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On Wednesday, November 9, 2016, 6 - 8 pm, at the City Hall Atrium, Second Floor, 30 Church St, Rochester, NY 14614, the City of Rochester will unveil the latest progress in its Climate Action Plan (CAP). You can drop in anytime during these hours and engage the City on its CAP before this plan is submitted for approval. This meeting gives the Rochester public a chance to explore the myriad ways the CAP can address the local threats from Climate Change . Our region is already experiencing more extreme weather in the form of heavy precipitation events—71% since 1958. There will also be more heatwaves, droughts, public health issues and continual disruptions to our infrastructures-- water, waste, transportation, energy, and telecommunications.  For a more comprehensive list of how Climate Change is already affecting our region check here and for a list the likely of consequences coming, check here . These disruptions will affect all of us but they will affect disadvantaged communitie...

One of the recent developments in paleontology is the possible resurrection of the dinosaurs. As fascinating as realizing a Jurassic-Park scenario may be, I’m not so sure spending our time and money on such an ‘accomplishment’ is such a good idea. As our world quickly and disastrously warms, our best and brightest should be finding out exactly how Climate Change is most likely to unfold and how we can adapt to that. Stopping and maybe even reversing Climate Change would be good too. This notion of bringing back dinosaurs isn’t as fantastic as you might think. Soft Tyrannosaurus Rex tissue has been discovered and may include some of ancient DNA we may use for reconstruction. Check this out:   Dinosaurs: The Hunt for Life The hunt for life within the long-dead bones of dinosaurs may sound like the stuff of Hollywood fantasy, but one woman has found traces of life within the fossilised bones of a T rex. Dr Mary Schweitzer has seen the remains of red blood cells and touched the so...

One of the more maddening characteristics of being human is that we don’t usually get our priorities straight until we’re past the age where we could have prevented the worst consequences of our actions. Youth is wasted on the young and all that. In my case, it took me too long to realize that it was far more important to lift barbells correctly rather than adding weights quickly. I’d like to go back and tell my younger self that keeping my back safe should have been my priority. Not how much weight I could lift in the shortest possible time. Likewise, I suspect we will look back on this presidential election and wonder why we got our priorities so screwed up. Why wasn’t Climate Change the top priority? Many of those who will live to 2050, when there will be nine billion of us trying to thrive on a rapidly warming planet, will be wishing we could change the outcome of one of the last times in our history when we could have pivoted and saved ourselves from the worst consequences of Clim...

Humanity is frantically updating and building its infrastructures during Climate Change but not necessarily the right ones. Infrastructure—gas and oil pipelines, telecommunication networks, water pipes, roads and bridges, waste treatment lines, buildings etc.—is a boring term that describes human built systems that supply 7 billion of us with vital life-sustaining elements. Cave men and women didn’t need gasoline pumps, electric outlets, Internet connections, toilets, a kitchen sink with hot and cold running water, but now humanity does. However, despite the message from climate scientists and the Paris Agreement , we are still putting too much of our time and money into the very infrastructures that got us in this climate mess. Our survival requires that we shift gears on infrastructure development immediately—if not yesterday. World needs $90tn infrastructure overhaul to avoid climate disaster, study finds  Report by Global Commission on the Economy and Climate says world needs ‘...

“The advancement and diffusion of knowledge is the only guardian of true liberty.” ― James Madison Loosely based on the Niagara Sierra Club’s successful Writing Group , the RPCC is starting a Writer’s Group of its own. This group will help all RPCC member organizations amplify and accelerate its mission by assisting them in working out the best possible language and strategies for reaching the mainstream media. We’ll also leverage all the possible social media aspects of the Internet to get our member’s message to the public. When: Thursday, October 13 th , at 7PM Where: St. Thomas’ Church of Rochester, 2000 Highland Avenue, Rochester, NY 14618 This group will meet monthly to discuss how RPCC member organization are addressing Climate Change and talk about how to reach local media most effectively. While we wouldn’t be actually writing articles and press releases for our member groups, we will be assisting in all other aspects of shaping the message and getting it to the media—both pri...