Real Change? Our Climate. Real Momentum? Global Warming.

The earth is close to if not past a tipping point on climate change, and what do the negotiators eco-saboteurs of the Bush administration do, why undermine any real commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, of course! And while The Guardian reports the World is poised to sign climate deal, it’s a watered down climate deal, Bush made sure of that. “Europe was reported tonight to have dropped its demands for a 25%-40% cut on 1990 levels by 2020, a proposal that was bitterly opposed by the US.” The Bush administration advocates “voluntary” haha cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress is spitting into the wind of climate change. The New York Times reports Industry flexes muscle, weakens energy bill. “Pared-down energy legislation cleared the Senate on Thursday by a wide margin after the oil industry and utilities succeeded in stripping out… a $13 billion tax increase on oil companies and a requirement that utilities nationwide produce 15 percent of their electricity from renewable sources”. Thank you corporate America and your Congressional puppets for being so thoroughly short-sighted, contemptible, and detestable.

Of course, that isn’t all that’s going through under the guise of ‘energy policy’. “Separately, Congress reached a tentative agreement on a major energy package that it plans to enact outside the energy bill… the agreement would guarantee loans of up to $25 billion for new nuclear plants and $2 billion for a uranium enrichment plant… It would also provide guarantees of… $10 billion for plants to turn coal into liquid vehicle fuel and $2 billion to turn coal into natural gas.” Liquefied coal – the fuel that powered South Africa’s Apartheid government and higher greenhouse gas emissions – is an idiotic, expensive, and short-sighted choice.

Meanwhile America’s other idiotic ‘energy policy’ – to promote ethanol is, as Mongabay reports, driving Amazon destruction. In this week’s issue of Science, “Dr. William Laurance, of the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama, says that a recent spike in Amazonian forest fires may be linked to U.S. subsidies that promote American corn production for ethanol over soy production. The shift from soy to corn has led to a near doubling in soy prices during the past 14 months. High prices are, in turn, driving conversion of rainforest and savanna in Brazil for soy expansion.” Each year, Americans spend $11 billion to subsidize ethanol rainforest destruction.

Not to be outdone by the rainforests, our planet’s oceans are doing stunningly badly. The Guardian adds that Acidic seas may kill 98% of world’s reefs by 2050. “The majority of the world’s coral reefs are in danger of being killed off by rising levels of greenhouse gases, scientists warned yesterday. Researchers from Britain, the US and Australia, working with teams from the UN and the World Bank, voiced their concerns after a study revealed 98% of the world’s reef habitats are likely to become too acidic for corals to grow by 2050… Among the first victims of acidifying oceans will be Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, the world’s largest organic structure.” From rainforests to coral reefs, we’re killing life on our planet.

The Guardian continues, “The oceans absorb around a third of the 20bn tonnes of carbon dioxide produced each year by human activity. While the process helps to slow global warming by keeping the gas from the atmosphere, in sea water it dissolves to form carbonic acid – rising levels of which cause carbonates to dissolve.” So, of course! Let’s keep pumping the skies full of CO2 with coal-to-liquid programs. Let’s keep making those “voluntary” haha cuts!

And once again a headline states Ice-free Arctic in summer seen in 7 years. This time it’s the Chicago Tribune reporting that “the pace of melting of sea ice has been ‘dramatic,’ said Michel Jarraud, secretary general of the UN agency, noting that the extent of Arctic summer sea ice has fallen 23 percent in just two years… Preliminary agency data for 2007 suggest this year will be the second hottest year on record, behind 2005, and that the most recent decade will be the hottest in recorded history, he said.”

And a Reuters story lays it on the line: U.S. scientists state Carbon cuts a must to halt warming. “There is already enough carbon in Earth’s atmosphere to ensure that sea levels will rise several feet (meters) in coming decades and summertime ice will vanish from the North Pole, scientists warned on Thursday. To mitigate global warming’s worst effects, including severe drought and flooding, people must not only cut current carbon emissions but also remove some carbon that has collected in the atmosphere since the Industrial Revolution, they said.”

“We’re a lot closer to climate tipping points than we thought we were,” said James Hansen, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. “If we are to have any chance in avoiding the points of no return, we’re going to have to make some changes.” …

The concentration of carbon in the atmosphere is now about 380 parts per million and increasing by 2 parts per million each year. To stabilize Earth’s climate, the concentration needs to fall to at least 350 parts per million, Hansen said.

Back in Bali according to the AP, “Environmentalists accused the U.S. of trying to wreck future talks” and thanks to the election-politics of the Democrats, America and the rest of the world are going to have to just wait Bush out for another 400 days. But, there are things everyone can do right now.

Al Gore urged “countries to aggressively move ahead on a new global climate change treaty”. Realizing that the United States must change and likely will change in 2009, he recommends climate policy negotiators leave a big “blank space”, for now, where America must be. In other words, just pretend we’re cooperating, because we will be in 400 days. “Gore also stressed that mandatory emissions targets must be part of a climate treaty that takes effect in 2010, two years before the current pact expires.” So, don’t let the U.S. or China or any other nation – ‘developing or industrialized’ be permitted not to make cuts.

Locally, there is much we can do. But the bottom line is – we need to change. Replacing our lightbulbs and getting better gas mileage isn’t going to stabilize our climate. This isn’t about “energy independence”, it’s about survival. Sydney, Australia, for example, is retrofitting their aging skyscrapers and office blocks, one-eighth of their office space, to follow “strict energy efficiency codes”. Changes. We can no longer afford to consume and go about our lives and business as we have over the past sixty years. In London, authorities have already deployed these restrictions along with fire protection requirements that all commerical spaces must meet. You could find out more at the parr group for the current requirements.

Whichever Democratic presidential candidate wins the White House in November, he or she will be a significant improvement over Bush. However, unless we start turning up the volume on how important we think addressing climate change and dramatically reducing our greenhouse gas emissions are, then our next president will get distracted and let corporations flex their “muscle” to weaken any meaningful legislation and thwart ratification of any substantial treaty. Don’t settle for lower gas mileage standards than Europe has. Demand intercity rail and mass transit be prioritized over continuing subsidies for airlines and highways. Don’t settle for coal-to-liquid boondoggles and big corporate welfare energy programs. Demand renewables – such as wind, solar, geothermal, low-impact hydro – be funded and prioritized over ethanol and nuclear.

Let’s put the real change into stabilizing our climate. Let’s end global warming’s momentum. Make the noise and please let us not settle for a raise of hands and stars-in-the-sky talk that we’ve witnessed so far in our presidential “debates“. Make our planet’s health an issue. Let the presidential candidates and Congress know we really actually do care about our home.