Hey there! I have 3 small articles for ya while you nurse your weekend hangover this morning!
First, yep, no such thing as climate change:
Catastrophic Flooding Sweeps Away Homes, Breaks Records
Going from one extreme to another is a hallmark of climate change. Scientists predict more droughts in the coming decades, as well as more intense rainstorms. In the midwest, the number of storms that drop more than three inches of rain have increased by 50 percent, according to an analysis from the Rocky Mountain Institute.
Jump!
Meanwhile, in California:
5 Charts That Show How One State Became the World’s Green Superpower
“California’s strategic efforts to improve the economy while reducing emissions have shown climate action is possible while also achieving economic growth,” state the authors of the report from Next 10, a San Francisco-based nonprofit research organization.
Such regional efforts are becoming key to averting a climate-change catastrophe, given the two-decade failure to achieve a binding global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Finally, this does amuse me greatly:
Pope’s pronouncements making trouble for GOP Catholics
Catholic Republicans are developing a pope problem. Earlier this month, Francis recognized Palestinian statehood. This summer, he’s going to issue an encyclical condemning environmental degradation. And in September, just as the GOP primary race heats up, Francis will travel to Washington to address Congress on climate change.
Francis may be popular with the general public, but key Republican primary constituencies – hawks, climate-change skeptics and religious conservatives, including some Catholics, are wary of the pope’s progressivism. Some, pronouncing themselves “Republicans first and Catholics second,” even say they would look askance at a candidate perceived to hew too closely to the bishop of Rome. This internal conflict flips a familiar script, in which Democrats like John Kerry and Joe Biden were labeled “cafeteria Catholics” when their stances on social issues like abortion and gay marriage differed from those of the church.
So how you doin’? 😀