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If Greenland melts, seas will rise 23 feet.
Greenland + Antarctica = 38 feet. Or more.
“We are the first generation to feel the sting of climate change, and we are the last generation that can do something about it.” —Jay Inslee, Governor of Washington
“The door is closing,” Fatih Birol, chief economist at the International Energy Agency, said. “I am very worried—if we don’t change direction now on how we use energy, we will end up beyond what scientists tell us is the minimum [for safety]. The door will be closed forever.” —“IEA Sees ‘Irreversible Climate Change in Five Years’” (LNW, 1/21/12)
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A Matter of National—Indeed, Global—Security
We hope you’ll come to the People’s Climate March in New York City this Sunday, Sept. 21. The more, the merrier. If you feel powerless, you are not alone. But don’t we have more power to change things for the better when we join together? The Climate March is timed to get the attention of the thousands of United Nations delegates in New York for the General Assembly (Sept. 16–Oct. 7), and, even more to the point, for Climate Summit 2014:
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has invited world leaders, from government, finance, business, and civil society to Climate Summit 2014 this 23 September to galvanize and catalyze climate action. He has asked these leaders to bring bold announcements and actions to the Summit that will reduce emissions, strengthen climate resilience, and mobilize political will for a meaningful legal agreement in 2015. Climate Summit 2014 provides a unique opportunity for leaders to champion an ambitious vision, anchored in action that will enable a meaningful global agreement in 2015.
Logistics: Marchers gather at Columbus Circle and on up Central Park West between 59th and 86th Streets. March begins at 11:30 a.m. Click here for more information about transportation, how you can volunteer, etc.
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Click here to see the video Disruption, an unflinching look at the devastating consequences of our inaction in the face of climate change—and gives a behind-the-scenes look at a part of the effort to organize the People’s Climate March.
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More from LNW about Climate Change and Extreme Weather
Here Comes the Flood (5/23/14)
IEA Sees “Irreversible Climate Change in Five Years” (1/21/12)
Wrath of God? : Global Warming and Extreme Weather (5/24/11)
Polar-Palooza and the Singing Glaciologist (2/11/09)
Penguins Are Melting (1/23/09)
Diagnosis of a Stressed-Out Planet (10/29/07)
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Further Reading
Bringing the Noise on Climate Change (Elizabeth Kolbert, The New Yorker)
What’s the deal with this U.N. Climate Summit? (Ben Adler, Grist)
What climate marchers have learned from anti-nuke organizers (Ben Adler, Grist)
National Climate Assessment Report 2014 (“A team of more than 300 experts guided by a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee produced the report, which was extensively reviewed by the public and experts, including federal agencies and a panel of the National Academy of Sciences.”)
U.S. Climate Has Already Changed, Study Finds, Citing Heat and Floods (NYT 5/6/14)
Scientists Warn of Rising Oceans from Polar Melt (NYT 5/12/14)
This Is What a Holy Shit Moment for Global Warming Looks Like (Mother Jones, 5/12/14)
Humans Have Already Set in Motion 69 Feet of Sea Level Rise (Mother Jones, 1/31/13)
The Arctic Ice Crisis: Greenland’s glaciers are melting far faster than scientists expected (Bill McKibben in Rolling Stone, 8/16/12)
12 things the Obama administration wants you to know about climate change (Grist.org on the National Climate Assessment)
Just 90 Companies Caused Two-Thirds of Man-Made Global Warming Emissions (Mother Jones, 11/20/13)
What Climate Change Will Do to Your City: By 2300, these iconic cities [New Orleans omitted] could be underwater
150 Years in 30 Seconds: Sea Level Debt Sinking U.S. Cities (ClimateCentral)
Climate Change @ WhiteHouse.gov
A Call to Arms: An Invitation to Demand Action on Climate Change
Obama’s Climate Betrayal (Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, Dec. 30, 2011)
Top 10 Signs We Are Living in a Warming World, 2011 Edition (Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, Dec. 12, 2011)
Two Degrees of Disaster (Elizabeth Kolbert, New Yorker, Nov. 11, 2011)
Copenhagen Climate Summit: Five Possible Scenarios for Our Future Climate (Guardian, Dec. 18, 2009). With talks in Copenhagen descending into chaos, the prospects for stabilising temperatures ‘dangerous’ levels look increasingly slim. Here are five possible scenarios for our future climate.
Science Museum Unveils Climate Change Map Showing Impact of 4C Rise (Guardian, October 22, 2009). A new map of the world that details the likely effects of a failure to cut carbons emissions has been developed by Met Office scientists.
International Energy Agency, World Energy Outlook 2011
United Nations Climate Change Conference web site
Text of 12-paragraph Copenhagen Accord
Dot.Earth (Andrew C. Revkin’s climate change blog @ NYT)
And read these writers’ excellent, fact-based environmental reporting: Fiona Harvey (Guardian), Elizabeth Kolbert (New Yorker), and George Monbiot (Guardian)
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