[GWSG] Alberta acts; ask for 1.5C; UN disaster report; REDD+; 42% cut by 2025; (some) Republicans vs. the climate

[Tilley, Al]

1.  Alberta, a major source of oil from tar sands, is introducing emissions limits, phasing out coal, and instituting a carbon tax.  Koch Industries is a major tar sands developer in the province.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/23/alberta-to-introduce-carbon-tax



2.  Over 2000 academics from 80 countries have signed an open letter asking that the leaders meeting in Paris next week adopt a target of 1.5C warming rather the current 2C.  Separately, the CEOs of 78 companies operating in more than 150 countries with a collective worth of over $2tn have pledged their support for ambitious climate targets.  http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/nov/23/over-2000-academics-world-heads-do-more-limit-global-warming-noam-chomsky



3.  The UN reports that weather disasters have doubled in the last three decades and killed over 600,000 people since 1995.  The report underscores the importance of taking effective action at the Paris talks.  http://news.yahoo.com/climate-deal-urgent-disasters-kill-600-000-20-101956629.html



4.  REDD+ is a UN program to prevent deforestation by paying for the ecological services provided by forests-in effect, to replace logging with payments for carbon credits.  Its implementation has been difficult.  http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/24/redd-papua-new-guinea-money-grow-on-trees



5.  The Obama administration has directed federal agencies to cut emissions 41.8% on a 2008 base by 2025.  http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/11/23/us-usa-climatechange-agencies-idUSKBN0TC2BH20151123#HTJyXBOU2YAHYrHY.97



6.  Republicans are attacking the US contribution to the Green Climate Fund as a way to hamstring negotiations at the Paris talks.  (Lest we imagine that there is something endemic about Republicans and climate obtuseness, let us remember that Jim Hansen is a life-long Republican.)  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/republicans-obama-climate-summit_5654d95ae4b0d4093a599b89  For a hair-raising jog back through Republican activities on behalf of the fossil fuel corporations beginning with the Bush administration, it is hard to beat the second chapter of Nature's Trust: Environmental Law for a New Ecological Age by Mary Christina Wood (Cambridge UP).  I'm mentioning the book for the third time and may well again; I haven't read anything else so important to us for some time.  If you have a contender for Most Important Current Book, I would be glad to hear about it.  http://smile.amazon.com/Natures-Trust-Environmental-Law-Ecological/dp/0521144116/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1448457553&sr=1-1&keywords=nature%27s+trust+environmental+law+for+a+new+ecological+age  ?

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