GreenPolicy360 Archive Highlights 2017
US Retreats from International Cooperation & Environmental Protection
How Pruitt has spent his first year running the EPA
In legal maneuvers and executive actions, in public speeches and closed-door meetings with industry groups, he has moved to shrink the agency’s reach, alter its focus, and pause or reverse numerous environmental rules. The effect has been to steer the EPA in the direction sought by those being regulated.
Along the way, Pruitt has begun to dismantle former president Barack Obama’s environmental legacy, halting the agency’s efforts to combat climate change and to shift the nation away from its reliance on fossil fuels.
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Global Climate Action & United Nations (Minus the US)
International Cooperation
Framework Convention on Climate Change
- http://unfccc.int/2860.php
- https://cop23.unfccc.int/
- https://cop23.unfccc.int/cop23/global-climate-action-cop23-full-programme
- https://cop23.unfccc.int/news/cop23-kicks-off-with-strong-calls-to-hold-to-paris-agreement-path
- https://cop23.unfccc.int/news/un-climate-change-conference-2017-aims-for-further-faster-ambition-together
United States only country to refuse climate change agreement
US Climate Science Special Report
Public Call/Science Comment Notice
The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) seeks public comment on the Third Order Draft of Volume II of the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4).
NCA4 Vol. II is a technical, scientific assessment of climate change impacts, risks, and adaptation across the United States. The assessment uses a risk-based framework in placing a strong emphasis on regional information, while also evaluating climate change impacts, risks, and adaptation on 17 national-level topics. Case studies are used to provide additional context and showcase community success stories.
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US Raises Nuclear War Threat: Warnings of Catastrophe Internationally
Threats of War from the US President
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"Calculus of War vs a Physics of Peace": Strategic Demands in the 21st Century
In Association with GreenPolicy360 / Strategic Demands
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US Departure from International Cooperation:
"Sovereignty", the New Administration's Buzzword
Trump's First Address at the UN - September 19, 2017
● StratDem / The US President's Talk at the United Nations
● A Nuclear Meme and StratDem Proposal to Limit First Use of Nuclear Weapons
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US President announces his policy toward environmental security:
Environmental consequences begin June 1, 2017
The International Climate Agreement goes forward without the US -- Nations around the world reject the US decision
The US will be judged, this day long will be remembered in world history
Climate News / Climate Focus, Climate Politics
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- Calif Governor Brown speaks of political reactions: The Rest of the World Is Against Trump / Governor Brown Statement on White House Paris Climate Agreement Announcement
- “This current departure from reality in Washington will be very short-lived, that I promise you,” Brown told POLITICO in an interview. “I’ve spoken with Republicans here in the Legislature, and they’re beginning to get very serious about climate action, so the momentum is all the other way. And I think Trump, paradoxically, is giving climate denial such a bad name that he’s actually building the very movement that he is [purporting] to undermine...”
Battle in the US Congress between the Climate Denial faction and Science Advocates
GreenPolicy360 and our associate Strategic Demands Advance New Definitions of National Security
Mick Mulvaney, President Trump’s budget director:
“Regarding the question as to climate change, I think the President was fairly straightforward —
We’re not spending money on that anymore; we consider that to be a waste of your money to go out and do that.”
- White House budget director Mick Mulvaney rejects climate as a security issue:
- “Regarding the question as to climate change, I think the president was fairly straightforward – we’re not spending money on that anymore. We consider that to be a waste of your money.”
- Science? Enough with Science
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Priorities: Weapons or Health Care, Wars or Education, Conflicts or Environmental Security
Nations of the World Choose their Direction
Classic 'guns or butter' case study -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns_versus_butter_model
GreenPolicy360 and Strategic Demands: focusing on two 'big pictures' in 2017
1) The risks of nuclear weapons proliferation within a multi-national, fast-developing Cold War 2.0; and
2) The existential challenge of moving to renewable energy and new definitions of national security, even as the election of Donald Trump and appointment of Exxon chief Rex Tillerson to head of the US State Dept. portend fast-moving oil/gas/fossil fuel developments and 'pipeline geopolitics'.
