series of NASA missions to observe and understand our planet). Now comes country-by-country climate regulation, enforcement and emissions controls, political action and legal services. (From the original Mission Statement of NASA -- “To understand and protect our home planet...")
 +
 +
Follow our GreenPolicy360 "Climate Plans Enforcement" project for more information on the Climate TRACE coalition.
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''Global Emissions Inventory is a Secret Weapon at COP27'''</big></big>
 +
 +
'''November 2022 /  The Climate TRACE coalition unveils a new, highly detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which it hopes will help countries and companies looking for effective, targeted ways to decarbonize.'''
 +
 +
* https://climatetrace.org/
 +
 +
* https://climatetrace.org/
 +
 +
* https://climatetrace.org/about
 +
 +
* https://climatetrace.org/our-story
 +
 +
* https://climatetrace.org/our-approach
 +
 +
* https://climatetrace.org/map
 +
 +
 +
Via Protocol  ("Launched to cover the evolving power center of tech")
 +
 +
* https://www.protocol.com/bulletins/climate-trace-al-gore-inventory
  
&nbsp;
 
  
<big><big>'''War Between Russia, Ukraine, NATO, US?'''</big></big>
 
  
: '''War Between Nuclear Weapons States Carries Extreme Strategic Risks'''
+
''The Climate TRACE project is not being presented as the “climate cops” on the beat. The coalition in formation is seen as more of a “neighborhood watch,” which is often contacted by legal services and non profit groups who need local information and data to make their enforcement case.
  
:: '''Fact: There is NO winning a Nuclear Exchange, NO Winning with Nuclear Weapons'''
+
“Some — maybe many — governments (will) use the information to make sure that their laws and regulations are complied with”...''
 
   
 
   
 +
''It’s not just governments who can benefit from the inventory release, but private companies as well.''
  
'''What do we need? A New Vision of Security. When do we need it? Now...'''
 
  
  
:::::[[File:New Definitions of National Security demanded - January 2022.png]]
+
GreenPolicy360:
  
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:You_can_manage_only_what_you_can_measure_Dr_David_Crisp,_OCO-2,_June_2014_m.jpg '''Measure to Manage: Gather the Data and Science''']
  
 +
: As Protocol announces its end of publication [https://www.protocol.com/farewell-from-protocol '''Farewell from Protocol'''], November 15, 2022, we are choosing to reprint this full article, one of Protocol's final articles, and one that captures the promise and power of tech to help solve the generational challenges of climate change.
  
'''Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin: Step back from the brink.'''  
+
''The Climate TRACE coalition unveiled a new, highly detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which it hopes will help countries and companies looking for effective, targeted ways to decarbonize.''
  
Order the ambassadors to talk security. Nuclear weapons controls. Mutual assurances. Real security.
 
  
Ukraine conflict, regional war, war involving nuclear-armed states, will never bring real security...
+
''By Michelle Ma (@himichellema) / November 9, 2022''
  
[[File:Blinken-Lavrov - Jan 21 2022.jpg]]
 
  
 +
''Al Gore has one mission this week at COP27, and that’s to give climate negotiators what he hopes will be a critical tool to address the crisis at hand: an independent, global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, down to the individual facility.''
  
 +
''The Climate TRACE coalition just released the world’s most detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which Gore, a founding member, is unveiling on Wednesday at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt.''
  
Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ Ⅵ Ⅶ Ⅷ Ⅸ Ⅹ Ⅺ Ⅻ
 
  
 +
''“Of course, the world has long known what the overall amount of greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere is. What’s different about this [database] is the accurate apportioning of who’s responsible for what and the granularity that allows us a focus on specific emissions sources,” Gore told Protocol, adding that he has “no doubt” that the database “will be put to a lot of use in negotiations for sure.”''
  
<big><big>'''Doomsday Clock 2022'''</big></big>
+
''The inventory shows facility-level emissions, which will allow negotiators to home in on the most polluting sites in individual countries, helping them target where emissions reductions should come from. Putting a solar farm in one place might displace significantly more emissions than locating it somewhere else, and the inventory allows negotiators to identify exactly where they would get “the biggest bang for their buck.”''
  
  
[[File:Doomsday Clock - 2022.png]]
+
''The inventory, published on Wednesday on Climate TRACE’s website and free for anyone to access, includes emissions data for 72,612 individual sources, including power plants, steel mills, and oil and gas fields. It also includes sources that can move between countries, such as cargo ships.''
  
 +
''That granularity will be critical for countries to have an accurate accounting of their emissions and where they come from, particularly countries that don’t have the resources to gather that data themselves. It will also help corporations looking for the most cost-effective, impactful way to cut emissions, said Gavin McCormick, another founding member of the coalition.''
  
 +
''“One of the exciting parts for us has been to move the conversation from countries arguing in some vague sense about accountability to, ‘Hey, we’re talking about these few facilities here,” McCormick said.''
  
: ········································································································
 
  
 +
''Using AI and satellite data, Climate TRACE was able to determine that a significant share of carbon pollution comes from a small number of facilities. The database shows that one steel mill in Korea, for example, emits more greenhouse gas pollution in a year than all of Bosnia. “The politics of how you would transition a few facilities is strikingly different than when you’re saying, ‘Who could know where it’s coming from?’” McCormick said.''
  
<big>'''Voting and Election Rights Go Down in Disheartening Defeat'''</big>
+
''Many countries lack accurate, granular, and up-to-date emissions data. That’s in part due to resource constraints, particularly in smaller or poorer countries. Egypt, for example, released a partial inventory of its 2015 emissions for the first time this year. Some of the data is self-reported by polluters, collected via surveys of key facilities and then extrapolated to create a country-level estimate. In India, “I know they’re literally out there counting cows for a few farms and then assuming these farms are representative for the whole country,” McCormick said.''
  
''Dems' 'nuclear option' push fails, election bills dead, after Sinema and Manchin vote to keep filibuster''
+
Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.
  
* https://www.foxnews.com/politics/schumer-manchin-sinema-biden-senate-filibuster-democrats-voting-rights-elections
+
''One key insight that came out of this inventory was that oil and gas emissions are “massively undercounted” in official estimates, he said. Through satellite data, the coalition found that oil and gas leaks were a significant source of “super-emitting” sites.''
  
 +
''When asked if he thinks the undercounting of emissions from the oil and gas sector was deliberate or not, Gore said, “There are several specific examples that are hard to interpret in any way other than the fact that there has been an intentional effort to hide emissions and to deceive the world community about how large the emissions are. It’s just almost impossible to believe that it’s an accidental oversight, and all the accidents go in exactly the same direction.”''
  
: [[File:US Senate debates voting rights bill.jpg]]
+
''Gore, however, is not interested in Climate TRACE being the “climate cops.” He views the coalition as more of a “neighborhood watch,” which is often contacted by law enforcement for local information. “I will not be at all surprised if some — maybe many — governments use the information to make sure that their laws and regulations are complied with,” he said.''
  
 +
''It’s not just governments who can benefit from the inventory release, but private companies as well.''
  
 +
''The cleanest steel mills aren’t being used at full capacity. Yet shifting business to these mills could reduce emissions from the steel sector by 50%, McCormick said.''
  
:: [[File:Biden voting rights speech attacked by McConnell.png]]
+
''Companies that want to decarbonize their supply chains — which includes a number of major tech companies from Salesforce to Apple — can simply use the information to purchase products from the cleanest facilities. The coalition has already started having conversations with multinational corporations about switching suppliers, which can happen in a matter of months rather than years, if they’re armed with independent data.''
  
 +
''By next year, Climate TRACE hopes to update the inventory to include every source of emissions and, eventually, get it closer to updating in real time. Right now, the data as a whole is at least annual up until 2021, with some sectors updated monthly.''
  
<big><big>'''Voting Rights and Democracy Atop President Biden's Political Speech in Atlanta'''</big></big>
+
''“My belief is that if we can demonstrate to the world that it’s actually easier than they thought to make progress and we can actually track that progress, this is going to be the year that a lot of countries start tasting some serious progress,” McCormick said.''
  
  
:: [[File:Biden delivers voting rights speech in Atlanta.png]]
 
  
 +
  
[https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/01/11/remarks-by-president-biden-on-protecting-the-right-to-vote/ <small>White House: President Biden Speaks on 'Protecting the Right to Vote' (Speech Transcript /Atlanta, January 11, 2022)</small>]
 
  
 +
GreenPolicy360: Follow Our "Climate Plans Enforcement" Initiative
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources
 +
 +
<big>'''[[Climate Plans Enforcement - Resources]]'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
GreenPolicy360 welcomes the arrival of a global science mission, a "Global Stocktake", a collection of earth science data to be made available to the  community of nations, to planet citizen activists and scientists, educational institutions, non-profits, NGOs, young and old to become tools for legal enforcement of national climate plans & pledges
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Global_Stocktake,_the_first_GST.jpg
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''GreenPolicy360's Campaign to 'Turn National Climate Promises & Pledges into Reality' '''</big>
 +
 +
: Our Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative continues as the next Global Climate Conference approaches, November's Conference of the Parties (COP27)
 +
 +
:: Drawing from the database of Earth Science resulting from decades of space-based missions designed to provide us with actionable 'Earth-system and Climate-related data'
 +
 +
::: Measuring and Monitoring to better manage Earth's Living, Dynamic and Changing Systems, Local, National and Global
 +
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Methods_to_enforce_climate_pledges-NDCs_-_Dec_2021.png ''Methods to Enforce Climate Plan Pledges'']
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Climate_Plans_Enforcement_-_Resources ''GreenPolicy360: Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative'']
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:INDC ''Pressuring Nations to Step Up, Cooperate, and Act Now'']
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Environmental_Laws ''Environmental Laws, Regs, Rules... Lawsuits & Legal Actions'']
 +
 +
[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Glasgow_Climate_Summit_-_Pledges,_Promises,_Declarations_-_What%27s_Next_Up ''Glasgow (2021) & Paris (2015) Summits: Int'l Climate Plan Pledges & Promises (INDCs-NDCs)'']
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Earth Observing System - fleet of satellites.png]]
 +
 +
"Earth Observing System": Decades of Earth Science/Climate Science Data Accessible for Planet Citizen Action
 +
 +
 +
:[[File:EarthRightNow Earth Science satellite fleet circa 2015 m.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Earth_Observing_System_-_fleet_of_satellites.png
 +
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Science_Research_from_Space
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
 +
[[File:Time Nov 10 2022 COP27.jpg]]
 +
 +
<small>* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Time_Nov_10_2022_COP27.jpg</small>
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''Climate Summit / COP27 Updates - November 11, 2022'''</big></big>
 +
 +
Via NY Times Reporters/Live - On Location
 +
 +
* https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/11/11/climate/cop27-climate-summit
 +
 +
* https://time.com/6232753/bad-news-for-the-planet-as-global-carbon-emissions-continue-to-increase/
 +
 +
 +
<big>Transcript of President Biden's Speech at the 27th International Climate Conference</big>
 +
 +
* https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2022/11/11/remarks-by-president-biden-at-the-27th-conference-of-the-parties-to-the-framework-convention-on-climate-change-cop27-sharm-el-sheikh-egypt/
 +
 +
 +
<big>More from the Global Climate Conference</big>
 +
 +
COP27: Biden says the climate crisis is about ‘very life of the planet’
 +
 +
* https://www.npr.org/2022/11/11/1136000297/biden-says-u-s-will-rise-to-the-global-challenge-of-climate-change
 +
 +
* https://www.ucsusa.org/about/news/president-bidens-cop27-speech-highlights-climate-progress-us-still-falling-behind-global
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
[[File:COP27 'opening speech'.png]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, Nov 7 (Reuters) - ''United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told countries gathered at the start of the COP27 summit in Egypt on Monday they face a stark choice: work together now to cut emissions or condemn future generations to climate catastrophe.''
 +
 +
''The speech set an urgent tone as governments sit down for two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst of climate change, even as they are distracted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, rampant consumer inflation and energy shortages.''
 +
 +
 +
[[File:COP27 logo.png]]
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''COP27'''</big></big>
 +
 +
: <big>'''Time for [[Planet Citizen Action]]'''</big>
 +
 +
:* https://stories.undp.org/cop27-a-chance-to-act
 +
 +
 +
[[File:COP27 A chance to act.jpg]]
 +
 +
 +
 +
🌎
 +
 +
 +
[[File:NASA has a new mission... against Methane.png]]
 +
 +
* <small>https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:NASA_has_a_new_mission..._against_Methane.png</small>
 +
 +
 +
'''GreenPolicy360: Methane hot spots we're coming to find you, identify you, act to stop you and enforce climate laws.'''
 +
 +
:'''"Super emitters", we have a message for you, you can't hide....'''
 +
 +
:* <small>https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/methane-super-emitters-mapped-by-nasa-s-new-earth-space-mission</small>
 +
 +
:* <small>https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:NASA_has_a_new_mission..._against_Methane.png</small>
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🌎
 +
 +
 +
<big>'''October 2022'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
 +
:::::::::::<big><big>'''[[Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth]]'''</big></big>
 +
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::::::::<big>'''[[Planet Citizen Action]], [[Environmental protection]]. [[Quality of Life]]'''</big>
 +
 +
 +
:::[[File:Blue Marble photo taken by the crew of Apollo 17 (1972).jpg]]
  
