Pakistan's ambassador told a House Committee last week that the floods devastating his country were a warning of what the future may hold in a future world of climate disruption.
If Proposition 23 passes, it could disrupt plans for many green companies and their suppliers in CA and around the US — not to mention weakening political will in other states, or at the federal level, for tougher green energy policy.
The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (Canada, US, and Mexico) issued a report on Sept. 17, 2010, illustrating the steps 13 North American cities are taking, from small, planned efforts to reduce building energy use, to comprehensive, multi-sector adopted plans for reducing energy use.
"A once-unthinkable day is looming on the Colorado River. Barring a sudden end to the Southwest’s 11-year drought, the distribution of the river’s dwindling bounty is likely to be reordered as early as next year because the flow of water cannot keep pace with the region’s demands."
"New efforts to measure what warming temperatures are doing to forests, streams and animals at a regional level are at the core of a strategic plan by the Fish and Wildlife Service to respond to the effects of climate change."
"Climate ministers and top negotiators from dozens of nations remain deadlocked over how to cut greenhouse gases less than three months before the next major international climate summit."
"An activist with the Communities for a Better Environment takes on Big Oil over delaying the state's global warming law."
"The world could be on the brink of a major new food crisis caused by environmental disasters and rampant market speculators, the UN will be warned today at an emergency meeting on food price inflation."
"Across the Far North, populations of caribou — an indispensable source of food and clothing for indigenous people — are in steep decline. Scientists point to rising temperatures and a resource-development boom as the prime culprits."
In a last-gasp effort to pass some energy legislation this year, a bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill requiring utilities to generate at least 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources. But they do not yet have the votes, and the first chance for action would be in a lame-duck session. The House has already passed such a bill.
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