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Despite a growing awareness of Climate Change by the public and increases in renewable energy, fossil fuels are back on the rise and continuing to threaten our future. [See: Global carbon emissions hit record high in 2017 , March 22, Reuters.] The delusion that the rise in renewable energy would mean a decline in the use of fossil fuels is over. Last year dashed hopes for a climate change turnaround After three flat years that had hinted at a possible environmental breakthrough, carbon dioxide emissions from the use of energy rose again by 1.4 percent in 2017, according to new data released by the International Energy Agency on Wednesday. The increase in emissions of the all-important greenhouse gas came as global energy demand itself increased thanks to strong economic growth — and that demand was sated by all types of energy, including renewables but also oil, coal and natural gas.” ( Last year dashed hopes for a climate change turnaround , 3/21/2018 The Washington Post) It looks li...

Rochester, NY’s ‘ ROC the Riverway Program ’ offers our community an incredible opportunity to take our Climate Action Plan (CAP) to the next step. Not only does the ROC the Riverway Program incorporate many of aspects of the CAP’s Land Use policies—Coordinated Land Use and Transportation, Transit-oriented and Mixed-Use Development (TDD), Redevelopment of Brownfields and vacant or underutilized properties, Urban Agriculture, EcoDistricts, and Parks and Open Space Planning—it presents the City with a concrete example to encourage other communities to do more to address and mitigate Climate Change in their regions. To achieve the goal of reducing GHG emissions, transportation-related reductions can be achieved through coordinated land use policies. In addition, there are multiple co-benefits associated with land use planning, including improved environmental health, public health, and economic vibrancy. In the context of adaptation, land use policy is critical to improving the community...

Scientists shouldn’t feel compelled to run for political office to save science. Politics in the United States has dipped so low that every time an environmental issue comes up in the media science must be defended. Science (especially climate science) is being undermined in our political arena by people whose political and financial agenda includes keeping everyone on the doomsday path of fossil fuel use for energy. But it isn’t, nor should it be, the job of our scientists to fix our present dysfunctional political system.   2018 is the year of scientists running for Congress  The rising activism among scientists is a turnaround for a group that has traditionally seen politics as “grimy and grubby,” said G. Terry Madonna, a professor of public affairs at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. Many of these candidates have been recruited by 314 Action, a political action committee founded in 2016 to support policymakers who have scientific or technical backgrounds. ...

Springtime is inherently whacky. (‘If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb’ and all that.) But within this wackiness there has been a certain amount of climate stability that wildlife, plants, and even we have become accustomed to. Our plants and animals in our Northeast region can endure some extremes in Spring with higher and lower temperatures--for a while. However, if the trajectory is continually outside the comfort zone of our plants and animals, they probably cannot adjust. Springtime is a time of renewal. As a metaphor, spring embodies the human heart’s yearning for hope after a long wintry absence. We expect in spring the seeds to grow and the animals to wake up, so they can cycle through their life’s great wheel of events. But what if Climate Change is no longer a harbinger of rebirth, no longer evidence that our existence and every other being’s presence is but part of an infinite continuum? What if Springs henceforth bring a ratcheting up of more heat and ...