Maryland Citizens Rally for Real Global Warming Solutions

This morning in Annapolis, I was one of over 70 Maryland citizens and students gathered outside the state house to support the Maryland Commission on Climate Change and Governor Martin O’Malley. Backed by a giant yellow banner calling for science-based reductions in global warming pollution of at least 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050, speakers from the newly formed Alliance for Global Warming Solutions and politicians spoke of the importance of taking real action to prevent the worst impacts of climate change. The Alliance delivered over 5,000 (!!!) postcard petitions to the Governor and Commission members asking the state leaders for a firm commitment and swift action!

The Time to Commit is Now!

Last April, Governor O’Malley created the MD Commission on Climate Change to study the effects of global warming in Maryland and to make an action plan to deal with them. And believe me, Maryland may seem small, but just like in every other place, the effects of global warming will cause massive changes. Maryland, with over 3,100 miles of coastline, is the third most vulnerable state to sea level rise- after Louisiana and Florida. With just a small rise in sea level rise, Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay culture and much of the Eastern Shore will be dramatically impacted. Even Allstate Insurance Company is no longer issuing new flood policies in coastal Maryland.

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And today before the Commission’s third meeting, we turned out to rally the Commission and the Governor to set firm commitments to science-based reductions of at least 20% by 2020 and 80% by 2050. It was incredible to see how many people had come from out of town, or taken the day off work. Armed with a giant hourglass, Claire Douglass, CCAN’s Maryland Campaign director, showed how with every passing minute and every turn of the hourglass, Marylanders are pumping 350,000 pounds of CO2 into the atmosphere.

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I was inspired by the overwhelming grassroots support and dedicated political leaders (including state Sen. Paul Pinsky and Del. Kumar Barve, who spoke at the rally). Maryland is the position to become a national leader in the fight against climate change. Click here to send an email to Governor O’Malley and the Commissioners to thank them for their support and to encourage them to make a commitment to science-based reductions.

As Claire said, “These are achievable reductions. We can do this, we must do this, but we have to act now.”

1998: Still Hot

You may have heard this from a conservative friend already, but NASA recalculated its temperature records for 1998 and the year is no longer the hottest in the 48 states (1934 is). Hill Heat has a good synopsis of the political fallout- sometimes more interesting than the science itself. RealClimate has a good rundown on the science. What your conservative friend did not tell you is that the differences are statistically insignificant. Anyway, the problem with the NASA data was found by a blogger from http://www.climateaudit.org/. Nice work, Steve McIntyre. You get the gold star for analyzing primary data and for paying attention.

The data record still indicates that temperatures on the surface of the Earth are getting warmer. The data corrections are for anomalies of surface air temperatures for the 48 states and do not change the fact that temperatures in 19 of the past 26 years globally have been setting records, and that 2005 was the warmest year on record for the globe. According to RealClimate:

More importantly for climate purposes, the longer term US averages have not changed rank. 2002-2006 (at 0.66 Continue reading

No Time for Activism as Usual

“The Weather Makers,” a book by Tim Flannery, is one of the best sources for those who want to understand the global heating process that is seriously destabilizing the world’s climate. In it, Flannery explains the three main Continue reading

Stepping it Up … second time around …

Global Warming is a massive challenge. It requires serious commitment for change toward a better tomorrow, change from government and from individuals. Government action can help drive (and facilitate) individual action. And, well, individual action — individuals acting in concert — can help drive government action.

That second, individuals combining to drive a government response, is the core to Step-It-Up. And, after a massive set of actions earlier this year (1400 rallies across the nation), Bill McKibben is organizing another day of citizen engagement for 3 November 2007. This is something that everyone (EVERYONE) should engage with …

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