 
&nbsp;  
 
&nbsp;  
  
[[File:Biden voting rights support fading.png]]
+
<big><big><big>'''Planet Citizens / Scientists, Preserving & Protecting the Home Planet Earth'''</big></big></big>
  
  
:: [[File:Biden - will we choose democracy.png]]
 
  
  
 +
[[File:The Politics of Beauty - Oct 2022.png]]
  
 +
* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:The_Politics_of_Beauty_-_Oct_2022.png
  
: [[File:One year later...I will defend this nation Jan-6-2022.png]]
 
  
 +
'''Stewart Udall Film Trailer''': http://vimeo.com/708323643
  
 +
* https://vimeo.com/491417423
  
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<big>'''December 2021'''</big>
+
·················································
  
  
<big>'''On the Last Day of 2021'''</big>
 
  
'''Ready for 2022? [https://twitter.com/hashtag/ActOnClimate <big> #ActonClimate</big>] Today & Every Day'''
+
[[File:Post from Richard Falk, Global Justice - Oct 25 2022.jpg]]
  
  
[[File:School strike week 176.png]]
 
  
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[[File:Nowhere to Hide.jpg|link=https://www.greenpolicy360.net/mw/images/Nowhere_to_Hide.jpg]]
  
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<small>* https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else</small>
 +
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GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Green politics for decades has, in the community of nations, focused on the nuclear threat. The history of green parties and green, environmental movement has a record of activism that has been described as 'out in front' and in Europe, within the European governments, since the 1970s and 80s we see green organizing that demanded the removal of nuclear weapons. Green politics called for an end to the [https://strategicdemands.com/?s=hair+trigger ''''hair trigger' face-off'''] between the Soviet Union and Europe, the U.S. and a nuclear conflagration that threatened humanity and life on Planet Earth.
 +
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Today, the war in Ukraine and threat of nuclear war continues to grow with a waving of so-called "tactical, battlefield" and "strategic, intercontinental" nuclear weapons bristling with dangers of mistake, miscalculation, desperate or preemptive use, rogue forces or insane calculation. A new century is now seeing the collapse of nuclear arms controls and treaties, with media 'normalizing' nuclear weapons use in nightly news shows. The East and West stand on a precipice. 
 +
 +
Now comes '''"Nowhere to Hide"''' by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
 +
 +
Read it -- https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else
 +
 +
We at GreenPolicy360 and with our associate, Strategic Demands have worked alongside the Bulletin and its goals...
 +
 +
Now a flashing warning continues louder and brighter -- be aware of the danger. Act to reduce the danger of nuclear disaster.
 +
 +
 +
 +
<big><big>'''War in Ukraine Ratcheting Up, Threats of Nuclear Use Ratcheting Up'''</big></big>
 +
 +
: <big>June, July, August, September, October -- 'Bluffing' or Coming Cataclysm? </big>
 +
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:* https://strategicdemands.com/ukraine-flashpoint/
 +
 +
:* https://strategicdemands.com/ultimatum-time/
 +
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:* https://strategicdemands.com/two-from-elon/
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:* https://strategicdemands.com/getting-nuked-thoughts-warnings-on-a-sunday/
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🌎
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GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: It is October 1st and we are looking at a "Week that Was". Under the heading of Climate News/Florida what has been described as one of the most costly hurricanes in the history of the state hit the west coast couth of Tampa Bay, Hurricane Ian hit not far from where Hurricane Charley devastated not many years ago. In Florida, the terrestrial home of GreenPolicy360, we faced a Hurricane named Ian -- and resulting catastrophe throughout our state. Hurricane Ian arrived from the Caribbean and target the Florida west coast from Naples in the south to Tampa Bay and further in the north and central Florida. Mandatory evacuations were ordered... many listened, many didn't and now the consequences are coming into view. The media and press are reporting, politicians speaking, emergency services, the Coast Guard, police, and regular citizens of all persuasions and backgrounds have acted, often as rescuers and/or protectors of families and homes. The consequences of the damage and the on the ground reality and experience will go on for months and years.
 +
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We have to ask, as now is the time to ask about Florida's future, what about Florida? Where is the 'trending' threads of concern acknowledging, risks, problems and identifying solutions to 'extreme weather events'. Here at GreenPolicy we have for years spoken of a warming Gulf of Mexico and tropical storms that 'rapidly intensify' as a result. Ian the hurricane did exactly that, surprising many but not out of line with the physics of a Gulf of Mexico that is heating due to climate change. The atmospheric science, earth science, ocean science, the statistics and the physics of interacting systems, and the political responses to the full scope of the devastation this extreme weather event/storm/typhoon, call it what you will, is on the radar. We are seeing connections between human decisions and nature's responses. Florida is, as we have written for years, "The frontlines of climate change".
 +
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Change is in the air. It is time for reality check. The radar sees the moving vector. It's time that we see the threat speeding at us...
 +
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[[File:Change.jpg]]
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🌎
  
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<big><big>'''Big Picture Time: On the Way to Cosmology'''</big></big>
 
<big><big>'''Big Picture Time: On the Way to Cosmology'''</big></big>
 
 
<big>'''[[James webb space telescope]]'''</big>
 
 
December 25th.... Launched !
 
 
* https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
 
  
  
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'''[[James Webb Space Telescope]]'''
  
[[File:Webb rolls out - Dec 23 2021.png]]
 
  
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[[File:Webb - Phantom Galaxy M74.jpg]]
  
  
  
 
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'''More GreenPolicy360 Archives of Highlighted Green Stories of the Day'''
  
  
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'

Latest revision as of 18:36, 25 March 2024


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Visit GreenPolicy's Most Popular Pages
Scan Our Most Linked-to Categories

 

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Generation Green


Young and old, in every nation, across every continent, and in every community

Here are stories from around the world, stories that Concern, Inform and Inspire
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Connecting & sharing stories changing the world

Green Networking, Green Best Practices


GRN360: Turning Visions into Reality

Green360 Projects in 2024 include:

The Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative
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Green Best Practices: Sharing Success Stories Community-to-Community


Please consider supporting the projects of Green360

Help to Give GRN360 our 'Green Wings'


Click here


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GreenPolicy360's eco Operating System (eOS)

Tens of Millions of Visits, Interactions & Shares

 

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Look at how thin our atmosphere is


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Climate.gov -- News & Features


Global Climate Dashboard

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2024


March


As the upcoming US presidential election heats up, threats to US democratic institutions heat up...


Democracy Challenged, Democracy Awakening.png


* https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Democracy_Challenged,_Democracy_Awakening.png



A Living Earth, a Living Cell

Macro to Micro on All Species Day


Living Earth.png


 

Eukaryotic Cell SCU.jpg

 


🌎

 

MethaneSat - 3.PNG


More (without a paywall) on the opportunities to use MethaneSAT data, internationally, in the years to come. This Earth Imaging data, a consequence of decades of Earth research from satellites development, promises to be an environmental security/climate policy and enforcement game changer


On March 4, 2024, MethaneSAT detached from the SpaceX Transporter-10 rocket that carried the emissions-monitor into space.

The groundbreaking satellite is designed to help protect the Earth’s climate by accelerating reductions of this powerful greenhouse pollutant, focusing on oil and gas operations, a major source of methane.


MethaneSAT data will become available, it has been announced, for download in the Google Earth Engine database...


MethaneSAT is the first satellite developed by an environmental non-profit and enables emissions tracking and business accountability. The net result -- faster reductions of methane gas.


Climate Action Plans 360

In 2020/21 GreenPolicy360 first put forward a strategic initiative for "climate plans enforcement" developed and presented by nearly all nations of the world at climate summits. The Paris conference in 2015 was the first reveal of this plans and since then many promises for action have been made by nations and their political representatives -- but with sporadic follow up and performance.

We saw a pressing need to, as we put it, 'turn national climate plans and pledges into reality'. The plans/pledges/promises made on paper had to translate to action on the ground and, as we said, in the skies above. The INDCs (Intended Nationally Determined Contributions) had to bring in facts and data, and as we pointed to, the data was there in the form of satellite missions capable of surveying and reporting emissions, hot spots, 'code red' vital signs.

In other words, as we have said for many years, science could be and should be used. 'Measure-to-manage' was a call to action for climate plans enforcement.

The use of Earth Imaging systems via satellite programs was high on our list, as our GreenPolicy360 founder has been involved in Earth Science research from space since its beginnings in the 1970s.

Now, with the launch of MethaneSAT, the vision of data that can be used for enforcement, to reduce methane emissions as a potent source of global warming, is now becoming a reality. Read on...


Distributing the MethaneSAT data is the next step...


GRN360: Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative


GRN3360: Methods to Enforce Climate Plan Pledges


MethaneSat - 1.jpg


Measure-to-Manage



First satellite developed by an environmental non-profit will see methane emissions others can’t, paving the way for heightened accountability and faster reductions


MethaneSat Media Kit


🌎


GP360 tagcloud2.png


Along Comes Data

You don't need a degree in statistics to know that facts count and data is a key to seeing how to navigate to your goals and destination.

Our World in Data is one of the best sources available online for gathering data in its various forms, fields, presentations and timelines. Our World in Data is now launching -- Data Insights.


The motto of Our World in Data is "Research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems." GreenPolicy360 agrees.


We regularly check with Our World in Data for their data-science.

One of GreenPolicy360's oft-stated axioms is 'facts count' and so, after checking out Our World in Data and bookmarking them as a favorite, perhaps it's time to surf through some of GreenPolicy360's popular facts and science pages. One of our key goals is to provide actionable facts, data, and science that powers up green work...


Data, Intelligence, Science

Measure-to-Manage


GreenPolicy360 & Science

GreenPolicy360, Facts & Data -- GreenPolicy360, Our Policy on Science



Prepare to debate on the merits of the facts and the science... here are some means and methods, logic and argumentation, to employ when interacting with those involved in Climate Denial and Misinformation ...


··················································································································


Bioneers 35.png


Ready for a trip to our friends 35th Annual Conference?

Join in. Make a Positive Difference... 'Your Life is Your Message'


Bioneers


🌎


March 3

On World Wildlife Day


EO and Fire Ants in the US - on World Wildlife Day.png


Fire Ants.png


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Flaco the Eagle Owl.png


February 26, 2024


Flaco, the Eurasian Eagle Owl, Has Died


The Owl who escaped from the NY Central Park Zoo, went wild and lived with Owl freedom in the middle of New York City has come to an end.

The saga of Flaco touches on many "Living Earth" threads that weave throughout the environmental protection movement and a long-time eco-journalist, Andy Revkin, touched many of these in his new thought piece exploring 'the many meanings of the death of Flaco'. We agree with Andy@Revkin. The passing of a 'wise' symbol, who chose freedom instead of regular comfort, food, and security, who had to forage and use their wits to survive amid a very loud, dangerous, and unforgiving world (albeit one with plenty of scurrying rats running about in the streets and alleys), did resonate with many species human.

Here's Andy talking with cohorts who know about birds, and bird life, and threats that we humans can act to minimize as we look to protect life of Earth...


Via Sustain What --

Andy's guests @ 1 PM EST Feb. 26:

• Carl Safina, ecologist, conservationist and author, whose New York Times op-ed article was just posted. Here it is paywall-free - “Like Many a Hero, Flaco the Owl Made His Choice.”

(from the article) - Almost from the moment he was released, Flaco became a symbol of hope for many of the people who followed his story and recognized parts of themselves in him. Some saw him as the embodiment of the American dream, an outsider who had come to Manhattan and made a life for himself here, like millions of others who arrived penniless and unconnected in their quest for freedom. Others saw him as a poignant reminder that you can find happiness even if you’re alone (as the only free-living Eurasian eagle-owl in the Western Hemisphere, he had no chance of ever finding a wild mate). ...

Though the animal literature is peppered with stories of animals — usually pets — who suffer hardships and return home, Flaco never retreated to the zoo. Perhaps freedom itself was the home he’d discovered.


Andy also interviewed Adam Smith and Brendon Samuels -

• Adam Smith, an architect and director of design at Synecdoche, a Michigan firm centering bird-safe features in its projects.

• Brendon Samuels, a Ph.D. candidate at Western University in London, Ontario, studying building design and bird behavior. Samuels, working with the Fatal Light Awareness Program, a k a FLAP Canada, has created and assembled an array of invaluable resources highlighting the bird-building collision crisis and ways to mitigate enormous losses, which, he stresses, are NOT restricted to cities.


GreenPolicy360 suggests all of us protect birds and wildlife.

The times we are in, times of endangered species and species extinction suggest an All Species Day, today.


🌎


Navalny.png


February 19, 2024


Inside Aleksei Navalny’s Final Months

Excerpts from the Unlocked' NY Times Article

Quoted from letters sent from a small cell in the Arctic...


Confined to cold, concrete cells and often alone with his books, Aleksei A. Navalny sought solace in letters. To one acquaintance, he wrote in July that no one could understand Russian prison life “without having been here,” adding in his deadpan humor: “But there’s no need to be here.” ...

Many details about his last months — as well as the circumstances of his death, which the Russian authorities announced on Friday — remain unknown; even the whereabouts of his body are unclear. ...

Even as brutal prison conditions took their toll on his body — he was often denied medical and dental treatment — there was no hint that Mr. Navalny had lost his clarity of mind, his writings show. ...

