November 24, 2009
BBC News - US will announce target for cutting carbon emissions
Breaking news! Good stuff and very much needed: "The target is expected to be in line with figures contained in legislation before the Senate - a reduction of about 17-20% from 2005 levels by 2020."
With funding scant, intersex fish in Potomac remains mystery - washingtonpost.com
Oh Jen's soapbox time.
Many of you probably have not heard why I really went to law school. There are side stories on the rationale, but it really comes down to the book "A Civil Action." The nonfiction novel details how Jan Schlichtmann stumbled onto a toxic tort case, goes bankrupt as he files Anderson v. Cryovac but ends up winning. It is kinda Erin Brockovich but without the boobs.
Why was this book so meaningful to me? I am a science geek, but couldn't handle getting Bs and Cs in college in hard bio classes. Policy was my thing so I got an undergrad in something that I didn't have to go to classes for (yes I am a slacker). Law school was my way of getting ready to use my interests, skills and knowledge to save the world. Only after law school I realized how hard that was and so I am settling for changing it. But that doesn't stop my absolute frustration with toxic torts - they still happen and we as Americans are letting it!
So here is a Story from the Washington Post about male smallmouth bass in the Potomac (a river I would never swim in) that are found to have eggs in their testes. If we have chemicals in our water that make male fish have female traits, gotta wonder what it is doing to other animals and humans drinking from the river and tributaries. Today, here's another story in my parents' state of Michigan:
Tests indicate city water supplies are free of Dow dioxin; neighborhood recontaminated. The EPA has tested Saginaw Bay-area municipal water supplies and found them free of toxic dioxin, but the soil in a residential area 22 miles downstream from Dow’s Midland complex has been recontaminated with dioxin. Michigan Messenger, Michigan.
http://michiganmessenger.com/30699/tests-indicate-city-water-supplies-are-free-of-dow-dioxin-neighborhood-recontaminated
I know I am all about "boiling the ocean" and fixing everything at once, but it is all interrelated. Much of this chemical run off comes from our use and dependence on oil - plastic products; oil refining derivatives (including aspirin - did you know that; we don't get it from birch bark but from oil); and other related products. I often wonder if we really did a study to see what the long term effect of plastic use is on health if we won't find out the root cause to most of America's current health issues.
So, really soon once I figure out how the heck I can do it, I am going to go on a plastic free eating diet. No Ziploc bags. No Tupperware. Only ceramics and glass and metal. Its gonna be hard as we have embraced plastic as our friend and integral to how we eat, but check it out next time in the food aisle when you are getting Lunchables and deli meat. We gotta stop. And consumption leads to trash which emits carbon. The plastic itself is made of oil which emits carbon. When it all comes down to it - a reduced carbon diet should also be a healthy diet. More to come as I investigate this more. Cherrios - you are my continued lobbying target. Take the cereal out of the plastic sleeve!
For more on plastics effect in our lakes, rivers and oceans - check out Strange Days on Planet Earth, Troubled Waters. I cried and cried and cried.
Many of you probably have not heard why I really went to law school. There are side stories on the rationale, but it really comes down to the book "A Civil Action." The nonfiction novel details how Jan Schlichtmann stumbled onto a toxic tort case, goes bankrupt as he files Anderson v. Cryovac but ends up winning. It is kinda Erin Brockovich but without the boobs.
Why was this book so meaningful to me? I am a science geek, but couldn't handle getting Bs and Cs in college in hard bio classes. Policy was my thing so I got an undergrad in something that I didn't have to go to classes for (yes I am a slacker). Law school was my way of getting ready to use my interests, skills and knowledge to save the world. Only after law school I realized how hard that was and so I am settling for changing it. But that doesn't stop my absolute frustration with toxic torts - they still happen and we as Americans are letting it!
