Summary
In today’s edition, everything you want to know about the much-publicized Pope Francis’ encyclical on climate, including believers’ reactions. Among the believers, the Poles, stuck with “sinful” coal to fuel their power plants (in the Natural gas/coal section). Also, the UK Green Party renews its call for a ‘Green QE’ program: central banks would directly inject capital into low carbon infrastructure projects.
Quote of the day
“We don’t say, ‘Don’t recycle a can because it makes no difference. ”
Karenna Gore, director of the seminary’s new Center for Earth Ethics, in the New York Times’ story Papal Encyclical Heartens Proponents of Fossil-Fuel Divestment
Lead stories
Eight things we learned from the pope’s climate change encyclical
By Adam Vaughan – The Guardian
From calling on rich countries to pay their social debt to his thoughts on GM food and UN climate talks, here are the top highlights.
http://jlne.ws/1GvJnRB
The Guardian view on Laudato Si’: Pope Francis calls for a cultural revolution
Editorial – the Guardian
Pope Francis’s encyclical on climate change, Laudato Si’, is the most astonishing and perhaps the most ambitious papal document of the past 100 years, since it is addressed not just to Catholics, or Christians, but to everyone on earth.
http://jlne.ws/1LmVqBT
Papal Encyclical Heartens Proponents of Fossil-Fuel Divestment
John Schwartz – The New York Times
The word “divestment” is nowhere to be found in the nearly 200 pages of the papal encyclical released Thursday, but by addressing the threat of climate change in such a forceful way, Pope Francis is likely to add momentum to the movement by big institutions to sell holdings tied to fossil-fuel stocks.
http://jlne.ws/1QFZV1d
***LB: Also in this story “The divestment effort first emerged at universities in 2012. Many religious institutions, including the Church of England and the United Church of Christ, have announced divestment plans, as have a number of religious educational institutions, including Union Theological Seminary in New York.”
US Catholics ready to follow Pope’s ‘marching orders’ on climate change
By Suzanne Goldenberg – The Guardian
Leaders of the Catholic church in America took their “marching orders” from the pope’s encyclical on Thursday, fanning out to Congress and the White House to push for action on climate change.
http://jlne.ws/1TzOM0V
Beyond Climate – A Hidden Gem in the Pope’s Encyclical on Making Social Media Matter
By Andrew C. Revkin – The New York Times
The main conversation around Pope Francis’s remarkable encyclical letter is appropriately on the core messages — that human-driven climate change is dangerous; access to energy matters; that consumptive capitalism is a problem, not a solution.
http://jlne.ws/1GUGr2x
On Technology in Agriculture, Pope Francis’s Concerns are for Corporate Power, Not G.M.O. Risk
By Andrew C. Revkin – The New York Times
Needless to say, there’s a lot to explore in Pope Francis’s encyclical, “Laudato Si’ — On the Care of Our Common Home,” so I’ll be doing a string of posts, as time permits, on particular sections.
http://jlne.ws/1MRdMLL
There is no conflict between our faiths and the science of climate change
Cardinal John Onaiyekan, Rabbi David Rosen and Professor Dr M Din Syamsuddin – (Opinion) – The Guardian
On Thursday, Pope Francis issued a powerful and timely encyclical on the environment, urging humanity to come to its senses and cease its reckless onslaught against God’s creation.
http://jlne.ws/1Lj0URn
Climate aid key to Paris deal, says Amber Rudd
By Emma Howard – The Guardian
Climate aid to developing countries is likely to be the biggest sticking point hindering a global deal at the UN climate talks in Paris later this year, according to the UK’s energy and climate secretary.
http://jlne.ws/1CgzaES
Martin O’Malley: Zero out fossil fuels by 2050
USA TODAY (Opinion)
Today, Pope Francis published his first encyclical —an official teaching document to all 1.2 billion Catholics — on the moral imperative of addressing climate change. He is not alone among leaders of world faiths making such a clarion call for action.
http://jlne.ws/1JZ3c7P
How Scott Walker Dismantled Wisconsin’s Environmental Legacy
By Siri Carpenter – Scientific American
When Wisconsin’s new state treasurer Matt Adamczyk took office in January, his first act was to order a highly symbolic change in stationery.