"I really miss the daily grind — news about life, food, salaries, gossip.”

Kerry Kennedy, a human-rights activist and the daughter of the Democratic politician Robert F. Kennedy, who was assassinated in 1968, also exchanged letters with Mr. Navalny. He told her that he had cried “two or three times” while reading a book about her father recommended by a friend, according to a copy of a letter, handwritten in English, that Ms. Kennedy posted on Instagram after Mr. Navalny died.

Mr. Navalny thanked Ms. Kennedy for sending him a poster with a quote from her father’s speech about how a “ripple of hope,” multiplied a million times, “can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

“I hope one day I’ll be able to hang it on the wall of my office,” Mr. Navalny wrote. ...


Mr. Krasilshchik... said he was left to ruminate on the last letter he received, in September. Mr. Navalny concluded it by positing that if South Korea and Taiwan were able to make the transition from dictatorship to democracy, then perhaps Russia could, too.

“Hope. I’ve got no problem with it,” Mr. Navalny wrote.

He signed off: “Keep writing! A.”


🌎


GreenPolicy360: A Global Hub of Green Values and Green Action

Being Green is a Quest and a Challenge


Wiki Loves Earth - Landscape winner 2023.png

International wiki photo contest


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Planet Labs Doves Fly


Dove minisat m.jpg


SJS/GreenPolicy360 Siterunner:

Planet Labs first came onto our radar screen here in 2011. We have been following the evolution of the Planet Labs' story (now re-branded Planet @ Planet.com) from its mission statement to today.


Using Space to Help Life on Earth

Planet is driven by a mission to image all of Earth's landmass every day, and make global change visible, accessible and actionable.


Planet, the Company


We, at GreenPolicy360, have a special interest in the work of Planet, as we were 'in at the beginning' as it were. We were there, in person, close up, when the original NASA mission statement, including these words -- “To understand and protect our home planet..." -- were being spoken of by a US representative serving on the Space and Technology committee responsible for policy and oversight. Congressman George Brown from California showed your GreenPolicy360 Founder/Siterunner words that were motivating him to propose Landsat missions that came to be called 'Big Science', Earth Imaging/Earth Science and Atmospheric-Climate Science. For 30+ years Representative George E. Brown led the charge, as it were, to gather the data needed to make informed and wise decisions about our home Planet.

A decade after George's passing away in 1999, youthful engineers from NASA 'spun off' from the 'home ship' to launch Planet Labs and their mission resonated with a mission we share. Our environmental work goes back to this mission and, as we have attempted to bring it into the light, it is again time to highlight Planet.

Take a look at their most recent add-ons to what we call a Planet API. It's AI time, artificial intelligence applied to analyzing the Earth imaging data that has been gathered over a decade by Planet and is being queried and utilized in ways that Rep. Brown used to explain was his dream, as he, also an engineer, explained how the public-private partnerships, with universities and educators, using fleets of satellite with new digital imaging and data banks, would enable a new vision for citizens across the Earth.

And now, here we are! Planet.com and GreenPolicy360.com, we're on mission ....


Understanding AI’s Impact on Space Data with Planet’s Head of Product


Planet API


Planet Citizens


Earth-fave-icon3.png


Strategic Demands


🦠 Earth Science Vital Signs


We, now at GreenPolicy360, are continuing on, presenting Earth science news, green politics and environmental movement recollections and highlights from the eco-journey:


New Ways to See & Experience Planet Earth  

Visit GreenPolicy360's story of Earth Science research from our decades of research, eco-activism and #PlanetCitizens education.

Our eco operating system (eOS) includes:

EarthPOV

ThinBlueLayer.com - Look at how thin our atmosphere is

Earth and Space, Politics

New Definitions of National Security

Earth Science Research from Space

Micro-satellites

Virtual Earth

HelloEarth

Democratization of Space

Earth Right Now

Earth Science Vital Signs

The Commons

Earth Imaging-New Space


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Flashback -- 1978, Climate Action Memories

GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Our friend George steps up in Congress


·······················································


First National Climate Act

GreenPolicy360 Siterunner / SJ Schmidt: The beginnings of modern environmental and climate science can be traced to the 1960s and 1970s. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences played a key role in laying a foundation of scientific reports and data.

Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF via GreenPolicy360

Rep. George Brown took the findings of the 1977 Energy and Climate Report from the Academy of Sciences and made the science actionable. In a historic moment, he proposed and drafted the legislation of the first U.S. National Climate Program and shepherded its passage in 1978.

This first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change became a foundation for comprehensive initiatives, with an array of new Earth Science missions led by NASA and NOAA, the EPA and USGS.


US Public Law 95-367.png

 

🌎


1992 -- Earth Summit

We reported 'deep on the first Earth Summit'...
and worked to draft a 1992 US presidential campaign platform 'heavy on the green'


Launch of Annual International Climate Conferences


Earth Summit 1992-s.png
Earth Summit (1992)


🌎


GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Memories of Riding Free in Canyons and on Mesas of the Ghost Ranch

(And memories of my spirited & wild Appaloosa and Ghost Ranch exploring after summer monsoons)


Thank you David Lancaster for Your Magnificent Photo of the ...

Milky Way above the Pedernal and Ghost Ranch, in Georgia O'Keefe Northern New Mexico


Pedernal and Milky Way - Photo by David Lancaster.jpg

Photo by David Lancaster


🌎


"Democracy is on the ballot"

US President Joe Biden's Speech in Pennsylvania Signals a Main Theme in the 2024 Presidential Campaign


January 2024

"“We must be clear,” Mr. Biden said. “Democracy is on the ballot. Your freedom is on the ballot.” ...

"Today, we are here to answer the most important of questions: Is democracy still America's sacred cause? ... it's what the 2024 election is all about...

 


President Biden - January 5, 2024.png

(AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)


President Biden speaks of protecting democracy - Jan 5 2024.png


President Biden speaks of protecting democracy - News on Jan 5 2024.png



2023


GreenPolicy360's 'Favorite Pic' from 2023


Golden spiral - Fibonacci spiral via Massimo 2023.png


December


Our Living Planet: Recalling the Message of a Presidential Farewell -- and the Anniversary of the US Endangered Species Protection Act'


December 28, on the 50th Anniversary of the Endangered Species Act being signed into law:

President Joe Biden, today on the anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, urged Americans to protect ecosystems and biodiversity and to “honor all the progress we have made toward protecting endangered species,” and to “come together to conserve our planet.”

Presidents make a difference, as we can see.

And today, thinking of life, we are remembering Jimmy Carter in his presidential farewell speech:

President Carter left office by urging Americans to “protect the quality of this world within which we live…. There are real and growing dangers to our simple and our most precious possessions: the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the land which sustains us... The rapid depletion of irreplaceable minerals, the erosion of topsoil, the destruction of beauty, the blight of pollution, the demands of increasing billions of people, all combine to create problems which are easy to observe and predict, but difficult to resolve.


We, at GreenPolicy360, urge our Planet Earth community, as 2024 approaches, to move away from generation-to-generation war and to act to protect life and our common future.


Via the UCSB Special Collection Library


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Photo by Santiago-Borja


With 2024 in View


At Poynter, St Petersburg, Florida.png


The Poynter Institute


PolitiFact to expand in 2024 at Poynter Times.png


The Tampa Bay Times | Poynter home of fact-checking pioneer, PolitiFact announced today (Dec. 23) that it is expanding PolitiFact's coverage beginning in January 2024. Good news, especially here 'on the home front', as GreenPolicy360's global network originates in Tampa Bay.

GreenPolicy360 has been following PolitiFact from its initial beginnings (launched in 2007). PolitiFact has changed the national and international news business as their original idea and model of a fact-checking news operation has grown into industry-wide fact checking around the world. It is evident that the need for focus on facts and evidence in these times of dis- and mis-information is an essential contribution by a free press and online fact checking sources to enable accurate judgment, decision-making and a successful democracy.


The online world is especially convoluted these days... the demands for fact-checking of memes and gaslighting, dis- and mis-info is 24/7/365


We at GreenPolicy360 are pleased to have shared the Poynter PolitiFact story and expansion of its 'best practices' networking model. At the end of last year, 2022, there were 424 fact-checking websites, up from just 11 in 2008, according to an annual census by the Duke University Reporters’ Lab. Poynter's PolitiFact and over 100 news publishing participants in a global fact checking network are confronting/battling an online proliferation of dis/misinformation, lies and political manipulation. Today and going forward, fact-checking operations are playing an increasingly essential role, delivering information, facts, opening eyes and bringing profoundly important veritas to people in every nation, community, market and political system.


EO Snapshot 6-29-2016 10-44-49 AM.png


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News from the International Climate Summit in Dubai...


COP28 News - Dec 13 2023.png


December 13, 2023


A Dubai Surprise

With Multiple Caveats


CNBC

The latest proposal published by the UAE early on Wednesday. Dec. 13, calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner, accelerating action in this critical decade, so as to achieve net zero by 2050 in keeping with the science.”


Economist

The COP28 deal might be historic, but there are many caveats...'


Reuters

Representatives from nearly 200 countries agreed at the COP28 climate summit on Wednesday to begin reducing global consumption of fossil fuels to avert the worst of climate change, signalling the eventual end of the oil age.

The deal struck in Dubai after two weeks of hard-fought negotiations was meant to send a powerful message to investors and policy-makers that the world is united in its desire to break with fossil fuels, something scientists say is the last best hope to stave off climate catastrophe.

COP28 President Sultan al-Jaber called the deal "historic" but added that its true success would be in its implementation.

"We are what we do, not what we say," he told the crowded plenary at the summit. "We must take the steps necessary to turn this agreement into tangible actions."

Several countries cheered the deal for accomplishing something that until now eluded decades of climate talks.

"It is the first time that the world unites around such a clear text on the need to transition away from fossil fuels," Norway's Minister of Foreign Affairs Espen Barth Eide said.

More than 100 countries had lobbied hard for strong language in the COP28 agreement to "phase out" oil, gas and coal use, but came up against powerful opposition from the Saudi Arabia-led oil producer group OPEC, which said the world can cut emissions without shunning specific fuels.

That battle pushed the summit a full day into overtime on Wednesday, and had some observers worried the negotiations would end at an impasse...


Financial Times

COP28 is better than feared, but less than needed

Call to move away from fossil fuels lacks deadlines to phase them out...


NY Times

Two Words That Could Change the World

An unlikely breakthrough on fossil fuels at COP28


They are just two little words. They appear on just one page of an 11,000 word document.

But the inclusion of the phrase “fossil fuels” in the final agreement from COP28 marks a potentially trajectory-altering moment in the fight against climate change. The global pact calls for “transitioning away from fossil fuels in energy systems, in a just, orderly and equitable manner.”

For almost 30 years, negotiators representing nations from around the world had struggled and failed to reach an obvious consensus: that the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas should be wound down to avoid further catastrophic global warming.

But overnight, representatives from more than 170 countries arrived at a surprising deal, in Dubai of all places.

The text is not as clear as many leaders, activists and scientists had hoped. It includes caveats and wiggle room, and is nonbinding. Nevertheless, the inclusion of explicit language calling for a move away from coal, oil and gas is being hailed as a major breakthrough...


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Tracking negotiating texts at COP28 climate summit


Latest from Dubai.png


Tracking Negotiating Texts, Tracking News on the Dubai 2023 Int'l Climate Summit

December 12, 2023


Read updates from Carbon Brief:


December 12

Dubai -- at the International Climate Summmit (COP28, Conference of the Parties)

Today is the scheduled final day of the gathering of nations


Waiting game.png


Reuters question -- Explainer - Why does OPEC oppose the idea of a fossil fuel phase-out at COP28?

Reuters answer -- Why does it matter for OPEC?


(The international news service of Reuters answers in 'simple English' here...)


Members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries together control nearly 80% of the world's proven oil reserves and about a third of global daily oil production.

OPEC+, which includes allies such as Russia and Kazakhstan, controls an even bigger share of global crude reserves and production at about 90% and 40% respectively.

The members rely heavily on oil and gas revenues as their main source of income.

Oil revenues averaged 75% of total budget revenues of OPEC's leader Saudi Arabia since 2010 and represent around 40-45% of its GDP.

For other OPEC+ members the share of oil and gas in the GDP varies between 16% and 50%. OPEC's net oil export revenue stood at $888 billion in 2022, a 43% rise vs 2021.

Hence, any language that calls for the phasing out of fossil fuels threatens the model on which these oil- and gas-producing countries' economies are built.


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On the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

By Heather Cox Richardson

December 10, 2023


Seventy-five years ago today, on December 10, 1948, the United Nations General Assembly announced the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)...

President Harry S. Truman had appointed Eleanor Roosevelt, widow of former president Franklin Delano Roosevelt and much beloved defender of human rights in the United States, as a delegate to the United Nations. In turn, U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie from Norway put her on the commission to develop a plan for the formal human rights commission. That first commission, in turn, asked Roosevelt to take the chair.

Drafted over the next two years, the final document began with a preamble explaining that a UDHR was necessary because “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world,” and because “disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind.” Because “the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people,” the preamble said, “human rights should be protected by the rule of law.”


Story of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights


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Saudi Arabia Is Trying to Block a Global Deal to End Fossil Fuels, Negotiators Say

December 10 / NYT International


Saudi Arabia, the world’s leading exporter of oil, has become the biggest obstacle to an agreement at the United Nations climate summit in Dubai, where countries are debating whether to call for a phaseout of fossil fuels in order to fight global warming, negotiators and other officials said.