So here is a Story from the Washington Post about male smallmouth bass in the Potomac (a river I would never swim in) that are found to have eggs in their testes. If we have chemicals in our water that make male fish have female traits, gotta wonder what it is doing to other animals and humans drinking from the river and tributaries. Today, here's another story in my parents' state of Michigan:
Tests indicate city water supplies are free of Dow dioxin; neighborhood recontaminated. The EPA has tested Saginaw Bay-area municipal water supplies and found them free of toxic dioxin, but the soil in a residential area 22 miles downstream from Dow’s Midland complex has been recontaminated with dioxin. Michigan Messenger, Michigan.
http://michiganmessenger.com/30699/tests-indicate-city-water-supplies-are-free-of-dow-dioxin-neighborhood-recontaminated
I know I am all about "boiling the ocean" and fixing everything at once, but it is all interrelated. Much of this chemical run off comes from our use and dependence on oil - plastic products; oil refining derivatives (including aspirin - did you know that; we don't get it from birch bark but from oil); and other related products. I often wonder if we really did a study to see what the long term effect of plastic use is on health if we won't find out the root cause to most of America's current health issues.
So, really soon once I figure out how the heck I can do it, I am going to go on a plastic free eating diet. No Ziploc bags. No Tupperware. Only ceramics and glass and metal. Its gonna be hard as we have embraced plastic as our friend and integral to how we eat, but check it out next time in the food aisle when you are getting Lunchables and deli meat. We gotta stop. And consumption leads to trash which emits carbon. The plastic itself is made of oil which emits carbon. When it all comes down to it - a reduced carbon diet should also be a healthy diet. More to come as I investigate this more. Cherrios - you are my continued lobbying target. Take the cereal out of the plastic sleeve!
For more on plastics effect in our lakes, rivers and oceans - check out Strange Days on Planet Earth, Troubled Waters. I cried and cried and cried.
November 23, 2009
Sewers at Capacity, Pollution Spills Into Waterways - Series - NYTimes.com
Sewers at Capacity, Pollution Spills Into Waterways - Series - NYTimes.com Its a consumption problem. As American's we need to stop consuming and wasting so much. Look at old infrastructure, bring it up to today's standards and for god sakes - waste less. Need I remind all Baltimore residents - when a snow flake falls from the sky, your immediate response is to buy toilet paper. WHY?! ;)
Global Warming's Impacts Have Sped Up, Worsened Since Kyoto
Global Warming's Impacts Have Sped Up, Worsened Since Kyoto We have to act now. Our world may not be able to wait a year....but this brings into questions what we as individuals can do. We CAN and SHOULD act without government mandates! Ahh, Jen's talking about a revolution early in the morning (before 6 am PT) with only 1 cup of coffee. Anyone surprised?
Senate Delays Climate Bill to Focus on Health Care
Senate Delays Climate Bill to Focus on Health Care You can bet I will be calling Reid's office today. Even though health care is where I work, I can say that the health care bill is ANYTHING but reform, does nothing to address health care costs, and is a waste of everyone's time (with the bill as currently formatted on the Senate floor and as past by the House). SO - why not deal with SUBSTANTIVE issues, like climate change! Oh, if only Congress would listen to me again! ;) And no, I can't stand not being a lobbyist any more.
November 22, 2009
Copenhagen Climate Change summit: do businesses need to be there? - Telegraph
Copenhagen Climate Change summit: do businesses need to be there? - TelegraphA different take - always love the British point of view to keep me honest. And yes, business has to be a huge part of the solution to reduce carbon emissions! Why? Because most carbon emissions come from BUILDINGS - ones that often house business.
Miranda Kennedy -- The Indian attitude on climate change - washingtonpost.com
Miranda Kennedy -- The Indian attitude on climate change - washingtonpost.com "Like many in India, he draws a bright line between India's "survival emissions," from burning energy to produce food, for instance, and American-style "luxury emissions," from things like SUVs and central air conditioning." Good overview of India's position and why they are not backing off their current emissions. Simply, it comes down to the simple fact - Americans have gotta make carbon emission "cool" and cheap.
