People's Climate March on the 21st and now what?

Juwang Zhu
Chief, Small Island Developing States, Oceans and Climate Branch
Division for Sustainable Development
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs

We seek significant recognition of Light Electric Vehicles, including electric bikes, as a sustainable transportation pathway, especially for the poorer regions of the planet and for those likely to be most affected by ongoing climate change.

I seek some initial dialog & clarification of our potential role in the process. I will be traveling from central New England to New York by eBike in solidarity.

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Owls, hawks, warblers, waders- check the maps- range changes are all the rage. They are rampant. All birds, of course, follow the food supply. If insects are available for food longer in the year; if small mammals are taking longer to go to ground to hibernate, if the harshness of winters are trending towards moderation, birds move into new territories. They reproduce, because the climate allows that, and because the environment provides energy, through food.

Who knew that one of the foremost authorities on the impact of climate change would end up being Roger Tory filling the back of his field guides.

Unconvinced? Let me tell you about the bees. They are having a helluva time with climate change as well. Warmer seasons may be disconnecting the bees from the very flowers they pollinate- the bees are emerging earlier in spring these days, before the flowers are ready for their duet. If this is happening, and there are indications it has begun, the outcome is predictable. The bees will starve, and fail to reproduce, and the flowers, when they emerge, lack their natural pollinators. And if that flower happens to be on a peach tree or an apple tree, it won't only be the bees going to bed without dinner.

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John Kerry said:

The IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report is another wakeup call. It marshals unassailable evidence of the perils of inaction: Summertime Arctic sea ice volume has shrunk by 70 percent since 1978, 12 of the hottest 13 years on record have occurred since 2000, and the oceans are 30 percent more acidic than they were a century ago. Bottom line: Climate change is real, it's happening now, and human beings are the cause.

In the face of these risks and these warnings, it is time for all of us to do what the science tells us we must, to do what our faiths require of us, and to do what our fragile planet demands of us: It's time to take strong action to combat a truly life-and-death challenge.

Today, people all over the world are demanding action on climate change, and those of us in positions of authority globally have a responsibility to lead the way toward progress. The United States is committed to doing its part.

That's why I am pleased to present this 2014 Climate Action Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). This report contains our nation's communication - a quadrennial report detailing actions the United States is taking at home and internationally to mitigate, adapt to, and assist others in addressing climate change as part of our commitments under the UNFCCC.

....Since 2005, our emissions have fallen 6.5 percent, even as our economy continues to grow... President Obama's Climate Action Plan will keep the United States on track to reach our goal of reducing U.S. greenhouse gas emissions in the range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020.... today we must be the indispensable stewards of our shared planet.

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wineboyrider said:

Is Lord Monckton going to be there?

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AMY GOODMAN: Well, for more on Pope Francis, we go to Oxford, England, where we’re joined by his biographer, Austen Ivereigh, a British commentator, writer, co-founder of Catholic Voices. He’s the author of a new biography called The Great Reformer: Francis and the Making of a Radical Pope.

Austen Ivereigh, welcome to Democracy Now! Let’s begin with this encyclical that he’s putting out on climate change. How rare and how important is this?

AUSTEN IVEREIGH: Well, first of all, it’s an encyclical, which is the highest form of papal teaching. What that means is it’s a letter that’s sent to the bishops and clergy and indirectly to all the Catholics of the world. And it’s saying this is authoritative church teaching, this needs to be taken very seriously by Catholics. So that, in itself, is a major event.

The fact that it’s also on ecology, on climate change, is also deeply significant, because there has never been a major document on this subject from the church. So, there is a lot of anticipation about it. He’s about to go to Sri Lanka and the Philippines. That’s in mid-January. And then he’ll be issuing this encyclical, we think, in March or possibly April. And it’s going to take a position on the science of climate change. So, this is a case of the church, as it were, wading into a scientific matter and taking a position. As I understand, the document will take a position in favor, if you like, of the scientific consensus that climate change is real.

And then the document will also link the deforestation, the destruction of the natural environment, to the particular economic model of which Pope Francis has been a very stern critic ever since he became pope, and indeed beforehand, a system which creates too much inequality, which regards the unemployed and the elderly as, as it were, to be dispensed with, as leftovers, as he calls them—so, in other words, an economic system which is dysfunctional in its impact on the world’s population. But he’ll also show that excessive consumerism and indeed the pattern of that global economic model is—as it were, the price is being paid by the environment. So it’s going to be a clarion call, as I understand it, for the church to work for changing the system which produces deforestation and climate devastation.

It will also be laying out the basis for the Catholic Church’s thinking on this, prior to what I understand will be a meeting with other world religious leaders and, indeed, civic leaders. In other words, Pope Francis wants to build a global consensus to force—to bring about—help to bring about action later this year, prior to that very important summit, U.N. summit, in Paris on climate change. So it’s about building the momentum to bring about real, effective change in this area...

... So he’s identifying himself with a figure who is really the icon, in the Catholic tradition, of poverty, of humility, of identification with the poor, but also of course a man who was famous for his love of creation, his love of the natural world, where he saw mankind—as it were, man fits into, human beings fit into God’s creation, and God’s creation is much more than just us. We are stewards of the planet. We have been entrusted with the responsibility for the planet, and we must not damage it. We must care for it. We must embrace it. We must support it. So, absolutely, by taking the name of Francis of Assisi, he was signaling from the very beginning that he was going to be doing this. And I understand that this ecology encyclical has been under preparation almost ever since, really, he was elected..

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Fastest1 said:

Save the oxygen and stay home.

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neptronix said:

It is up to us to make the change. We are the consumers of gasoline, natural gas, coal, etc. We enjoy all these comforts and high quality of life as a result.

If you do not have an alternative in mind, you are asking people to give up a lot of comforts that modern living provides.

The answer is the alternative.

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