The Saudi delegation has flatly opposed any language in a deal that would even mention fossil fuels — the oil, gas and coal that, when burned, create emissions that are dangerously heating the planet. Saudi negotiators have also objected to a provision, endorsed by at least 118 countries, aimed at tripling global renewable energy capacity by 2030.

Saudi diplomats have been particularly skillful at blocking discussions and slowing the talks, according to interviews with a dozen people who have been inside closed-door negotiations. Tactics include inserting words into draft agreements that are considered poison pills by other countries; slow-walking a provision meant to help vulnerable countries adapt to climate change; staging a walkout in a side meeting; and refusing to sit down with negotiators pressing for a phaseout of fossil fuels.


Open secret at global climate talks: The top temperature goal is mostly gone

Researchers injected a sobering finding into global climate negotiations Sunday by saying the world will likely fail its most important warming test
* https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/03/cop28-global-temperature-goal-00129766


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November


Earth Summit 1992-s.png</center>

Earth Summit (1992)


November 30 thru December 12, 2023 - Visit the 28th International Climate Conference.

This is the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference. Approximately 75,000 are in attendance this year at Expo City, Dubai.

The conferences began with the first Earth Summit UN climate agreement in 1992.


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Planet Dove satellite image over Dubai.png


Image of Dubai from GreenPolicy360's Earth-imaging friends at the Planet headquarters in California.


Expo City, Dubai. Perspective from an Earth-orbiting Planet.com satellite as COP28 starts

November 30, 2023


Planet API


We look down at the opening of the 28th international climate summit, the "UN Conference on Climate Change" gathering in an eco-region that is among the richest in oil/gas on Earth. The contrast between climate change and oil/gas could not be more stark. The scientific data has added up, producing a cause-effect case that now will be put on view by the nations of the world gathered in the UAE. Decades of Earth-monitoring and Atmospheric science, including from constellations of of Earth observations from space, are measuring and monitoring, and tracking changes, modeling and projecting. The reality of the fossil fuel 'externalities' in the form of greenhouse gases emitted by carbon-based fossil fuels is now, again, in focus, even as climate change denial forces attempt to slow and stop progress toward renewable energy.

Tune in to the news coverage this week and next. It will be an event to remember -- and time to get with the action.


PlanetCitizen.org
PlanetCitizens.org
Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists
Planet Citizen Action
Climate Problems, Climate Solutions


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Nov. 22 / World News


Israel and Hamas have reached a deal on a cease-fire and hostages

Associated Press


Peace, it's a step away, a step-by-step away from the deep costs of war


Peace, a New Vision



Gaza-Israel War Worsens as It Expands

The Costs of War Extend Far from Today's Fighting, Bombing and Death Count
The Term "Blowback" Is Used to Describe Consequences that Follow in the Days and Years After



Online, a Social Media Fight Hits as War in the Mideast Heats Up

Fact-Checking, 'Facts Count'

Disinformation-Misinformation

Fact Checking @GreenPolicy360

100+ Countries-391 Fact-Checking Sites (2022)

Fact-Checking News



Beyond the 'Fog of War'


The Other Side - Life in Gaza, Israel.jpg


Atef Abu Saif is the author of six novels and since 2019 has been minister of culture for the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.

Abu Saif was visiting family in Gaza, where he grew up, when bombs began to fall Oct. 7 — in retaliation for Hamas’s surprise attack earlier that day that killed 1,400 Israelis. He began sending voice notes to friends abroad, describing the fraying texture of everyday life, creating a diary of life under siege...



Humanitarian Disaster in Israel/Gaza... War and Generational Disaster

Where Next?
At the United Nations, US and Israel Isolated as Votes Near Unanimously Reject Collective Punishment
China, Russia, BRIC Nations Put Forward Statements Opposing Conditions 'On the Ground'


Fog of War

Opinion / In association with StrategicDemands.com


Amplified by barrages across global social media landscapes, an online war is accompanying war in the Middle East. The surprise incursion of Hamas forces into Israel, and Israel's mobilization and declaration of war, has grown into a worldwide battle for hearts and minds. In previous wars of the 20th/21st centuries, propaganda was to be expected. This war, following the expansion of the Internet into the everyday lives of billions on Earth, in both the global north and south, east and west, has brought new levels, billions of dollars-rubles-yuan etc. in psyops / dis- and mis-information / skirmishes / e- and bot-attacks / crypto incursions / gaslighting / military communications disruption and targeting / data-gathering by intelligence services and operational actions / monitoring by remote agents (e.g. from private sector satellite services) and a host of related sigint (signals intelligence), elint (electronic intelligence) and humint (human intel ops, online/internet ops)...


The recent Reuters associated "Digital News Report" on the state of online news media addresses the international range/reach, engagement and power of online influencers. News, contemporary events, ideas, opinions reaching out to hearts and minds, available for every connected life on the planet, begins to bring public facing elements of this new online battlefield into view.

The type of war reporting that has been in evidence in previous wars has radically changed, as has the audience. There are no longer media 'gatekeepers' as they used to be, in control of most all news, opinion, in newspaper/magazine and on broadcast TV channels. As corporate news began to venture out in earnest during the Vietnam war, using reporters in the field with video cameras and broadcasting 'live-on-tape' coverage and wire-service 'as it happened' photography to Americans in the front of their TVs and papers, the world of media became last century techniques. The new century brought the wars of the Middle- and Near-East, often delivered from 'embedded' journalists (with military limiting their embedded coverage) to a larger audience. And with early 2000s roll-out of the internet/connectivity and citizen journalists, then digital smartphones, a network called 24/7/365 became the norm. Ubiquitous coverage and near instant worldwide sharing is here and now, for good and bad.

In the so-called "Global South", arraigned often in counterpoint and often in opposition to former colonial powers of the "Global North", the latest digital communication technologies are being utilized with the results delivering diverse and multi-layered opinions of the military actions of the Israel-Gaza war. The US, Israel and allies are being seen in new ways. The geopolitical conflict of the US and Russia, as well as China are engaged deeply in this struggle for hearts and minds.

The age old axioms about truth getting lost in the "fog of war" holds considerable power now, in these connected times where social and online media is reaching places and influencing minds as never before...



Content creators surge past legacy media

As the world receives news of war -- and the digital and social media in countries changes reporting and perceptions


(Intro from the Publisher) This year’s Reuters Institute Digital News Report provides further evidence that, even as much of the news industry globally has struggled in the face of the first waves of the move to a digital, mobile, and platform-dominated media environment, it now faces a much more fundamental change driven by generations who have grown up with and rely almost entirely on various digital media.

Whether or not legacy media feel they have completed their initial digital transformation from print- or broadcast-focused to digitally focused brands with a compelling news website and app, they now face a continual transformation of digital as generations come of age who eschew direct discovery for all but the most appealing brands, have little interest in many conventional news offers oriented towards older generations’ habits, interests, and values, and instead embrace the more participatory, personable, and personalised options offered via platforms, often looking beyond legacy platforms to new entrants (many of whom drive few referrals to news and do not prioritise news).

While there are important differences between countries and within generations, and no single uniform pattern of behaviour and preferences, it is important to underline that we have every reason to expect this to be a one-way change: people’s information needs and interests evolve in the course of their life, but their platform preferences rarely regress. Those born in the 1980s did not suddenly come to prefer landline phones over mobiles when they became parents or bought a house, nor did those born in the 1960s return to black-and-white television when they entered middle age. There are no reasonable grounds for expecting that those born in the 2000s will suddenly come to prefer old-fashioned websites, let alone broadcast and print, simply because they grow older. The public is voting with its attention and money, and – despite the very real reservations over uneven trustworthiness, the risks of harassment and misinformation, and sometimes problematic business and data protection practices – they are overwhelmingly, everywhere, voting for digital media. That is the media environment the public embraces, and the ‘new normal’ where journalists and news media have to carve out their places if they want to connect with the public.

The Digital News Report account for more than half the world’s population...

The increasing number and diversity of markets covered – including 11 in Asia, five in South America, three in Africa and North America, as well as 24 in Europe – have led us to compare fewer data points across the whole sample and to focus on meaningful comparisons across markets that are broadly similar. We’ve provided more detail about differences in polling samples in both the methodolog pages and the relevant country pages...



Israel reacts to UN - Oct 25.jpg


 

Mideast Disaster Escalates


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October


Disaster in Israel


War and Disasters in Israel.jpg


At Least 260 Bodies Found at Music Festival Site

Over 900 dead in Israel

War declared


At dawn the surprise attack and massacre began... Hamas terrorist attacked the young and executed them...

War has begun. A next level of the cycle of violence. The zealots who have stoked the fires of death and vengeance as a means to an end are watching their work.

Those of us who believe in peace and human rights are, once more, shocked by those who resort to terrorism and utter violence.


Thousands have died now in Israel and Gaza.

Many more will die.

The cycle, generation-to-generation, violence, eye-for-an-eye, old testament biblical history, an age-old story of power, and blowback, revenge and justice continues.


Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said today (October 9) in a speech to the nation that "any place that Hamas operates will turn into rubble" and that the Israeli response will "echo for generations."


{In Hebrew) What we will do to our enemies in the coming days will resonate (echo) with them over the generations...

-- Benjamin Netanyahu (בִּנְיָמִין נְתַנְיָהוּ)


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Over the Mid East Christmas eve, 2015.jpg


Laudate Deum - To All Peoples of Good Will - On the Climate Crisis.png


October 4, 2023


Today is another historic Eco Day

On the first day of a global Catholic 'summit', a Laudate Deum call to protect the environment is announced following up the Laudato Si encyclical, a first-of-its-kind "Integral Ecology" letter to the billion+ members and to the interfaith global community. The release of the Catholic leader's new environmental letter is a global event, the second environmental encyclical, and carries forward a profound interfaith-catholic announcement/doctrine.


Many have spoken about a 'catholic' definition of citizen action and here a dictionary definition of the word -- catholic -- finds meaning in action.

kăth′ə-lĭk, kăth′lĭk
1. Of broad or liberal scope; comprehensive.
2. Including or concerning all humankind; universal.
3. Of or involving the Roman Catholic Church.


Let's look more closely at the meaning and beliefs brought forward here. One can say, as with those who attempt to 'preserve and protect' life on Earth, that this is an eco-platform of a church called Catholic and is an ecumenical outreach worth considering universally, by all humankind. The ideas and ideals of respecting life and quality of life, is a goal we can all share.


The Commons


From Earthbeat, and environmental movement

Planet citizens in action


_____________


Media release:

Via Vatican News

“Laudate Deum”: the Pope’s cry for a response to the climate crisis

Pope Francis has published an Apostolic Exhortation building on his 2015 encyclical. We’re not reacting enough, he says, we’re close to breaking point. He criticises climate change deniers, saying that the human origin of global warming is now beyond doubt. And he describes how care for our common home flows from the Christian faith.


In a new document titled “Laudate Deum,” or “Praise God,” the pope criticizes oil and gas companies for greenwashing new fossil fuel projects and calls for more ambitious efforts in the West to tackle the climate crisis. In the landmark apostolic exhortation, a form of papal writing, Francis says that “avoiding an increase of a tenth of a degree in the global temperature would already suffice to alleviate some suffering for many people.”

“Laudate Deum” is a follow-up to the pope’s 2015 encyclical on climate change, known as “Laudato Si’,” which lamented the exploitation of the planet and cast the protection of the environment as a moral imperative. When it was released, “Laudato Si’” was viewed as an extraordinary move by the head of the Catholic Church to address global warming and its consequences.

Nearly a decade later, the pope’s message has taken on new urgency.


Pope Francis on the Environment


Laudato Si


Integral Ecology


The Commons


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Nature.JPG


September


Where did all of these worldwide circles come from?


Mysterious circles around the world.png


GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Meanwhile, back in the early 70s when my old friend George Brown was proposing and pushing the start up of US earth science imaging w Landsat and what became over decades a constellation of earth observation satellites, we never thought it would eventually find global evidence of "mysterious fairy circles". We talked about the need of data, digital data, but proof of aliens? Nah.



Landsat, a 50 year legacy.png


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US Government Agencies to Account for Climate Change in Budgets

September 21, 2023


A directive issued today by the Biden administration would, for the first time, have federal agencies consider the economic damage caused by climate change when deciding what kinds of vehicles, equipment and goods to buy.

The new guidance from President Biden could affect purchasing decisions across the government, from agriculture to defense to health care. The idea is to take into account the greenhouse gases generated by goods and projects, how they contribute to global warming, and the cost of that to the economy.

The potential impact is significant. The federal government is the world’s largest consumer of goods and services, spending roughly $600 billion each year. The changes could shift purchases for the federal government’s fleet of roughly 600,000 cars and trucks from gasoline-powered to all-electric vehicles, redirect the flow of billions of dollars of government grants and reshape or kill some major construction projects.

“It will be the first time this ‘whole of government approach’ is used to evaluate the climate consequences of government actions,” said Richard Revesz, Mr. Biden’s regulatory chief, who is helping lead the initiative. Mr. Revesz, a climate law expert, has focused on using cost-benefit analysis when designing policies meant to protect human health and the environment...