Bill McKibben -- Obama should act urgently on climate change - washingtonpost.com
Bill McKibben -- Obama should act urgently on climate change - washingtonpost.comMy secret hope is that heath care will be addressed by the Senate, move to reconciliation and Congress will seriously take up the domestic legislation on climate change. Otherwise, COP15 is just a stage-gate and no longer such a really really important meeting. Quote of the day: "But doing more than George W. Bush on global warming is like doing more than George Wallace on racial healing."
In the trenches on climate change, hostility among foes - washingtonpost.com
In the trenches on climate change, hostility among foes - washingtonpost.com What I find most interesting is that the only academics and politicians that question the scientific validity of Climate Change are Americans. Notable - in the WSJ version of this story, they paint it this way: "A partial review of the emails shows that in many cases, climate scientists revealed that their own research wasn't always conclusive. In others, they discussed ways to paper over differences among themselves in order to present a "unified" view on climate change. On at least one occasion, climate scientists were asked to "beef up" conclusions about climate change and extreme weather events because environmental officials in one country were planning a "big public splash." I can't say I see a "liberal bias" on this coverage...
Announcing Jen's blog for COP15!
I promised that I would blog for the Copenhagen Conference on Climate Change - and I am actually going to do it! So Eric, here is the first and possibly only time I am going to blog for several days straight!
To keep up with my posts, you can subscribe for notices. Just hit the subscribe button at the bottom of the post (by the comments area).
I actually don't leave until December 4, but here I will post parts of my research, what I am told the experience is going to be like and my concerns about the Conference.
None of the comments here represent the official position of the League of Women Voters of the United States.
Recent media coverage of my trip: Is your city green? Sierra Club on the hunt to find out (Orange County Register)
Announcement of delegation by the League of Women Voters
LWV recently secured its official Observer status for the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen this December. The following League members were selected to serve as delegates to the conference: Carole Conors, (MD), Chair of the LWV Lobby Corps; Sarah Diefendorf, former LWVUS Board member and Chair of the Climate Change Task Force (CA); Ellyn Murphy, (WA), LWVUS Climate Change Task Force; Jennifer Searfoss,(CA); Ellen (Mel) Bromberg, (WI); Claire Vanderslice, (WI);and Lauralee Barbaria, (CA). All of these delegates have taken an active role in working on climate change issues both for the LWV and in their professional work; they are making this trip at their own expense as representatives of the LWV. Special thanks to Doris Schapira, LWV UN Observer, for her work in navigating the successful application process. We are proud to have our own delegation on the ground keeping us informed!
To keep up with my posts, you can subscribe for notices. Just hit the subscribe button at the bottom of the post (by the comments area).
I actually don't leave until December 4, but here I will post parts of my research, what I am told the experience is going to be like and my concerns about the Conference.
None of the comments here represent the official position of the League of Women Voters of the United States.
Recent media coverage of my trip: Is your city green? Sierra Club on the hunt to find out (Orange County Register)
Announcement of delegation by the League of Women Voters
LWV recently secured its official Observer status for the United Nations Framework Climate Change Conference (UNFCCC) in Copenhagen this December. The following League members were selected to serve as delegates to the conference: Carole Conors, (MD), Chair of the LWV Lobby Corps; Sarah Diefendorf, former LWVUS Board member and Chair of the Climate Change Task Force (CA); Ellyn Murphy, (WA), LWVUS Climate Change Task Force; Jennifer Searfoss,(CA); Ellen (Mel) Bromberg, (WI); Claire Vanderslice, (WI);and Lauralee Barbaria, (CA). All of these delegates have taken an active role in working on climate change issues both for the LWV and in their professional work; they are making this trip at their own expense as representatives of the LWV. Special thanks to Doris Schapira, LWV UN Observer, for her work in navigating the successful application process. We are proud to have our own delegation on the ground keeping us informed!
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