Periodic news items and alerts about global climate change justice, energy efficiency, energy conservation, and sustainable energy alternatives for congregations.
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Tim Kautza
Coordinator
Contents:
THE GREAT WARMING COMING TO CEDAR RAPIDS, PELLA, DES MOINES; SPREAD THE WORD
GLOBAL WARMING AND IOWA
HOW WILL WE CARE FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES?
CARBON CLOUDS GREEN FUEL
SPECIAL ONLINE COLLECTION: CLIMATE CHANGE -- BREAKING THE ICE
IOWA SCHOOLS CONVERT TO WIND POWER
CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE IN MINNESOTA
UTILITIES URGE SENATE TO SET EMISSION LIMITS
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THE GREAT WARMING COMING TO CEDAR RAPIDS, PELLA, DES MOINES; SPREAD THE WORD
More than 100 people attended the first showing of The Great Warming in Iowa hosted by St. Luke's Episcopal Church and the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at Cedar Falls, May 4. Many participants concurred with early reviews that called The Great Warming "the best film about global warming ever produced." Narrated by Alanis Morissette and Keanu Reeves, The Great Warming reveals how a changing climate is affecting the lives of people around the world. The Great Warming includes statements from scientists and opinion-leaders as well as a blunt assessment of America’s leadership – or lack thereof - in what is the most critical environmental issue of the 21st century. The Great Warming also showcases initiatives aimed at reversing the trend toward permanent damage to our planet, as well as scenes documenting the emerging voice of America’s religious community urging action on climate change from pulpits across the country.
The attached documents provide more details about the May showings in Cedar Rapids and Pella. The movie will be shown June 17 at Plymouth Congregational/United Church of Christ Church in Des Moines. Please share these documents among your own networks, organizations, and those who may be interested in attending with you.
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GLOBAL WARMING AND IOWA
The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) and National Wildlife Federation (NWF) each have produced documents highlighting the impacts of global climate change on Iowa and what Iowans can do to help solve the problem. For UCS’s document on impacts, visit www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_energy/Iowa_Impacts_summary-Final_2004.pdf For UCS’s document on solutions, visit www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/clean_energy/Iowa_Solutions-Final_2004.pdf For NWF’s document, visit
www.nwf.org/globalwarming/pdfs/Iowa.pdf For hardcopies of the UCS documents, contact Rich Dana, rich@gotoplanb.net; 319.530.6051
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HOW WILL WE CARE FOR CLIMATE REFUGEES?
The Pacific island nation of Tuvalu is slowly being inundated as ocean levels rise as a result of global climate change; high tides get higher, beaches erode, water comes up through the soil. It is predicted that low-lying islands like the nine that make up Tuvalu will become uninhabitable in this century. Citizens are beginning to flee to Australia and New Zealand, countries who have already reached their quotas of traditionally defined refugess. The world has yet to determine what will become of people displaced as a result of climate change. International discussions have begun over whether those displaced by rising waters should be classified as refugees at all. And, if so, which countries should take them? Visit www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/03/31/tuvalu/print.html
Bangladesh is another country at risk from the potential effects of climate change. Just above sea level, and in the flood plain of the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers, 144 million people live in a space the size of Wisconsin. Many of the citizens of this impoverished and overcrowded country could be forced to flee their homes before the century is out. International aid organizations and the Bangladeshi government are working to increase the ability of people to survive the rapidly changing environment. Visit www.loe.org/shows/segments.htm?programID=06-P13-00016&segmentID=7
The Tuvalu and Bangladesh stories are part of a series "Early Signs: Reports from a Warming Planet," a collaboration of the University of California-Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, Salon dot com, and Living on Earth to document places around the world where concerns about climate change are already having an impact. For more about the series visit http://dir.salon.com/topics/early_signs_reports_from_a_warming_planet/ For more about climate change and Catholic thought, visit www.ncrlc.com/global_climate_change.html
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CARBON CLOUDS GREEN FUEL
Late last year in Goldfield, Iowa, according to the Christian Science Monitor, a refinery began pumping out a stream of ethanol, which supporters call the clean, renewable fuel of the future. However, the plant is burning 300 tons of coal a day to turn corn into ethanol - the first US plant of its kind to use coal instead of cleaner natural gas. An hour south of Goldfield, another coal-fired ethanol plant is under construction in Nevada. At least three other such refineries are being built in Montana, North Dakota, and Minnesota.
The trend away from natural gas to coal as fuel, which is expected to continue because of soaring natural gas prices, is troublesome. Should coal become a standard for 30 to 40 ethanol plants under construction - and 150 others on the drawing boards - it would undermine the environmental reasoning for switching to ethanol in the first place. "If the biofuels industry is going to depend on coal, and these conversion plants release their CO2 to the air, it could undo the global warming benefits of using ethanol," according to David Hawkins, climate director for the Natural Resources Defense Council in Washington. For the complete article, visit www.csmonitor.com/2006/0323/p01s01-sten.html
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SPECIAL ONLINE COLLECTION: CLIMATE CHANGE -- BREAKING THE ICE
The March 24, 2006 edition of Science presents a special report on what's happening to the world's ice sheets. Visit www.sciencemag.org/sciext/ice/#section_this-week
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IOWA SCHOOLS CONVERT TO WIND POWER
Wind power is helping a handful of Iowa schools save money. "Schools with wind turbines are cutting their costs while promoting energy independence and environmental responsibility," according to Teresa Galluzzo of the Iowa Policy Project and co-author of the report Wind Power and Iowa Schools. Visit www.iowapolicyproject.org/2006docs/060307-WindySchools.pdf for the report.
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CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY CONFERENCE IN MINNESOTA
The Upper Midwest Association for Campus Sustainability (UMACS) will hold its inaugural conference at the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University, May 17-19 in St. Joseph, MN. Visit www.umacs.org.
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UTILITIES URGE SENATE TO SET EMISSION LIMITS
On April 4, the U. S. Senate Energy Committee heard from 29 witnesses concerning the prospects of the U.S. government setting mandatory limits an greenhouse gas emissions. Exelon Corp. and Duke Energy Corp., the two largest U.S. utility owners, joined PNM Resources and Sempra Energy to express support for government standards on carbon dioxide emissions so industry knows what to expect. The utility industry's official stance, through its trade group, the Edison Electric Institute, opposes government-imposed restrictions in favor of voluntary efforts to reduce emissions. The burning of coal and natural gas to generate electricity is the largest single contributor to carbon emissions in the United States. Southern Co., one of the nation's largest user of coal-fired power plants and one with strong ties to the Bush administration, opposed them.
The hearing was chaired by Senators Domenici and Bingaman. Domenici said the issue is "too contentious" to be addressed and the earliest he would even consider legislation is next year. Bingaman said he doesn't expect anything to be done until the United States has a new president in 2009.
For a synopsis of comments and complete comments visit http://energy.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=IssueItems.View&IssueItem_ID=38
For a related article, visit www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_national_government/article/0,2564,ALBQ_19861_4594645,00.html
To learn what you can do to help mitigate global climate change, visit www.ncrlc.com/what_you_can_do.html
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