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Earth conditions dynamic map.png


Planet Citizen, Where Are You on Planet Earth?


Dynamic Change Is All Around Us</big


🌎


Telling stories of solutions for the climate crisis.jpg


If someone were to ask you – what tools do we need to combat climate change? – a few things might first come to mind. We undoubtedly need laws aimed at reducing fossil fuel emissions, such as a tax on carbon. We also need innovative, scalable technologies for building more efficient electric cars and pulling carbon out of the atmosphere.

But in a democracy, there’s another tool that is at least as essential as these to overcoming climate change: effective solutions-driven storytelling.


Read more from the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media:


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“One Earth, One Family, One Future"

Nations of the World, the G20, Gather in India


Thank you 'for the kind words'...


International media reporting green talk -- and hope....


As the G20 Meets, the United Nations 'Urges' the "Top Economic Powers" of Our Planet's Economy to Change Direction


NEW DELHI (International News Services) -- U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday urged the Group of 20 top economic powers, which are responsible for more than 80% of the emissions that cause global warming, to use their weekend summit to send a strong message on climate change.

Guterres said all licensing or funding for new fossil fuel projects should be stopped and that the G20 must keep the “1.5-degree goal alive,” referring to the 2015 Paris climate agreement that set 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) as a global guardrail in atmospheric warming, with countries pledging to try to prevent that much long-term warming if possible.

Earlier this year, the U.N. weather agency had said that there’s a two-out-of-three chance that the world will temporarily hit a key warming limit within the next five years.

July 2023 was Earth’s hottest month on record by a wide margin...


Time to take stock, "Stocktake", and act...

"One could also see the call for system transformations as a recognition that, while we still can, we should take our destiny in our own hands," said Dr Richard Klein from the Stockholm Environment Institute, who was involved in the initial stages of the stocktake.


This means that every aspect of our societies needs to change to rein in rising temperatures...

This includes the way we make energy, the way we travel, work and produce food. Experts say this type of change needs governments to take the initiative and make sure that their climate actions aren't immediately nullified by other policies and investments.


"Either we transform society in a way that avoids the worst of climate change, or climate change will transform society for us..."


August


The Daily Puffin.png

Photo credit: Carl Bovis


The Daily Puffin


Protect Our Living Earth, Biodiversity


Living Earth.png



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Judge rules in favor of Montana youths in landmark climate decision

‘This is a monumental decision,’ said a lawyer for the young plaintiffs, and could influence how judges handle similar cases in other states


In the first ruling of its kind nationwide, a Montana state court decided Monday in favor of young people who alleged the state violated their right to a “clean and healthful environment” by promoting the use of fossil fuels...


The Decision:

August 14, 2023

RIKKI HELD, et al., Plaintiff, V. STATE OF MONTANA, et al., Defendant


🌎


Hawaiian impacts of climate change

How Climate Change Turned Lush Hawaii Into a Tinderbox

Declining rainfall, rising temperatures and invasive species have left the islands more susceptible to wildfires


Global Forest Watch, monitoring forest loss, fires...


Global Forest Watch @GreenPolicy360


Causes and effect of the Maui fire...


Hawaiian fires and climate.jpg


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An Indictment Is Announced: The United States of America versus Donald J. Trump, defendant

The people of the US and world are hearing today's news. Reverberations echo. The former president has been charged with federal crimes of grave consequence -- attempting to obstruct the outcome of the 2020 US election for president and attempting to defraud the people of the United States and the democratic republic.

One notable attorney put the profound news this way: Read the Indictment yourself. We agree. There comes a time to turn to what is being presented, now, solemnly, words, facts, evidence, law... The path ahead is perilous, but necessary to travail.


Set aside an hour or two, or find ten minutes here and there over the course of the next week. You’ll understand it better if you read it for yourself. The indictment is written in a manner that makes it clear prosecutors wanted it to be comprehensible to anyone who wanted to read it.


🇺🇸


United States Department of Justice

Statement of Special Counsel Jack Smith, August 1, 2023



July


Oppenheimer

Read highlights & reviews -- https://greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Oppenheimer_movie_-_2023.jpg

Oppenheimer movie - 2023.jpg


Oppenheimer

The Movie / July 2023



A Republican Party 2024 Climate Strategy: More Drilling, Less Clean Energy

Via the New York Times, August 4, 2023, Unlocked article
The New York Times asked the leading Republican presidential candidates whether they support the Project 2025 strategy but none of the campaigns responded



Project2025

A 920-page Republican Party Political Plan


Politico.com has published an advance outline of climate and environment related policies that a next US president, if Republican Party, would be urged to adopt. The goals of the groups who contributed to the plan, led by the Heritage Foundation, are described as a 'battle plan'.


“Project 2025 is not a white paper. We are not tinkering at the edges. We are writing a battle plan, and we are marshaling our forces,” said Paul Dans, director of Project 2025 at the Heritage Foundation, which compiled the plan as a road map for the first 180 days of the next GOP administration. “Never before has the whole conservative movement banded together to systematically prepare to take power day one and deconstruct the administrative state.”


As described in Politico:

The initiative has previously drawn attention for its efforts to prepare a systematic conservative takeover of the federal bureaucracy, in contrast to the perceptions of chaos that marked much of former President Donald Trump’s term. Those include plans to assemble a database of as many as 20,000 people who could serve in the next administration — “a right-wing LinkedIn,” as The New York Times described it in April — and proposals to impose sweeping Oval Office control over spending decisions, civil service employees and independent federal agencies.

(I)ts implications for U.S. climate policy — at a time of record heat waves sweeping the globe — have drawn far less attention.

The comprehensive plan covers virtually all operations of the federal government, not just energy and climate programs.

It’s much more ambitious than the pledges that all the Republican presidential primary candidates have made so far to roll back Biden’s signature climate law. It also wouldn’t simply nullify Biden’s climate executive orders, something that a Republican president could easily do just after taking office.

(T)he ideas laid out in Project 2025 show that conservative organizations want to achieve a more fundamental shift — moving federal agencies away from public health protections and environmental regulations in order to help the industries they have been tasked with overseeing, said Andrew Rosenberg (a former senior official at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.) ...

Preventing the expansion of the electric grid would slow down renewable energy projects, threatening U.S. climate goals while cooling the sector’s economic growth, said Mike O’Boyle, a senior director at the nonpartisan policy firm Energy Innovation and head of its electricity program.

“If we totally step away from the role of the federal government, our economy is going to miss out in a big way because the rest of the world is moving on climate, so they’re poised to reap the benefits both for their energy consumers but also in terms of manufacturing.” ...

(An) increase in state power wouldn’t apply to California, which has a history of setting more aggressive environmental standards than those of the federal government under a Clean Air Act waiver. The Project 2025 plan would “ensure that other states can adopt California’s standards only for traditional/criteria pollutants, not greenhouse gasses.”

Another key goal is to restructure how EPA uses science, particularly research that supports regulations by showing risks to public health from industrial pollution.



Deep cuts in environmental protection have extensive, long-term consequences


3M lawsuit re forever chemicals - June 2023.png


Could the world go PFAS-free? Proposal to ban ‘forever chemicals’ debated

A European agency is considering sweeping restrictions on fluorinated chemicals used in jet engines, electric cars, refrigeration systems, semiconductors and many consumer products

Via Nature


'Proposal' could lead to the world’s largest-ever clampdown on chemicals production. The plan, put forward by environmental agencies in five countries — Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden — would heavily restrict the manufacture of more than 12,000 substances, collectively known as forever chemicals.

These chemicals, per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFASs), are all around us. They coat non-stick cookware, smartphone screens, weatherproof clothing and stain-resistant textiles. They are also used in microchips, jet engines, cars, batteries, medical devices and refrigeration systems.

...the idea is to shrink PFAS use to a minimum. “We are asking society to make quite a shift.... We are asking to reverse all of it, go back to the drawing table and invent alternative solutions.”

Change is already under way for consumer use of PFASs. The notoriety of the toxic examples has pushed more than 100 companies and brands, including Apple, to pledge to phase out PFASs, even before it’s clear whether other materials can do the same job.

For industrial users, however, the idea of life without PFASs is a more shocking prospect. So February’s proposal has ignited debate about which uses of fluorinated chemicals the world could leave behind — and which must stay.


For more on International Environmental Laws:



Daniel Ellsberg dies at 92


Daniel - June 16, 2023.png

Photo: Wally Fong/Associated Press


GreenPolicy360 founder knew Dan up close and personal.

Read a remembrance of Dan and his quest for peace.


Daniel Ellsberg

In Memory of a Man Named Daniel

By Steven Schmidt

June 17, 2023


The moon was bright that night as I visited Daniel Ellsberg at his house on the beach in Southern California. It was mid 1970 and Dan was surrounded by boxes. "Papers," he called them. He was packing to leave for Cambridge and a new position at MIT and he was worried that night as he showed me the study he had put together at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica.

As we sorted through documents I noticed some had Top Secret stamped on some of them. I learned later that these were part of the 7000 page, forty plus volume report soon to be called the "Pentagon Papers."

Dan spoke of President Nixon and famed advisor, Henry Kissinger with first-hand knowledge. He mentioned he had met with Kissinger recently at Nixon's San Clemente estate. I remember his fear, both that Nixon and Kissinger were repeating mistakes of previous administrations as "the Papers" demonstrated, and how the truth needed to go public. He broke off from the packing and said let's go, "I need to swim".

Dan was depressed, I knew, and I was not going to convince him not to go into the loudly crashing night surf. I watched as he plunged into the waves. He then reappeared for a moment in the moonlight. He swam straight out, then disappeared. I waited on shore looking out at the dark ocean. Time passed, no sign of Dan. I began worrying. Is this the end of Dan Ellsberg? Did I just witness Dan ending it all? Did a riptide take him? I walked up and down the beach searching. Suddenly, Dan walked out of the surf, nodded then sprinted back toward the house. He quickly shifted back into work mode. Something happened, he had new resolve.

Today as I reflect on the life of Dan Ellsberg and the announcement of his death, I can say he lived life like few others. He pursued the truth and facts in a way that was astounding and committed. He went on to prove in his actions that he was brave to put his life on the line for the sake of the American people. His decision was purposeful. He thought deeply about the consequences. That night under the moon I saw his fear, and I saw his resolve.

A few months later, when Daniel released the Pentagon Papers to a NY Times writer, Neil Sheehan, the truth came out. Dan's history of the war study subsequently led to the end of the Nixon presidency and, as a consequence, the end of the Vietnam War. Dan would later say the Pentagon Papers themselves didn't directly end the war, but the American people learned of the “evidence of a quarter-century of aggression, broken treaties, deceptions, stolen elections, lies, and murder”. This, with Nixon's resignation, brought on the end of the war.

I learned over the course of our relationship that Dan Ellsberg was gifted, literally. I still say he is the smartest man I've ever known. His 2002 book "Secrets: A Memoir of Vietnam and the Pentagon Papers" is a must read. "On the evening of October 1, 1969, I walked out past the guards' desk at the Rand Corporation in Santa Monica," he writes, "carrying a briefcase filled with top secret documents, which I planned to photocopy that night… How I came to do this is the focus of this memoir." Dan's memoir is a true American story.

Beyond the Pentagon Papers and resulting demise of the Nixon presidency, Dan Ellsberg's follow-on 2017 book "The Doomsday Machine: Confessions of a Nuclear War Planner" later explained the inner machinations of the nuclear war complex. He was, as a younger man, a systems man and followed orders. His nuclear war gaming was a Pentagon nuclear plan that he, as an old man, brought into the light with this revelatory book. The extent of humanity's threat to life on earth is part of Dan Ellsberg's legacy now.

Daniel Ellsberg's life is a testament to what generations to come have to deal with -- perpetual wars, the realities of nuclear weapons, modern states with awesome powers for good and bad. Dan Ellsberg revealed and pointed us to harsh realities.

Will we listen to Dan Ellsberg's message that he, risking all, brought to us?

Daniel Ellsberg, after all is said and done, was a man who taught us. He was a man of peace. Dan was a believer in the power each of us has to make a difference and move toward a better world.


-- Steven J Schmidt / Founder/Siterunner of GreenPolicy360


Read more about Daniel Ellsberg at GreenPolicy360 and StrategicDemands.com


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Ex-President Criminally Charged


June 13, 2023

A day in US history that is unprecedented, a former US president is charged in Federal Court with criminal actions...

Opinion-makers/commentators/pundits, citizens and politicos engage in heated debate. We will be brief -- This is not unexpected given the past hundreds of court cases, charges, convictions and record of Mr. Trump.

The challenges to democracy that are growing, and are already extreme, will be magnified throughout the nation. Global impacts will follow in turn.

The indictment has delivered new risks, new costs, new unknowns. The coming presidential election has been given a new urgency amid today's news.


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Looking Back, Looking Forward:

Recalling Beginnings of the US Earth Science Mission and Giving a Nudge to NASA's Continued Research & Science


This past first week of June found GreenPolicy360 again pushing the advisory councils at NASA to return language about scientific study of the "home planet" as a top mission in the Mission Statement/Charter and follow on strategic planning. The original NASA Mission Statement and subsequent updates continued to have a top emphasis on earth science from space over decades, providing essential data for measuring/monitoring/managing the home planet. Then in 2006 the phrase "to understand and protect the home planet" was removed from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration official Mission statement.

