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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.

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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2022


December 2022


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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.


This global emissions inventory is Al Gore’s secret weapon at COP27

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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September 2022


Hurricane Ian Hits Florida


The Fast 'Intensification' of Ian

Hurricane Ian -- Close to Cat5 -- Jim Cantore reporting


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Climate-induced, warm water in the Gulf of Mexico is a feeder of intensity


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Destructive Surges with Hurricanes, Extreme Weather Events

Florida, we're pointing at Gulf Waters heating up and 'inducing' more powerful storms

Hurricane Ian, September 26, the 'spaghetti plot lines' warn of a historic Gulf Hurricane on the way...


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Climate News


There are 'no easy fixes' in Florida. But could Hurricane Ian's havoc bring a call for better planning?

Via USA Today

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...

"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.

"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.


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.

The state may have to accept the fact that developers will have to build at higher elevations.


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Re: Florida's Flood and Property Insurance Crisis

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.


~ 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...


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.

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.

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.



Ian threatens Florida's already unstable insurance market


Six Florida property insurance companies were declared insolvent this year, and others are canceling or not renewing policies


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More:

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).

"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 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.



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On Florida's 'Space Coast', a Moon Ship is getting ready (and could be rescheduled again)

Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature (wiki)


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September 21, 2022


Nuclear War Threats, Nuclear Disaster Dangers: Russia Ups the Ante in Ukraine Conflict

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.”


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.

Let that sink in….


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September 6


Russia Cuts Off Gas/Oil Exports to Europe

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.

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.

“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.

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.

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.

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...


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September 1


U.S. President Biden warns that Ex-President Trump's extreme MAGA Republicans are a 'danger' to U.S. democracy


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A speech about Democracy -- and protecting Democracy and the Republic

At Independence Hall, site of President Biden's speech

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.

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...


Via Tom Nichols


CNN's John Harwood covers the speech -- then departs from a newly configured CNN


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August 2022


August 26

California Acts to Ban the Sale of New Gasoline Cars

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.


BY THE TIMES EDITORIAL BOARD | AUG. 26, 2022

It’s hard to overstate the significance of California’s move this week to end the sale of new gas-powered cars.

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.

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.

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.


More on California's decision to drive forward into a new world of transportation

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August 19

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.


After Signing Climate Bill, Biden Prepares More Actions to Cut Emissions

Regulations from the E.P.A. and elsewhere will help the president meet his aggressive climate goals

The Green Climate Package continues to grow with Executive Orders and Agency Actions


Speed & Scope Is Up: Green Transition / Climate Action on the Move


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U.S. House of Representatives Passes Historic Legislative Package

Inflation, Taxes, Health -- Energy and Climate

After lengthy 'rip-roaring attack speech' by Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy and speeches by Democratic Leaders Hoyer and Pelosi, the vote is strictly partisan

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


House approves Biden’s flagship climate and tax package

Final passage of $700bn bill marks significant legislative victory for U.S. president

The House vote is party-line 220-207 to pass the legislation


Cleaner air, greener cities, shifted politics: 8 visions of the future after the new climate bill


More:


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Sweeping climate bill pushes American energy to go green

Associated Press / August 12, 2022

By SETH BORENSTEIN, MATTHEW DALY and MICHAEL PHILLIS


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...

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.

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.”


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.

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.”


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.

There are also incentives for nuclear power and projects that aim to capture and remove carbon from the atmosphere...


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.


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.”


“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.”


The 730-page bill is here


US Senate passes 430 billion climate bill.png


* https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senate-democrats-fend-off-amendments-430-bln-climate-drug-bill-2022-08-07/


August 7, 2022


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 ...


Five Decades in the Making: Why It Took Congress So Long to Act on Climate


Bookmark Climate Policy @GreenPolicy360



Surprise climate deal.png


Surprise Deal Would Be Most Ambitious Climate Action Undertaken by U.S.

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


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.

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.



(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.

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.

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.



President Biden needs to put forward a powerful 'executive' climate agenda



July 4th, 2022


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... Our Challenge

In 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


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It's time to #UnfoldTheUniverse

You have a date with the Webb !


Get your game plan ready for the reveal of Webb's first images on July 12! 🙌

Find out how you can watch our broadcast, view the spectacular images, and participate in this historic event to #UnfoldTheUniverse


"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."


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
* https://twitter.com/NASA_es/status/1532022116966666244/photo/1


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June 2022


File:SCOTUS News re West Virginia v EPA Decision.pdf


West Virginia v EPA

Click Here for a scan of news/commentary and opinion re the June 30, 2022 decision


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June 28


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Republican Drive to Tilt Courts Against Climate Action

A Supreme Court environmental case being decided this month is the product of a coordinated, multiyear strategy by Republican attorneys general and conservative allies


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Protect Democracy

"Our Democracy Is in Danger" - https://protectdemocracy.org/


“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.


Electoral Count Act

Securing Consequences for the January 6th Insurrection

The Authoritarian Playbook: A Media Guide


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See GreenLinks

GreenLinks @GreenPolicy360


See Fact Checking


Fact Checking @GreenPolicy360


Voting Rights / Election Law


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June 17, 2022


Heather Cox Richardson from Letters from an American

[email protected]]

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.”

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.

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...


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Per- and polyfluoroalkyl ...

