Tag: environment
Vote for Mother Nature this fall
This letter is about human-induced climate change. We cannot ignore it! And this is what the Republican Party is doing while kicking the proverbial can down the road. Yes, our climate has changed and will to continue to change even without our intervention. Yet we are here and prospering quite well as we continue to harvest Mother Nature for all it’s worth.
I was first apprised of global warming during the ’70s with news that the ozone layer is being destroyed by fluorocarbons and we then subsequently banned aerosol cans. I don’t recall the Republican’s denying it then and wondering if they still think the banning of aerosols is still valid?
We have been pumping and fracking our land, gulping our water and belching its remains in our air for far too long. Luckily we have scientists who study and report these effects on our environment. Our outgoing mayor, Nancy Tyra-Lukens, attended a Robert Redford summit with mayors with a focus on protecting our environment. She spearheaded the 20-40-15 and with its success this is now the Sustainable Eden Prairie. Continue reading “Vote for Mother Nature this fall”
Trump administration sees a 7-degree rise in global temperatures by 2100
Last month, deep in a 500-page environmental impact statement, the Trump administration made a startling assumption: On its current course, the planet will warm a disastrous seven degrees by the end of this century.
A rise of seven degrees Fahrenheit, or about four degrees Celsius, compared with preindustrial levels would be catastrophic, according to scientists. Many coral reefs would dissolve in increasingly acidic oceans. Parts of Manhattan and Miami would be underwater without costly coastal defenses. Extreme heat waves would routinely smother large parts of the globe.
But the administration did not offer this dire forecast, premised on the idea that the world will fail to cut its greenhouse gas emissions, as part of an argument to combat climate change. Just the opposite: The analysis assumes the planet’s fate is already sealed.
LCV Victory Fund Trolls Erik Paulsen in New TV Ad
Cartoon Shows Paulsen, Trump Canoeing Through Polluted Waters; Highlights Paulsen’s Votes to Dump Coal Waste Into Waterways & Gut Limits On Methane Pollution
Minneapolis, Minnesota– In a new TV ad, LCV Victory Fund calls out Rep. Erik Paulsen (MN-03) for trying to deceive voters about his record of siding with Trump and corporate polluters.
Paulsen has attempted to convince voters that he’ll stand up for Minnesota’s environment, focusing his first TV ad of the cycle on efforts to protect the Boundary Waters. But Paulsen has continually voted to gut protections for clean air, water and public lands, earning a 14 percent on LCV’s 2017 National Environmental Scorecard. That included votes to block the Clean Water Rule and cut millions from the Land and Water Conservation Fund, which recently provided $4 million to protect an addition 50,000 acres of the Boundary Waters.
Last month, the Trump administration announced they will be allowing mining exploration just outside of the Boundary Waters and stopped an environmental review of how mining would impact the wilderness area.
Dean Phillips Climate Change and Environment Forum at Wayzata High School. #EveryonesInvited
Didn’t make it to the September 26 forum? Here’s the video:
Dean Phillips Climate Change and Environment Forum at Wayzata High School.
Didn’t get to last night’s climate change forum? Watch below:
Dean Phillips to Moderate Climate Change and Clean Water Issue Forum
Free educational forum to be held on Wednesday, September 26 in Wayzata
Excelsior, MN – Dean Phillips will moderate a free and open-to-the-public panel discussion focused on climate change and clean water on Wednesday, September 26. The solutions-focused educational forum will feature a variety of leading voices on the environment.
Event details:
“Everyone’s Invited! Issue Forum” – Climate Change and Clean Water
Wednesday, September 26, 2018
Location: Wayzata High School
Doors Open: 5:15 PM
Event Time: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM
Special Guests
- Greg Page, CEO of Cargill
- Kate Knuth, former MN State Representative and member of the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board
- Della Schall Young, clean water professional and founder of Young Environmental Consulting LLC
- Lia Harel, Hopkins High School student and Earth Club president
Phillips has been endorsed by the League of Conservation Voters, the Sierra Club, and Clean Water Action.
Take a closer look at Dean Phillips for CD3
To the Editor:
I recently came across Nathan Dull’s letter to the editor entitled “Paulsen is better than Phillips for CD3,” published on Aug. 31, and realized it is light on facts.
Among other things, the letter states that Paulsen does the right thing for our environment. In reality, Erik touts his image as an environmentalist (portrayed by his Boundary Waters TV ad and joining an environmental caucus), but he gets low grades on his actual voting record for climate change, according to the League of Conservation Voters. To further prove my point, the City Pages article, “Erik Paulsen Discovers that Climate Change is for Real After All” describes Paulsen’s self-serving reasons for finally changing his ‘beliefs’ about the environment.
I previously voted for Paulsen based on the recommendation of his predecessor, Jim Ramstad. And even though Erik Paulsen talks like he’s a moderate, he votes the party line 98 percent of the time (FiveThirtyEight.com). Now I know that Paulsen’s quotes don’t match his votes. He actively opposes consumer protection, funding education, environmental protection, financial sector regulation, gun control, labor rights and wages, racial equality, countering Russian interference and women’s rights (Politicsthatwork.com). Continue reading “Take a closer look at Dean Phillips for CD3”
Fracking is destroying U.S. water supply, warns shocking new study
The following article by Joe Romm was posted on the ThinkProgress website August 17, 2018:
Toxic wastewater from fracking jumps 14-fold from 2011 to 2016 — and it may get 50 times bigger by 2030.
An alarming new study reveals fracking is quite simply destroying America’s water supply.
That means we are losing potable water forever in many semi-arid regions of the country, while simultaneously producing more carbon pollution that in turn is driving ever-worsening droughts in those same regions, as fracking expert Anthony Ingraffea, a professor at Cornell University, explained to ThinkProgress.
The game-changing study from Duke University found that “from 2011 to 2016, the water use per well increased up to 770 percent.” In addition, the toxic wastewater produced in the first year of production jumped up to 1440 percent.
Endangered Species Act stripped of key provisions in Trump administration proposal
The following article by Darryl Fears was posted on the Washington Post website July 19, 2018:
The Trump administration unveiled a proposal Thursday that would strip the Endangered Species Act of key provisions, a move that conservationists say would weaken a law enacted 45 years ago to keep plant and animal species in decline from going extinct.
The proposal, announced jointly by the Interior and Commerce departments, which are charged with protecting endangered wildlife, would end the practice of extending similar protections to species regardless of whether they are listed as endangered or threatened. If the proposal is approved, likely by year’s end, protections for threatened plants and animals would be made on a case-by-case basis.
In another rollback of a key provision, the administration wants the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to strike language that guides officials to ignore economic impacts when determining how wildlife should be protected.