GreenPolicy360 for years has advocated for the return of this language, updated and highlighted, as an essential, continuing mission.

Take a look at this page for a better idea of what is going on behind the scenes as NASA advisory councils gathered to suggest and propose changes to the NASA's strategic planning.

Earth missions continue to be top of mind -- and it follows, in our considered opinion, that "home planet" language about earth science to "understand and protect" should be again at the top of a NASA Mission Statement... and pointed at and highlighted.

-- SJS/GreenPolicy3360 Siterunner


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The Original Mission Statement of NASA

Quote: NASA's Mission, “To understand and protect our home planet..."


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May


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SCOTUS, the Supreme Court of the United States, acts again in the environmental arena

The headlines in media are blunt in their news of the current court: US Supreme Court rules against EPA in wetlands regulation challenge ... The Supreme Court just narrowed protection for wetlands... The Supreme Court rolls back federal safeguards for wetlands ...


May 25, 2023

(Today, May 25th) the Supreme Court dealt a devastating blow to the nation’s wetlands by rewriting a statute the court does not like to mean something it does not mean. The court’s decision in Sackett v. EPA is one of the its most egregious betrayals of textualism in memory. Put simply: The Clean Water Act protects wetlands that are “adjacent” to larger bodies of water. Five justices, however, do not think the federal government should be able to stop landowners from destroying wetlands on their property. To close this gap between what the majority wants and what the statute says, the majority crossed through the word “adjacent” and replaced it with a new test that’s designed to give landowners maximum latitude to fill in, build upon, or otherwise obliterate some of the most valuable ecosystems on earth.

...

The law expressly protects “waters of the United States” (like rivers and lakes) as well as “wetlands adjacent” to these waters. Congress added the wetlands provision in 1977 to codify the EPA’s definition of “adjacent,” which also happens to be the actual definition: “bordering, contiguous, or neighboring.” Under that interpretation—the one Congress adopted—wetlands that neighbor a larger body of water remain protected, even if they aren’t directly connected.

Why did Congress make that choice? Because wetlands provide immense environmental benefits: They filter and purify water draining into nearby streams, rivers, and lakes. They slow down runoff into these larger bodies. And they serve as vital flood control. In other words, the Clean Water Act has to protect “adjacent” wetlands to serve its overarching goal of safeguarding the broader “waters of the United States” from pollution.


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Methane Reduction Action by European Parliament / European Union


'Parliament today adopted its position on a new law to reduce methane emissions from the energy sector to reach the EU’s climate goals and improve air quality.'

The new law is the first piece of EU legislation aimed at cutting methane emissions and covers direct methane emissions from the oil, fossil gas and coal sectors, and from biomethane once it is injected into the gas network. MEPs also want the new rules to include the petrochemicals sector.


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Background

Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas and air pollutant and is responsible for approximately a third of current global warming. It comes from a wide range of sectors, including agriculture, waste and energy, which are responsible respectively for 53%, 26% and 19% of EU methane emissions according to the European Environment Agency. Today, methane emissions are covered under the targets in the EU’s Effort Sharing Regulation.

The EU has signed up to the Global Methane Pledge, which aims to reduce global methane emissions by at least 30% from 2020 levels by 2030, which could eliminate over 0.2˚C warming by 2050.


Since it launched at COP26 international climate summit, the Global Methane Pledge has generated unprecedented momentum for methane action. Country endorsements of the GMP have grown from just over 100 last year to 150, more than 50 countries have developed national methane action plans or are in the process of doing so, substantial new financial resources are being directed to methane action, and partners have launched “pathways” of policies and initiatives to drive methane reductions in key methane-emitting sectors – a GMP Energy Pathway launched at the June 2022 Major Economies Forum on Energy and Climate and a GMP Food and Agriculture Pathway and GMP Waste Pathway, both launched at COP27.


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Environmental Law & Enforcement


Global Methane Pledge


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April 22, 2023


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On Earth Day 2023

50+ years and counting from the first "Earth Day"


On the 50th Anniversary

Memories on the Road to the First Earth Day

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary


Beginnings of the Modern Environmental Movement

https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Day

* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Environmental_movement


Today the ideals and ideas that began in a serious way that first "Earth Day" in 1970 continue on .... We became a vital movement, a political cause, and now we are a diverse mix across the globe with our hopes. Our 'sleeves are rolled up' to go to work, getting with the action and employing the Internet with many voices, colors, ages and beliefs, especially with the enthusiasm and power of young people joining in.

Green, environmental, national and global.... We are strongly confronting and working to solve our generation's existential challenges. Reaching across our home planet, touching and interacting with planet citizens, looking to share solutions to the pressing problems and challenges of our generation.

To our friends across our blue-green living Earth, GreenPolicy360 and Strategic Demands, GreenPolicy360's associate with a geo-politics emphasis, send "Earth Day greetings" today and every day. The work carries on as together we face the challenges believing we can make a positive difference year after year, decade after decade....


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International Climate Action:

Going Green


Climate envoy Kerry: No rolling back clean energy transition

SAPPORO, Japan (AP) — So much has been invested in clean energy that there can be no rolling back of moves to end carbon emissions, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said Sunday.

Kerry noted that if countries deliver on promises to phase out polluting fossil fuels, the world can limit average global warming to 1.7 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), better than the worst case scenarios but still above the current limit of 1.5 C global warming above pre-industrial levels.

“We’re in a very different place than where we were a year ago, let alone two and three years ago,” Kerry said in an interview with The Associated Press.

“But we’re not doing everything we said we’d do,” he said, after attending a meeting of energy and environment ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy nations. “A lot of countries need to step up including ours to reduce emissions faster, deploy renewables faster, bring new technologies online faster all of that has to happen.”


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* https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/10/sea-level-rise-southern-us/


“These rapid rates are unprecedented over at least the 20th century and they have been three times higher than the global average over the same period.”


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GreenPolicy360: The threat horizon is near and far.... here, science reports from the 'bottom of the earth'.... warming waters in the coldest region of the planet are causing change, big change, month-by-month, year-by-year


What happens in Antarctica doesn't stay in the Antarctic


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Melting Antarctic ice predicted to cause rapid slowdown of deep ocean current by 2050

New research by Australian scientists suggests 40% slowdown in just three decades could alter world’s climate for centuries


Abyssal ocean overturning slowdown and warming driven by Antarctic meltwater

The abyssal ocean circulation is a key component of the global meridional overturning circulation, cycling heat, carbon, oxygen and nutrients throughout the world ocean. The strongest historical trend observed in the abyssal ocean is warming at high southern latitudes, yet it is unclear what processes have driven this warming, and whether this warming is linked to a slowdown in the ocean’s overturning circulation. Furthermore, attributing change to specific drivers is difficult owing to limited measurements, and because coupled climate models exhibit biases in the region. In addition, future change remains uncertain, with the latest coordinated climate model projections not accounting for dynamic ice-sheet melt. Here we use a transient forced high-resolution coupled ocean–sea-ice model to show that under a high-emissions scenario, abyssal warming is set to accelerate over the next 30 years. We find that meltwater input around Antarctica drives a contraction of Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW), opening a pathway that allows warm Circumpolar Deep Water greater access to the continental shelf. The reduction in AABW formation results in warming and ageing of the abyssal ocean, consistent with recent measurements. In contrast, projected wind and thermal forcing has little impact on the properties, age and volume of AABW. These results highlight the critical importance of Antarctic meltwater in setting the abyssal ocean overturning, with implications for global ocean biogeochemistry and climate that could last for centuries.


If greenhouse gas emissions continue at today’s levels, the current in the deepest parts of the ocean could slow down by 40% in only three decades.

This, the scientists said, could generate a cascade of impacts that could push up sea levels, alter weather patterns and starve marine life of a vital source of nutrients.

Antarctic ice melt could disrupt the world’s oceans ...


The Antarctic overturning circulation is part of a global network of currents that shift heat, oxygen and nutrients around the globe

Global warming is accelerating the melting of ice in Antarctica, and the increased amount of fresh water flooding into the ocean is disrupting the flow of the Antarctic overturning circulation


Meanwhile, up north....


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PBS Tells a Story of a War and Nuclear Weapons Use Narrowly Avoided


GreenPolicy360: A new nuclear arms race is underway. We and our associate, Strategic Demands, call it "Cold War 3.0"... fortunately, humanity has not used nuclear weapons since the last days of World War 2 but since the beginning days of the nuclear era there have been too many close calls where an apocalyptic Pandora's Box, having been opened, has brought our world much too close to nuclear war and cataclysm.

Here, in a new revealing documentary on PBS's "American Experience" series we look back at a close call in October/November 1969, one that involved GreenPolicy360 founder/siterunner.

The reality of a 'madman' plotting to use tactical nuclear weapons in this documentary wasn't revealed until years after the fact and after a peace movement prevented nuclear strikes. Now that this story is 'out in the open', we ask who is watching, who is listening?


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PBS

The Movement and the 'Madman'

PBS PREMIERE MARCH 28 ON AMERICAN EXPERIENCE

The documentary film tells the little-known story of a dramatic showdown between a protest movement and a president.


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Mapping Internet Freedom - Democracy Status


About Freedom House


News


Global freedom declined for a 17th consecutive year in 2022 as 35 countries suffered deterioration in their political rights and civil liberties, according to a new report released today by Freedom House. A total of 34 countries made improvements during the year, however, meaning the gap between the numbers of countries that improved and declined was the narrowest it has ever been since the negative pattern began. The report suggests that the struggle for democracy may be approaching a turning point, and offers recommendations on how democratic governments and societies should work together to roll back authoritarian gains.

The new report—Freedom in the World 2023: Marking 50 Years in the Struggle for Democracy—is the 50th edition of Freedom House’s annual global assessment of political rights and civil liberties.



March 29


Judge Luttig (Again) Has a Warning for America

Our democracy is “under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack—from within.”


Via The Bulwark


On the morning before the January 6th attack on the Capitol, one of the nation’s most prominent conservative jurists, former Federal Appeals Court Judge J. Michael Luttig, posted a message aimed at Vice President Mike Pence.

“The only responsibility and power of the Vice President under the Constitution is to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast,” Judge Luttig wrote.

“The Constitution does not empower the vice president to alter in any way the votes that have been cast, either by rejecting certain votes or otherwise,” Luttig continued.

If Pence had caved to Donald Trump’s demands and refused to count the electoral votes, Judge Luttig told the House January 6th Committee last summer, the nation “would immediately have been plunged into what would have been tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis.”


Now, Judge Luttig is back, with even a starker warning.

The institutions of our democracy and law, he says, “are under vicious, unsustainable, and unendurable attack — from within.”

Last week, at the University of Georgia School of Law, Luttig said:

With the former president’s and his Republican Party’s determined denial of January 6, their refusal to acknowledge that the former president lost the 2020 presidential election fair and square, and their promise that the 2024 election will not be “stolen” from them again as they maintain it was in 2020, America’s Democracy and the Rule of Law are in constitutional peril — still. And there is no end to the threat in sight….

We are a house divided and our poisonous politics is fast eating away at the fabric of our society….




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The UN 2023 Water Conference

March 22-24 | New York City


Thread


The first water-focused UN-summit in 46 years

UN Conference on Water Aims to Rally Support for Ambitious Goals


The last time the United Nations hosted a conference dedicated to global water supply and sanitation the world looked vastly different. Half as many people were alive. China’s economy was smaller than the United Kingdom’s


The centerpiece of the conference, which runs from March 22 to 24, is the “water action agenda,” a compilation of voluntary commitments from national governments, nonprofits, businesses, and intergovernmental agencies. Together these commitments extend beyond the conference walls, pushing leaders to be more careful, inclusive water stewards in the years ahead.

“It’s not what happens in three days... It’s what happens afterward.”


Facts: About 300,000 children under five die every year from diarrhoeal diseases due to poor sanitation, poor hygiene, or unsafe drinking water. These deaths could have been avoided by access to daily clean water

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a quarter of the global population, more than two billion people, lack access to safe drinking water.... 2.2 billion people lack access to safely managed drinking water services

Over half the global population, 4.2 billion people, lack safely managed sanitation services

in 2010, the UN General Assembly recognized the human right to water and sanitation. So, for instance, everyone has the right to enough water for personal and domestic uses, which is between 50 and 100 liters of water per person per day.

Water plays a fundamental role in sustainable development


Global Commission on the Economics of Water (Read the Report)

The world is on the verge of a water disaster, with demand for fresh water predicted to outpace supply by 40% by the end of this decade

The lack of access to clean water is a solvable crisis, but it requires good cooperation


UN Conference on Water Aims to Rally Support for Ambitious Goals

Act to Make a Positive Difference


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Sunday, March 12th


A 'Big Picture Day'

Yes, it's another day to take some time to take in the 'zeitgeist', to take a look at connections, trendlines, patterns, how 'it's all related' although in the quotidian reality it's a day at a time, a solar day in fact, as our planet spins through space.

Today's 'Big Picture Day' is called geo-politics by some, and the weather by others, and money makes the world go round or the climate, the climate, the climate is changing, it's getting hotter, have you noticed?

Let's take a quick look:

Record-setting, historic oil/gas profits are being announced xxx, led by the House of Saud, called Saudi Arabia, where the nation's Aramco just announced a $121+ dollar (petrodollar) profit for 2022. This caps four other oil/gas giants announcing record 2022 profits.


