Bernie Sanders on Climate Change

Bernie Sanders has been talking a lot about income inequality and about making the economy work for the working and middle class rather than just the rich. But perhaps even greater attention should be focused on his views on climate change. Unlike almost the entire republican field Bernie believes man made climate change is happening. He also plans to do something about Bernie has been a strong supporter of a carbon tax and unlike Hillary Clinton has come out against the keystone XL pipeline and even tweeted his support to those protesting Arctic drilling. This is the kind of leadership on climate action is what we need the next president to have. If not enough is done by the next president and congress it will likely be too late to avoid very serious harms from climate change. Climate change is a very time sensitive issue and we have already waited far too long to start seriously addressing it.

Trump becomes most reasonable GOP candidate.

Donald Trump has made an about face on the issue of climate change. In a statement released today Trump stated that well Mexico is sending us it's rapists and criminals and that is a large problem an even larger problem is climate change. “Look climate change is happening people the science is as clear as day to anyone and we need to start addressing via a cap and trade system” Trump stated. Trump later added “I don’t know why other republicans aren’t getting on board with this issue”. Shortly after this statement Trumps poll numbers had started to drop among GOP primary voters.

At press time Trump had just released a tweet stating “Trump presidency-Day one: Implement carbon cap and trade. Day two: Deport all brown people back to Mexico”

Shell is still trying to drill in the arctic

Shell is still trying to drill in the arctic. This is despite the fact that there is a 75% chance of  a spill occurring. Despite the fact that one of their Icebreakers that carried critical safety equipment had its hull punctured. Despite the fact that it can  now only drill one hole instead of two. And most of all despite the fact that we need to be leaving oil and other fossil fuels in the ground. It’s 2015 not 1975 it is not the time to be investing in major projects to try and get access to even more fossil fuels. Shell’s arctic drilling and the keystone pipeline represent projects that move us in the wrong direction. We don’t want to be investing in more dirty fossil fuels we want or rather need to be investing heavily in sustainable and renewable sources of power such as wind and solar. This business as usual approach is not going to allow us to keep warming under 2°C this century. This is a big part of why climate change is so dangerous it must be addressed quickly in order to avoid disaster and continuing to allow more development of fossil fuels resources will only lead to disaster.

What makes climate change different than other issues we face?

What makes climate change different than any other issue we face? It is one of very few that represents a threat to civilization itself misogyny, war, world hunger, cancer and many other issues kill millions and harm billions but civilization can in fact coexist with these issues it's far from ideal but it is manageable but if climate change goes unsolved then the collapse of civilization is the likely inevitability. There are other issues such as nuclear weapons that could cause society to collapse but don’t serve as an inevitability in the way climate change is, they may happen but they aren't guaranteed to happen.

Is Hillary Clinton a strong enough climate advocate for the White House?

Is Hillary Clinton a strong enough climate advocate for the White House? She supports the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan and she clearly accepts the science however she has not stated her position on keystone XL and she has supported fracking and offshore drilling. Frankly this is not good enough, the next 5 years are extremely critical and significant  action needs to happen during this time if we are to prevent catastrophe. Unfortunately we may not have much of a choice with Clinton’s ability to raise massive funds from large donors she will most likely beat out Bernie Sanders or any other climate champion for the democratic nomination. The republicans of course offer no help as few of them even accept the science as settled and none have come out with any sort of action plan to address climate change. Perhaps our only hope is that Sanders will push Clinton to take action on climate change.

I'm Not A Scientist

“I’m not a scientist” This isn't straight denial but instead a way to dodge the question but it is still used to avoid taking action. The phrase “I’m not a scientist” should be followed with something like “but I know there is broad based scientific agreement among scientists so I think we should address climate change by doing (insert preferred climate solutions here). However too often it is followed with something like I know some scientist think the globe is warming but others don’t so lets do nothing. If you are a politician you don’t have to be a scientist but you have to create policies based around the best available science and if you can’t do that then you can’t do your job and you should resign.

No Challenge Greater Than Climate Change.

“No challenge poses a greater threat to future generations than climate change.”
This is a very true statement Mr. President very true. So what is the government going to do about this? The EPA’s new carbon dioxide climate plan and the climate deal with China are a good start but more needs to be done. How about shifting subsidies for fossils fuels to renewable energy? What about a carbon tax? Or a cap trade system on carbon? These measures are not extreme or revolutionary. In fact they  may even be dangerously conservative and unlikely to limit carbon emissions to ideal levels. It’s high time that the president and congress takes serious action to stop climate change.

Congress proposes new Keystone XL bill that would flood Nebraska with oil.

In what republican leaders are calling a jobs bills senate majority leader Mitch McConnell has proposed to build half the keystone pipeline and to pump dirty tar sands oil straight to Nebraska

“Think of the jobs that will be created cleaning up all that oil” Mitch McConnell is quoted as saying. He also made note of energy security of having Nebraska cover in oil. Senator Fischer (R-Nebraska) assured her states citizens that the oil would only be dumped on native American reservations.

Global Cooling

‘It used to be Global cooling” this is based off a single Newsweek article published in 1975 that suggested that the globe might be cooling. however there was never broad based agreement among scientist that this cooling was occurring. The scientists who published the science behind this article later stated that he had made a math error during his calculations of the warming and cooling effects on the planet. Science has progressed significantly in the last 40 years but this article is still frequently cited or referenced and because of climate denial it has become the most frequently cited Newsweek article ever.

Welcome To Enspire

Welcome to the Enspire blog we’re committed to solving the crisis of global warming by exposing climate denial lies and educating people about potential solutions. Check out our associated YouTube Channel as well!