February was a big month for climate change at the U.S. Congress, and Post Carbon’s Communication Director Richard Bell has been covering the latest hearings. The highest profile hearing was in mid-February, featuring Sir Nicholas Stern, author of the last fall’s highly influential Stern Review of The Economics of Climate Change. Stern told the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee that the long-term cost of failing to deal with climate change now would be at least 5 times as high as dealing with climate change now.
We cross-posted this item on the very popular political website Daily Kos. The Stern posting, titled “The Biggest Market Failure the World Has Ever Seen,” (a remark by Sir Nicholas) was the top recommended diary on Daily Kos for most of the morning and early afternoon, generating a very healthy 376 comments. Bell has also been blogging away, touching on everything from a new “green wedding” magazine to a plan to use nuclear reactors to supply heat for processing Canada’s tar sands.
Global Public Media contributors also covered a wide range of other issues, including additional Congressional hearings on global warming (complete with polar bears), "Five Axioms of Sustainability," and a look at the role of the giant agri-business company Cargill.
The Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held an all-day hearing February 1st on Renewable Biofuels, at which scientists cast serious doubt on whether the country could meet President Bush’s goal of manufacturing 35 billion gallons of “alternative” fuels by 2017.
Next up was the awkwardly named “Private Sector and Consumer Solutions to Global Warming and Wildlife Protection subcommittee of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee,” where polar bears were the charismatic megafauna of the day.
In other GPM entries for February, shows from Deconstructing Dinner focus on Cargill, an agri-business giant with 149,000 employees in 63 countries. If you care about what you eat, you need to know about this company’s influence, its operations, and its global strategies. Deconstructing Dinner is designed to educate listeners on the impacts our food choices have on ourselves, our communities and the planet. The show, hosted by Jon Steinman, is produced at Kootenay Co-op Radio (CJLY) in Nelson, British Columbia, Canada.
Post Carbon Institute Fellow Richard Heinberg takes on sustainability, one of the more difficult and elusive concepts in the environmental arena. In his essay “Five Axioms of Sustainability,” Heinberg takes a look at the history of this concept, and lays out a set of five axioms that he argues define the characteristics of a durable society.
Bart Anderson is a co-editor of Energy Bulletin, an on-line source for news and commentary related to energy, society, and the environment. We carry items from Energy Bulletin on the Post Carbon news column every day. Listen to an interview with Bart by Post Carbon Fellow Jason Bradford, a founder of local group WELL, and host of The Reality Report, broadcast on KZYX&Z in Mendocino County, CA. Bart talks with Jason about the recent climate report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