Profit-taking in a Profitable Year

Saudi oil giant Aramco posts record $161.1 billion profit for 2022
Four oil companies had total sales of $1 trillion last year
Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon and Shell all reported record profits in 2022


Oil giant Saudi Aramco has reported earning $161bn last year, claiming the highest-ever recorded annual profit by a publicly listed company and drawing immediate criticism from activists.

The monster profit by the firm, known formally as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., came off the back of energy prices rising after Russia launched its war on Ukraine in February 2022, with sanctions limiting the sale of Moscow’s oil and natural gas in Western markets.


Then there is Saudi Arabia and Iran, both oil giants and in conflict for years, announcing a 'peace treaty' brokered by China. And Iran has announced another weapons agreement with Russia. Russia has previously announced submitting plans to build Saudi Arabia's first nuclear energy producing power plant.


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China, with its world leading economic growth, has announced history-making "Energy Deals of the Century' with Iran's Shia-led government and Russia, and has built deep ties with the the Saudi royal family. Guaranteed oil/gas supplies -- and an alternative to Petrodollar payment -- are top of mind as the US meets Eurasian politics with deepening Mid-East connections.

China's "Belt and Road" ('New Silk Trail') geo-political plan is taking 'great leaps forward'.


Given this as background, let us shift our gaze to the United States as one of the world's largest oil/gas producers that is due, in large part due to 'fracking' technology tapping into old reserves in the Permian Basin (Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, etc). What was previously unprofitable is now profitable and oil/gas tracts and 'frackable' reserves (in the Gulf of Mexico, Alaska, and worldwide with corporate-controlled contracts) are coming online. New LNG (liquified natural gas) refineries, shipping, ports/docks are being built as the energy disruptions of the Russian-Ukraine war have ramped up demand for US oil/gas and OPEC oil/gas as alternatives to Russia's previous large supplies that had been piped to Europe.

Then comes the intense interest of the US president in fossil fuel/oil/gas production with the previously approved "Willow" project in Alaska.

Let's take a closer look at the Willow project in Alaska, about to be announced.


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This is 'Big Picture'. Now go bigger and add in the costs, the consequences of increased oil/gas production. Consider a "cost-benefit analysis."


On this 'Big Picture Sunday' to see a glimpse of this future simply peruse this photo from the Associated Press reporting on an exceptional winter in Europe. The European media is reporting they basically 'got lucky' this winter. Europe lost its major Russian LNG oil/gas supplies, a high percentage of which was used to heat Europe's homes and businesses, but Europeans were delivered a mild winter and the LNG oil/gas was not needed as projected.


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In Germany, the foreign minister and environment minister are leading members of the Green Party who have been pushing German engineering to the forefront in clean energy production, EV products, and myriad clean energy heating/transportation/manufacturing alternatives. They are, as Greens have been saying, 'out in front'.

While the US waged wars and political forces have attempted to block national security alternatives to the 'old ways' of regarding security as hard power and military projects, other realities have come into play and, as time goes by, will be more evident.

Visit StrategicDemands.com, GreenPolicy360's associate for more on the geo-politics.

The reality of climate change is arriving with a physics that has an inertia that humanity has set in motion.

The historic profits of the oil/gas system are one part of the physics and another part is in our hands. Look at how thin our atmosphere is and do calculate the costs (a cost-benefit analysis (CBA)) of business-as-usual. We see historic oil/gas profits in 2022/23, but what about the accumulating costs? Atmospheric emissions, the externalities of greenhouse gas pollution, are producing consequences that are real and escalating. In the 1970s there were those who set out to provide the climate facts and data, the Earth system science. The world can begin to see the costs today and unless we act to ameliorate them, they will be grave for future generations.

Now what about US politics? What about drilling in Alaska? Ask yourself what are the costs of drilling in Alaska, and what are the benefits?

Consider the Big Picture. And consider Joe Biden thinking about oil and gas as he preps to announce he is running for president.


Externalities | Environmental full-cost accounting

New Definitions of National Security | Climate News

Fossil Fuels | Strategic Demands | Planet Citizen Action


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Nations Agree on Language for Historic Treaty to Protect Ocean Life

The United Nations agreement is a significant step toward protecting biodiversity under growing threat from climate change, overfishing and seabed mining

March 4, 2023


After two decades of planning and talks that culminated in a grueling race over the past few days in New York, a significant majority of nations agreed on language for a historic United Nations treaty that would protect ocean biodiversity.

As marine life faces threats from climate change, overfishing, the possibility of seabed mining and other dangers, the treaty would make it possible to create marine-protected areas and enact other conservation measures on the “high seas,” the immense expanse of ocean covering almost half the world.

“Today the world came together to protect the ocean for the benefit of our children and grandchildren,” said Monica Medina, an assistant secretary of state. “We leave here with the ability to create protected areas in the high seas and achieve the ambitious goal of conserving 30 percent of the ocean by 2030.”

The open oceans of the world have no international body or agreement with a primary focus of protecting marine biodiversity. If enacted, this treaty would change that...


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Depleted Under Trump, a ‘Traumatized’ E.P.A. Struggles With Its Mission

The agency’s administrator, Michael S. Regan, has promised that new regulations being written by his staff now will be made public by spring. Agency officials said that the E.P.A. has stepped up its recruitment efforts and has purchased software that has helped it identify more potential job candidates, particularly from universities.

“The agency is moving further and faster than ever before,” Dan Utech, Mr. Regan’s chief of staff, said in a statement. He added that accomplishments had come “despite depleted staffing levels, persistent funding challenges and a previous administration that left the agency neglected and scientifically compromised.”

The E.P.A. is at an unusual juncture. The 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and the climate law enacted last year have begun to pump $90 billion into the agency over the next 10 years for climate projects like $1.5 billion for new technologies to monitor and reduce methane emissions from oil and gas wells, $5 billion for states to purchase low-emission school buses and $3 billion to cut pollution at ports...


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Year of the Rabbit

By Fefe Ho & Chloe Chiao

The Rabbit is the fourth of all zodiac animals. Legend has it the Rabbit was proud—arrogant even—of its speed. He was neighbors with Ox and always made fun of how slow Ox was. One day, the Jade Emperor said the zodiac order would be decided by the order in which the animals arrived at his party. Rabbit set off at daybreak. But when he got there, no other animals were in sight. Thinking that he would obviously be first, he went off to the side and napped. However, when he woke up, three other animals had already arrived. One of them was the Ox...

The Rabbit’s quiet personality hides their confidence and strength. They are steadily moving towards their goal...

The Rabbit is also associated with the Earthly Branch (地支 / dì zhī) mǎo (卯)...

In the terms of yin and yang (阴阳—yīn yáng), the Rabbit is yin...


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2022


December 2022


December 25th, Christmas Day

Remember that a simple act of kindness can change someone’s day, week and sometimes life


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Act to Protect Democracy


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Report from

The Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the United States Capitol


December 19, 2022

After more than a year of interviewing witnesses, gathering evidence and holding public meetings, the House select committee concluded its final hearing on Monday by referring former President Donald Trump for four criminal charges.

The panel voted unanimously to refer Trump and others to the Justice Department on charges of obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to make a false statement and conspiracy to defraud the U.S. by assisting, aiding or comforting those involved in an insurrection.


Key Findings From the Jan. 6 Committee’s Report, Annotated


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Nations promise to protect 30 percent of planet to stem extinction

December 19, 2022

Delegates at the COP15 biodiversity summit in Canada make major conservation commitment to try to halt loss of hundreds of thousands of plants and animals. Will nations follow through?


Via Washington Post


Today’s loss of biodiversity is being driven not by a space rock but by one species: humans. The loss of habitat, exploitation of species, climate change, pollution and destruction from invasive species moved by people between continents are all driving a decline in the variety of plants and animals...


Nations now have the next eight years to hit their targets for protecting life. With few legal mechanisms for enforcement, they will have to trust each other to protect habitats and funnel hundreds of billions of dollars over conservation.

“This is an incredible milestone for the world when it comes to conservation,” said Brian O’Donnell, the director of the conservation group Campaign for Nature. “We have been on a rapid path of destruction of nature for hundreds of years, and this can mark a turning point.”


The 10-year deal sets nearly two dozen targets. The banner commitment calls on nations to collectively conserve for wildlife at least 30 percent of land, inland waterways, and coastal and ocean areas by 2030 — the promise dubbed “30 by 30.”

“It’s a global goal. Every country commits what they are capable of committing,” said Masha Kalinina, a senior officer focused on biodiversity at the Pew Charitable Trusts. “Some will do more, some will do less.”


The world has a long way to go to achieving that goal. Right now, only about a sixth of the continents and a 12th of the oceans have some form of protection, according to the U.N.’s World Conservation Monitoring Centre.


Associated Press


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News from the US Department of Energy, Livermore Lab, of a Successful Fusion Demonstration

The Former Director of DOE Speaks of Coming Engineering Challenges

The first laboratory demonstration of net energy gain by fusing hydrogen isotopes is a major physics accomplishment - a necessary step on the long road to a fusion power plant. Whether by compressing the fusion fuel (as was done at DOE's Livermore lab or confining it as a very hot plasma (the approach of TAE Technologies, the company on whose Board I sit, and of several others), other-worldly conditions of high temperature must be not only attained but also reliably sustained for an economically viable power plant.

The science underpinnings of several different fusion technologies may be well established in this decade, to be followed by engineering of commercial power plants that meet cost benchmarks. I am optimistic that such power plants can be demonstrated and initially deployed in the 2030's, and indeed over four billion dollars of private capital are betting on it.

-- Ernest J. Moniz, former U.S. Energy Secretary and CEO of the non-profit Energy Futures Initiative


Via The Bulwark

The fusion breakthrough "didn't just achieve breakeven—getting more energy back that it put in—it achieved ignition. That is, they lit a thermonuclear fire in the lab. This has never been done." It's a big deal...


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Time to Remember: "An Oath"

“I … do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”


December 5, 2022

'Thought for the Day' by Steve Clemons

“I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” That is the beginning of the oath new members of the Senate and the House will be asked to take on January 3, but will they? Donald Trump said over the weekend that we should suspend the Constitution to illegally reinstall himself as president. We’ll find out where leading Republican voices stand this week, who will get another round of questions about whether his latest behavior is disqualifying.


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New Climate TRACE Emissions Database Announced at the 2022 Global Climate Conference (COP27)

Earth Observation technology, decades of earth science and imaging with a goal, is now ready for prime time


GreenPolicy360: THIS announcement is a game changer (and a tip of our green hat to those who purposefully set in motion a 1970s era plan to develop and launch a series of NASA missions to observe and understand our planet). Now comes country-by-country climate regulation, enforcement and emissions controls, political action and legal services. (From the original Mission Statement of NASA -- “To understand and protect our home planet...")

Follow our GreenPolicy360 "Climate Plans Enforcement" project for more information on the Climate TRACE coalition.


Global Emissions Inventory is a Secret Weapon at COP27

November 2022 / The Climate TRACE coalition unveils a new, highly detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which it hopes will help countries and companies looking for effective, targeted ways to decarbonize.


Via Protocol ("Launched to cover the evolving power center of tech")


The Climate TRACE project is not being presented as the “climate cops” on the beat. The coalition in formation is seen as more of a “neighborhood watch,” which is often contacted by legal services and non profit groups who need local information and data to make their enforcement case.

“Some — maybe many — governments (will) use the information to make sure that their laws and regulations are complied with”...

It’s not just governments who can benefit from the inventory release, but private companies as well.


GreenPolicy360:

Measure to Manage: Gather the Data and Science

As Protocol announces its end of publication Farewell from Protocol, November 15, 2022, we are choosing to reprint this full article, one of Protocol's final articles, and one that captures the promise and power of tech to help solve the generational challenges of climate change.

The Climate TRACE coalition unveiled a new, highly detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which it hopes will help countries and companies looking for effective, targeted ways to decarbonize.


By Michelle Ma (@himichellema) / November 9, 2022


Al Gore has one mission this week at COP27, and that’s to give climate negotiators what he hopes will be a critical tool to address the crisis at hand: an independent, global inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, down to the individual facility.

The Climate TRACE coalition just released the world’s most detailed inventory of global greenhouse gas emissions, which Gore, a founding member, is unveiling on Wednesday at the United Nations climate summit in Egypt.


“Of course, the world has long known what the overall amount of greenhouse gas pollution in the atmosphere is. What’s different about this [database] is the accurate apportioning of who’s responsible for what and the granularity that allows us a focus on specific emissions sources,” Gore told Protocol, adding that he has “no doubt” that the database “will be put to a lot of use in negotiations for sure.”

The inventory shows facility-level emissions, which will allow negotiators to home in on the most polluting sites in individual countries, helping them target where emissions reductions should come from. Putting a solar farm in one place might displace significantly more emissions than locating it somewhere else, and the inventory allows negotiators to identify exactly where they would get “the biggest bang for their buck.”


The inventory, published on Wednesday on Climate TRACE’s website and free for anyone to access, includes emissions data for 72,612 individual sources, including power plants, steel mills, and oil and gas fields. It also includes sources that can move between countries, such as cargo ships.

That granularity will be critical for countries to have an accurate accounting of their emissions and where they come from, particularly countries that don’t have the resources to gather that data themselves. It will also help corporations looking for the most cost-effective, impactful way to cut emissions, said Gavin McCormick, another founding member of the coalition.