PFAS PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), PFOS (perfluorooctanesulfonic acid), PFNA (perfluorononanoic acid) and PFHxA (perfluorohexanoic acid)


PFAS - 'Forever Chemicals'


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June 14, 2022


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Nuclear Threats, Responses & Ripple Effects


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The Russia - Ukraine War Continues Raising New Nuclear Risks
Visit GreenPolicy360's Colleague 'Strategic Demands' for More...


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Biden’s Pick for the EPA’s Top Air Pollution Job Finds Himself Caught in the Crossfire

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


Inside Climate News

May 26, 2022


“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.”


West Virginia again


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.

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.

“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.”

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.

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...


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NASA Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Request

May 2022

GreenPolicy360: We are putting forward a proposal to restore the Earth Science provisions to the Mission Statement of NASA.

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.

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.”

>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.

>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:

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.

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.


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 ...


Earth System Observatory-2.jpg


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April 29, 2022

Russian Invasion of Ukraine Expands to Energy Threats to Europe

Germany to build LNG terminals at 'Tesla Speed' to shift away from Russian gas

... 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.”


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April 20, 2022


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Recollections of the 'Satan Sarmat' (2016)


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April 17, 2022


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Announcement from GreenPolicy360 & Strategic Demands


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Biden's (and the World's) Imperiled Climate Agenda


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.

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.

“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.”


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Progress, a Step at a Time

Get it done, and get it done good

(which brings to mind an old aphorism 'perfect is the enemy of good' )


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Ready for Webb's View of the Universe?

Webb's far better than Hubble -- and Hubble brought unprecedented new visions of the Universe


March 16, 2022


James Webb Telescope Unveils First Image - 1.png


James Webb Telescope Unveils First Image - 2.png


"Absolutely phenomenal"


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March 8

Russia warns of $300 oil, threatens to cut off European gas if West bans energy imports


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Tactical, 'small battlefield' nuclear weapons aren't small

'Small' nukes are a misnomer'


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Sanctions Bite: War by Other Means

Democracies, Financial Systems, Governments and Businesses Fight Back Transactionally


UN General Assembly Vote - March 2 2022.jpg


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War in Ukraine, War on Ukraine


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The Ukraine-Russia Crisis and Threats of Nuclear Weapons Use


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:

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."


(CNN)

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.

"Now a few important, very important words for those who may be tempted to intervene in ongoing events from the outside," Putin said.

"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."


(NYT)

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.”

In effect, Mr. Putin’s speech, intended to justify the invasion, seemed to come close to threatening nuclear war.

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.”


(POLITICO)

"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."


(TELEGRAPH UK)

Vladimir Putin appears to threaten nuclear strikes if West launches reprisal attacks

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”.

The address amounted to a declaration of war on Ukraine, with the aerial bombardment and invasion following shortly afterwards.


More:

A BBC and NYT fact check: Nukes, Proliferation and the Ukraine crisis --


Nuclear 'Drills' as Russian Forces Hold 'Firing Exercises'

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Diplomatic Solutions to the Ukraine-Russia Security Crisis Are Available

Will Mutual Security Answers Prove Sufficient?


StratDem Russia-Europe.png


StratDem Proposed Russia-Ukraine Fix.png


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EV Charging Stations, US Highways, Biden 2021 Infrastructure and Transportation Plan

February 10, 2022

Google News Headlines


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Strategic Demands for Mutual Security, Not Yet Evident


Feb. 7

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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.”


Updated / First week of February 2022


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."


Tactical nukes question - as of January 28 2022.png

 

Via CNBC and Wire Services

January 28, 2022


Talks between Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken are expected in the next few days...

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.”


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.

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 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.

Lavrov said Thursday that the U.S. response “allows us to expect the start of a serious conversation but on secondary issues.”

“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.”

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.”

 

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New Definitions of National Security Demanded


GreenPolicy360 & Strategic Demands:


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* https://strategicdemands.com/russia-ukraine-belarus-nato-eu-us/


 

War Between Russia, Ukraine, NATO, US?

War Between Nuclear Weapons States Carries Extreme Strategic Risks
Fact: There is NO winning a Nuclear Exchange, NO Winning with Nuclear Weapons


What do we need? A New Vision of Security. When do we need it? Now...


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Joe Biden and Vladimir Putin: Step back from the brink.

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...

Blinken-Lavrov - Jan 21 2022.jpg


Ⅰ Ⅱ Ⅲ Ⅳ Ⅴ Ⅵ Ⅶ Ⅷ Ⅸ Ⅹ Ⅺ Ⅻ


Doomsday Clock 2022


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Voting and Election Rights Go Down in Disheartening Defeat

Dems' 'nuclear option' push fails, election bills dead, after Sinema and Manchin vote to keep filibuster


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Voting Rights and Democracy Atop President Biden's Political Speech in Atlanta


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White House: President Biden Speaks on 'Protecting the Right to Vote' (Speech Transcript /Atlanta, January 11, 2022)


 

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One year later...I will defend this nation Jan-6-2022.png


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December 2021


On the Last Day of 2021

Ready for 2022? #ActonClimate Today & Every Day


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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


James webb space telescope

December 25th.... Launched !


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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


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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


🌎


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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You can manage only what you can measure Dr David Crisp, OCO-2, June 2014 m.jpg


Climate Change - Global Warming Keyword-Terms


Our Biggest Experiment

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