http://jlne.ws/1flYLY4
(UK’s) Green Party renews calls for Europe-wide ‘Green QE’ programme
By James Phillips – BusinessGreen
European governments should adopt a policy of ‘Green Quantitative Easing’ (GQE), according to a major new report from Anglia Ruskin University.
http://jlne.ws/1L4S4Wc
***LB: Also in this story “The report offers a detailed assessment of the Party’s previously stated plans for a round of targetted QE that would see central banks directly inject capital into low carbon infrastructure projects.”
Three ways we will build the cities of the future from waste
By Dirk E Hebel – The Guardian
As the global population grows, it is also becoming more city-based with 70% expected to live in urban areas by 2050.
http://jlne.ws/1N8xALo
Events
Climate Strategies Forum
ACCO
Washington Marriott Hotel at Metro Center
Washington, DC
June 24-26, 2015
http://jlne.ws/1J3aeGO
EMA Annual Meeting
October 28-30, 2015
Omni Parker House Hotel
Boston, MA
http://bit.ly/192w3CR
Carbon
Proposed Rule for Big Trucks Aims at Cutting Fuel Emissions
By Coral Davenport and Aaron M. Kessler – The New York Times
The Obama administration is set on Friday to unveil a major climate change regulation intended to rein in planet-warming carbon pollution from heavy-duty trucks.
http://jlne.ws/1etjd9b
Things White People Like – As Told By A Hadza Tribesman
By Allie Goldstein – Ecosystem Marketplace
When the Hadza hunter-gatherer people of northern Tanzania decided to slow deforestation in the Yaeda Valley, they turned to carbon markets. First, they had to do something they’d never done before: secure rights to the land they had been inhabiting for for 40,000 years.
http://jlne.ws/1G9xdLY
Natural gas/coal
Government ordered to publish redacted fracking report in full
By Damian Carrington – The Guardian
A heavily-redacted government report on the impacts of fracking on house prices, businesses and services in rural areas must be published in full, the UK’s information commissioner has ruled.
http://jlne.ws/1MRcbpg
Sinful coal a problem for the religious Pole
By Kalina Oroschakoff – Politico
Coal and the Catholic Church are two of the most powerful institutions in Poland. Now Pope Francis has put them into conflict with each other.
http://jlne.ws/1TzR7Jm
Power
Drax declares biomass conversion nearing 20 million tonnes of carbon saved
By James Phillips – BusinessGreen
Drax is close to saving 20 million tonnes of carbon emissions, after replacing coal with sustainable biomass in two of its generating units, the company announced this week.
http://jlne.ws/1Fqyg8J
States See Renewable Future in Offshore Wind Farms
By Bobby Magill – Climate Central
Sandy beaches, water parks and T-shirt shops draw millions of tourists to Myrtle Beach, S.C., each summer, but officials there think they might have something else tourists may be interested seeing — offshore wind turbines.
http://jlne.ws/1JZ4YWJ
Clean tech
Tesla Partners With Battery Researcher to Lower Costs
By Mike Ramsey – The Wall Street Journal
Tesla Motors Inc. has locked a leading advanced battery researcher into an exclusive partnership designed to help the Palo Alto, Calif., electric-car maker sharply lower the cost of its batteries.
http://jlne.ws/1Io8Kmx
Lab Making Progress on Advanced Battery Storage for Cars, Grid, House Panel Told
By Rebecca Kern – Bloomberg News
One of the Energy Department’s four innovation hubs is making progress on advanced energy battery storage in cars and the electricity grid and is working with companies to move battery prototypes to market.
http://jlne.ws/1L4Wv3m
Water
A $23 Billion Stock Drop Shows India’s Rising Water Risks
By Archana Chaudhary – Bloomberg News
Few expected India’s science minister to cut the monsoon outlook as he unveiled a weather forecasting system on June 2. The surprise contributed to a 1.5-trillion-rupee ($23 billion) two-day slump in the nation’s equities.
http://jlne.ws/1ISuSZc