“One of the exciting parts for us has been to move the conversation from countries arguing in some vague sense about accountability to, ‘Hey, we’re talking about these few facilities here,” McCormick said.


Using AI and satellite data, Climate TRACE was able to determine that a significant share of carbon pollution comes from a small number of facilities. The database shows that one steel mill in Korea, for example, emits more greenhouse gas pollution in a year than all of Bosnia. “The politics of how you would transition a few facilities is strikingly different than when you’re saying, ‘Who could know where it’s coming from?’” McCormick said.

Many countries lack accurate, granular, and up-to-date emissions data. That’s in part due to resource constraints, particularly in smaller or poorer countries. Egypt, for example, released a partial inventory of its 2015 emissions for the first time this year. Some of the data is self-reported by polluters, collected via surveys of key facilities and then extrapolated to create a country-level estimate. In India, “I know they’re literally out there counting cows for a few farms and then assuming these farms are representative for the whole country,” McCormick said.

Climate TRACE's data show emissions at the facility-level.

One key insight that came out of this inventory was that oil and gas emissions are “massively undercounted” in official estimates, he said. Through satellite data, the coalition found that oil and gas leaks were a significant source of “super-emitting” sites.

When asked if he thinks the undercounting of emissions from the oil and gas sector was deliberate or not, Gore said, “There are several specific examples that are hard to interpret in any way other than the fact that there has been an intentional effort to hide emissions and to deceive the world community about how large the emissions are. It’s just almost impossible to believe that it’s an accidental oversight, and all the accidents go in exactly the same direction.”

Gore, however, is not interested in Climate TRACE being the “climate cops.” He views the coalition as more of a “neighborhood watch,” which is often contacted by law enforcement for local information. “I will not be at all surprised if some — maybe many — governments use the information to make sure that their laws and regulations are complied with,” he said.

It’s not just governments who can benefit from the inventory release, but private companies as well.

The cleanest steel mills aren’t being used at full capacity. Yet shifting business to these mills could reduce emissions from the steel sector by 50%, McCormick said.

Companies that want to decarbonize their supply chains — which includes a number of major tech companies from Salesforce to Apple — can simply use the information to purchase products from the cleanest facilities. The coalition has already started having conversations with multinational corporations about switching suppliers, which can happen in a matter of months rather than years, if they’re armed with independent data.

By next year, Climate TRACE hopes to update the inventory to include every source of emissions and, eventually, get it closer to updating in real time. Right now, the data as a whole is at least annual up until 2021, with some sectors updated monthly.

“My belief is that if we can demonstrate to the world that it’s actually easier than they thought to make progress and we can actually track that progress, this is going to be the year that a lot of countries start tasting some serious progress,” McCormick said.



GreenPolicy360: Follow Our "Climate Plans Enforcement" Initiative

Climate Plans Enforcement - Resources


GreenPolicy360 welcomes the arrival of a global science mission, a "Global Stocktake", a collection of earth science data to be made available to the community of nations, to planet citizen activists and scientists, educational institutions, non-profits, NGOs, young and old to become tools for legal enforcement of national climate plans & pledges


GreenPolicy360's Campaign to 'Turn National Climate Promises & Pledges into Reality'

Our Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative continues as the next Global Climate Conference approaches, November's Conference of the Parties (COP27)
Drawing from the database of Earth Science resulting from decades of space-based missions designed to provide us with actionable 'Earth-system and Climate-related data'
Measuring and Monitoring to better manage Earth's Living, Dynamic and Changing Systems, Local, National and Global


Methods to Enforce Climate Plan Pledges

GreenPolicy360: Climate Plans Enforcement Initiative

Pressuring Nations to Step Up, Cooperate, and Act Now

Environmental Laws, Regs, Rules... Lawsuits & Legal Actions

Glasgow (2021) & Paris (2015) Summits: Int'l Climate Plan Pledges & Promises (INDCs-NDCs)


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"Earth Observing System": Decades of Earth Science/Climate Science Data Accessible for Planet Citizen Action


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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/File:Time_Nov_10_2022_COP27.jpg


Climate Summit / COP27 Updates - November 11, 2022

Via NY Times Reporters/Live - On Location


Transcript of President Biden's Speech at the 27th International Climate Conference


More from the Global Climate Conference

COP27: Biden says the climate crisis is about ‘very life of the planet’


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SHARM EL-SHEIKH, EGYPT, Nov 7 (Reuters) - United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres told countries gathered at the start of the COP27 summit in Egypt on Monday they face a stark choice: work together now to cut emissions or condemn future generations to climate catastrophe.

The speech set an urgent tone as governments sit down for two weeks of talks on how to avert the worst of climate change, even as they are distracted by Russia’s war in Ukraine, rampant consumer inflation and energy shortages.


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COP27

Time for Planet Citizen Action


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GreenPolicy360: Methane hot spots we're coming to find you, identify you, act to stop you and enforce climate laws.

"Super emitters", we have a message for you, you can't hide....


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October 2022


Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth
Planet Citizen Action, Environmental protection. Quality of Life


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Planet Citizens / Scientists, Preserving & Protecting the Home Planet Earth



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Stewart Udall Film Trailer: http://vimeo.com/708323643


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* https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else


GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: Green politics for decades has, in the community of nations, focused on the nuclear threat. The history of green parties and green, environmental movement has a record of activism that has been described as 'out in front' and in Europe, within the European governments, since the 1970s and 80s we see green organizing that demanded the removal of nuclear weapons. Green politics called for an end to the 'hair trigger' face-off between the Soviet Union and Europe, the U.S. and a nuclear conflagration that threatened humanity and life on Planet Earth.

Today, the war in Ukraine and threat of nuclear war continues to grow with a waving of so-called "tactical, battlefield" and "strategic, intercontinental" nuclear weapons bristling with dangers of mistake, miscalculation, desperate or preemptive use, rogue forces or insane calculation. A new century is now seeing the collapse of nuclear arms controls and treaties, with media 'normalizing' nuclear weapons use in nightly news shows. The East and West stand on a precipice.

Now comes "Nowhere to Hide" by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.

Read it -- https://thebulletin.org/2022/10/nowhere-to-hide-how-a-nuclear-war-would-kill-you-and-almost-everyone-else

We at GreenPolicy360 and with our associate, Strategic Demands have worked alongside the Bulletin and its goals...

Now a flashing warning continues louder and brighter -- be aware of the danger. Act to reduce the danger of nuclear disaster.


War in Ukraine Ratcheting Up, Threats of Nuclear Use Ratcheting Up

June, July, August, September, October -- 'Bluffing' or Coming Cataclysm?


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GreenPolicy360 Siterunner: It is October 1st and we are looking at a "Week that Was". Under the heading of Climate News/Florida what has been described as one of the most costly hurricanes in the history of the state hit the west coast couth of Tampa Bay, Hurricane Ian hit not far from where Hurricane Charley devastated not many years ago. In Florida, the terrestrial home of GreenPolicy360, we faced a Hurricane named Ian -- and resulting catastrophe throughout our state. Hurricane Ian arrived from the Caribbean and target the Florida west coast from Naples in the south to Tampa Bay and further in the north and central Florida. Mandatory evacuations were ordered... many listened, many didn't and now the consequences are coming into view. The media and press are reporting, politicians speaking, emergency services, the Coast Guard, police, and regular citizens of all persuasions and backgrounds have acted, often as rescuers and/or protectors of families and homes. The consequences of the damage and the on the ground reality and experience will go on for months and years.

We have to ask, as now is the time to ask about Florida's future, what about Florida? Where is the 'trending' threads of concern acknowledging, risks, problems and identifying solutions to 'extreme weather events'. Here at GreenPolicy we have for years spoken of a warming Gulf of Mexico and tropical storms that 'rapidly intensify' as a result. Ian the hurricane did exactly that, surprising many but not out of line with the physics of a Gulf of Mexico that is heating due to climate change. The atmospheric science, earth science, ocean science, the statistics and the physics of interacting systems, and the political responses to the full scope of the devastation this extreme weather event/storm/typhoon, call it what you will, is on the radar. We are seeing connections between human decisions and nature's responses. Florida is, as we have written for years, "The frontlines of climate change".

Change is in the air. It is time for reality check. The radar sees the moving vector. It's time that we see the threat speeding at us...


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E.O. Wilson: Planet Citizen


E.O. Wilson: He discovered hundreds of new species by putting his hands in the dirt as a field biologist, synthesized evolving thinking in science and coined new terms, such as biodiversity and biophilia, to explain it. Of his many accomplishments in evolutionary biology, his biggest contribution was probably in the new scientific field of sociobiology, in which he addressed the biological basis of social behavior in animals, including humans.


E.O. Wilson: His 2006 book "The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth," a series of letters written to an imaginary Baptist preacher in pursuit of an ecological alliance to save the Earth.


E.O. Wilson: Naturalist dubbed a modern-day Darwin, dies at 92


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Protect Life, Be Pro-Life, Prevent Extinction


E.O. Wilson: The 8 Million++ Species We Don’t Know


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Big Picture Time: On the Way to Cosmology


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"The launch of the Webb Space Telescope is a pivotal moment -- this is just the beginning for the Webb mission," said Gregory L. Robinson, Webb's program director at NASA Headquarters.

"Now we will watch Webb's highly anticipated and critical 29 days on the edge. When the spacecraft unfurls in space, Webb will undergo the most difficult and complex deployment sequence ever attempted in space. Once commissioning is complete, we will see awe-inspiring images that will capture our imagination."


Big Science: How the James Webb Telescope Will See Back in Time


James Webb Space Telescope


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More GreenPolicy360 Archives of Highlighted Green Stories of the Day


Roll back into the GreenPolicy360 Archive ...

Green Movement, Green Politics, Green Party, Strategic Demands
1960s, 70s, 80s, 90s, 2000s ... and on and on and on ...


Visit GreenPolicy360's Associate -- Strategic Demands

Global Security, Indivisible


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Green Stories of the Day - GreenPolicy360 Archive

Recent GreenPolicy Stories


GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2021

Featured in 2021


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2020

Featured in 2020


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2019

Featured in 2019


link=[https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/GreenPolicy360_Archive_Highlights_2019


GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2018

Featured in 2018


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2017

Featured in 2017


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2016

Featured in 2016


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2015

Featured in 2015


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2014

Featured in 2014


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GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2013

Featured in 2013


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GreenPolicy360

"Greening Our Blue Planet"


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It's All Related


Planet Citizens

www.planetcitizen.org
www.planetcitizens.org
Planet Citizen Vision of Living Earth


Frontlines of Green Best Practices

Green Policy ... Vision and #Resilience


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* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Category:Earth_Day


DYK? Yes, we do, we remember the beginnings !
🌎 The 1960s... Beginnings of the Modern Environmental Movement

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On the 50th Anniversary

Memories on the Road to the First Earth Day

* https://www.greenpolicy360.net/w/Earth_Day_Memories_on_the_50th_Anniversary


... Remembering the student teach-ins, the means we used to spread the word and we did. The Vietnam Moratorium Committee became the peace group and and when we talked to Senator Nelson and George Brown about doing environmental teach-ins that would be the first in a series of annual peace and environment events they got it and put their combined weight behind the effort.

It came to be, from an Earthrise moment, to the Moratorium demonstrations and teach-in, to the teach-ins of Earth Day. What quickly followed was the passage of the first generation of US environmental protection legislation.

The environmental movement that sprang from the global realization passed on to us by the NASA Apollo missions, and student activism, are shaping a new generation and modern environmental movement.


The 1970s and 80s

Greening Our Blue Planet


An environmental foundation, initiatives and laws that serve a model for state -- and international -- action:

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In 1977-78 the first climate science comes to light... first generation science for national and global environmental action set a platform in place on which to create climate policy and environmental protection over the coming decades ...


First National Climate Act, Historic Work, 1978

GreenPolicy360 Siterunner / SJS: The beginnings of modern environmental and climate science can be traced to the 60s and 70s. The U.S. National Academy of Sciences played a key role with scientific reports and data.

Energy and Climate Report, 1977, National Academy of Sciences / 175 pp. / PDF via GreenPolicy360

George Brown, taking the 1977 Energy and Climate Report from the Academy, made climate science actionable. In a historic moment, Representative Brown from East Los Angeles proposed and drafted the legislation for the first U.S. National Climate Program and shepherded its passage in 1978. In 1979 came the first follow-on National Science Academy report. This study and report of national scientists was prescient and accurate in its global warming predictions.

This first federal program established to study and assess scientifically the issues and risks of human-caused climate change became a foundation for comprehensive initiatives, and led to an array of new Earth Science missions by NASA and NOAA, the EPA and USGS.


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At the Beginning of U.S. Science on Global Warming, Strategies & Planning

1978, Launching U.S. Climate Action:

National Climate Program Act, Public Law 95-367

National Climate Program Act of September 1978


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Into the 1990s... Going Green Globally


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Remembering the First Earth Summit


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The New Millenium: New Green Formative Action Beyond Party Politics


Initial proposing New Definitions of National Security


Each of us can make a positive difference

Climate Problems, Climate Solutions


Planet Citizens, Planet Scientists


Earth in Our Hands


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Climate Change - Global Warming Keyword-Terms


Our Biggest Experiment

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