A recent article from Grist describes a week-long action in Washington D.C. calling on President Obama to reject construction of the Keystone XL pipeline. Native American and First Nations activists were central to last week’s protest, including Idle No More, a Canadian First Nations organization that is dedicated to this vision: “Idle No More calls on all people to join in a peaceful revolution, to honour Indigenous sovereignty, and to protect the land and water.”
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) has just released an economic analysis of restoration through the Partners for Fish and Wildlife (PFW) Program and Coastal Program: Restoration Returns: The Contribution of Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and Coastal Program Project to Local U.S. Economies. An executive summary of the Coastal Program piece (with eye-catching graphics) can be found here: Coastal Restoration Returns.
The study finds that for every $1 invested in local projects by the USFWS Coastal Program, $6.86 is leveraged from local and private partners and $12.78 is gained in economic returns. In FY 2011, the Coastal Program invested $2.8 million in projects and $16 million was leveraged from partners. This resulted in $35.6 million in local economic stimulus and 473 jobs created in one year.
In the PFW program, every $1 contributed to a project generated $15.70 in economic return. In FY2011, $18.6 million in funding was leveraged with $142 million, for a total of $161 million. The overall PFW program economic stimulus in FY2011 amounted to $292 million and 3,500 new jobs.
The IPCC has released the latest working group contribution to their Fifth Assessment Report, Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change.
An interesting piece about it in RealClimate from one of the co-authors can be found here.
The IPCC has also started the review process for the synthesis report, which will be geared toward policymakers and based on the three Working Group Reports and Special Reports of the Fifth Assessment Cycle.
From IPCC Climate Change 2014: Mitigation of Climate Change Technical Summary.
In honor of Earth Day (although the Earth arguably deserves more than just a day), here is a clip of Van Jones describing the inspiration for his work in the green jobs movement. It’s from the film Carbon Nation which is an interesting blend of climate change data and profiles of people who are finding alternatives to business as usual.
This six-part series from National Geographic NewsWatch follows the Tla-o-qui-aht people in their stewardship of their traditional territory, the Ha-huulthii, more commonly known as Clayoquot Sound, British Columbia. They are restoring clear-cut watersheds and salmon runs as they heal communities devastated by cultural assimilation pressure by drawing upon their traditional principles of Hishuk Ish Tsa’walk: everything is one, everything is connected.
Increasing ocean temperatures may induce a particularly intense El Niño weather pattern this year. For details see this post at Future Tense.
There are a number of reasons why people might resist the reality of a changing climate. One reason is described in a study recently produced by the Union of Concerned Scientists: Science or Spin?
This engaging video follows Dr Steve Fradkin, coastal ecologist for the Olympic National Park, as he monitors changes in rocky intertidal communities: Tides of Change.
Michael Mann presented an interesting analysis of climate change thresholds in this piece in Scientific American: Earth Will Cross the Danger Threshold by 2036.