On and off the record, US multinationals and the new US administration are negotiating with Russia over rights to the rapidly de-icing Arctic and the existing 'energy deals of the century' between Russia-China-Iran now loom large in an era of hostilities and entry onto the world stage of an unpredictable and temperamental US "Commander-in-Chief".
Visit GreenPolicy360's Arctic Changes Site
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The Arctic and the New Oil/Gas Rush
Drill down into Arctic oil/gas
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Rex Tillerson Is Confirmed as Secretary of State Amid Record Opposition
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Trump Appointment to Head the Energy Dept Is a Man Who Campaigned to Abolish the Energy Dept
- The US Energy Department is Responsible for Much of the Development & Oversight of the Nuclear Weapons Complex
- A Trillion Dollar Modernization of the Nuclear Weapons Complex Is a Factor in Spawning a New Nuclear Arms Race
● A New Nuclear Arms Race: Cruise Missiles
- LASG has continued to deliver public interest research for over two decades on the US national labs, energy and nuclear policies
- Visit their online website and new page of press releases to follow developments in the US nuclear weapons complex, and disarmament, and Energy Dept actions by the president-elect
Nuclear Weapons: A 'Cold War 2.0' or New Treaties to Reduce Nuclear Arsenals
● Nuclear Weapons: Nonproliferation or More 'Usable' Nuclear Weapons
● @StrategicDemands: "New Definitions of National Security Necessary"
Trump's offer to Russia: An End to Sanctions for Nuclear Arms Cut - London Times / January 17, 2017
"Let’s see if we can make some good deals with Russia," the Republican president-elect was quoted as saying.
"For one thing, I think nuclear weapons should be way down and reduced very substantially, that’s part of it. But Russia’s hurting very badly right now because of sanctions, but I think something can happen that a lot of people are gonna benefit."
'Mixed Cold War 2.0 Signals': Nuclear Arms Reduction --- or Nuclear Arms Race
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Trump to Scrap NASA Climate Research
Former NOAA Chief Scientist Warns of Threats to Science
NASA’s Earth Science division is set to be stripped of funding... Via The Guardian
GreenPolicy360 addresses the upcoming Earth Science debate and decisions to be rendered in Congress. The consequences -- and legacy -- of this generation's actions and the votes of the US House Science committee and related Congressional representatives will be felt -- and judged -- for decades going forward.
- Andrew Revkin completes his many yrs at Dot Earth and the New York Times...
- Under Trump, Will NASA’s Space Science Include Planet Earth? -- By Andrew C. Revkin / November 28, 2016
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Energy Data: Monitor and Manage
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400 PPM, Science Facts and Global Risks
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/programs/keelingcurve/
Latest CO2 Data Reports from Mauna Loa
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Republicans in US Congress Vote to Block National & Global Security
- Attempt to Defund and Block Defense Dept. Studies and Work Related to Impacts of Climate Change
Trump v the World: Announces his Energy policy
- Candidate Trump -- Cancel the Paris International climate agreement: More Fossil Fuels, Less Clean/Renewable Energy
- In a speech laying out his energy agenda for the United States, Trump promised to undo essentially every major policy developed in last decade intended to slow human-caused global warming.
Trump declares he doesn't believe the science, believes climate change a hoax and 'BS'
- Trump tweet: This very expensive GLOBAL WARMING bullshit has got to stop. 'Environmentalists are the problem', acc to the Republican candidate for president
- Our planet is freezing, record low temps,and our GW scientists are stuck in ice
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In Canada, a political battle over energy & environment policy
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In the U.S., as attacks on climate science proliferate with deep pocket and dark money support, acting to undercut US & global security, strategies for continued and accelerating energy innovation emerge...
Energy Innovation: Batteries & the Grid / Tesla Electric Vehicles / At the ARPA-E Innovation Summit
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After a Year in Space, Scott Kelly Says 'I'm More of an Environmentalist'...
Welcome home Planet Citizen.... thanks for reminding us "how the atmosphere looks and how fragile it looks... It makes you more of an environmentalist... looking down at our planet from a great vantage point."
The 'Overview Effect': Experiencing Life Changing Realizations of the Home Planet and Us
