News — climate change

Film maker will show and discuss 2 short films about renewables here in Boulder at the Boulder Public Library on Monday, 4-25-16, from 6 to 7:45 pm. Refreshments at 5:45. Films you can watch online.

SP 7: From Paris to New York

Very few states in the U.S. have started to transform their economy in a way that would keep climate change at bay, and in a way that matches the Paris climate agreement. In the seventh episode of the series, Sustainability Pioneers visits New York, one of the states taking bold climate action. The goal of New York state’s new energy policy, Reforming the Energy Vision, is to get half of the state’s energy from clean sources by 2030. Sustainability Pioneers also visits Eco Village At Ithaca and Hunt Country Vineyards in the Finger Lakes to see how the energy transition is unfolding at the grassroots level.

SP 5: Becoming Energy Independent

One of Germany’s “green pockets”, Climate Community Saerbeck, shows a model to the world of how to become energy independent in a sustainable way. A town of about 7,000 people started its climate protection and adaptation work in 2009, and in just five years the town was producing more renewable energy than it consumes. Saerbeck now produces 300 percent more renewable energy than the town consumes. Sustainability Pioneers also interviews Ralf Fuecks, the president of Heinrich Böll Foundation, and climate scientist Neil Donahue from Carnegie Mellon University. Neil Donahue explains how we need to reduce our carbon footprint, and Ralf Fuechs offers his view if this is feasible in the U.S.

I think that the Saerbeck story might be of interest to people in Boulder - one of the first things Saerbeck did when they started their climate adaptation and mitigation project was to municipalize its utility. - film maker Kirsi Jansa.

On Saturday 4-23-16 from 9 to 5, fascinating speakers will be at CU Math 100 from 9 am to 5 pm. Antonia Juhasz (live) wrote books about oil and Bush. Cornell professor Ingrafffea found that natural gas wells and pipelines leak at a high rate. TEACH IN: Featuring (live via skype) Professor Anthony Ingraffea, one of the world's leading experts on fracking technology. He wrote a paper on the methane ``leak rate'' of fracking wells/distribution which was denounced by President Obama's Dept. of Energy, and subsequently some years after the same folks apologized to Ingraffea. Ingraffea has also attracted attempts to, shall we say, intimidate him -- but he has not backed down and sticks with solid science/engineering. In person, we will have two exceptional investigative journalist/authors: Antonia Juhasz, San Francisco, (``Tyranny of Oil'' and other books) and Andrew Nikiforuk, Alberta, Canada (``Slickwater: Fracking and One Insider's Stand Against the World's Most Powerful Industry,'' and ``Tar Sands'', and other books), They will present talks and do a book-signing in conjuction with the Boulder Bookstore. We will also have local talent from NCAR (Dan Ziskin, on global warming scenarios that don't get press coverage) and others. Lunch available, but not free :)) Link

There is a free showing at 6 pm Friday April 22 in Math 110 on the CU campus tonight. Merchants of Doubt shows how oil companies paid PR people and thinktanks to lie and say that it wasn't happening, and if it was, then they didn't cause it, and if they did cause it, then there was no solution and if there was a solution, then it would be too expensive, and if it was not too expensive, then we should not solve it because that would threaten our way of life and jobs, and if it would not threaten our way of life and jobs, then we should not solve it because we should not trust our government and because we should seek a solution through the invisible hand of capitalism, and if we find that we can trust government regulations instead of self-interested capitalist polluters, then we should not regulate because we need "freedom" and to trust those elites who know what is best for the world ( and for their own power and profit). Greenpeace wrote that Exxon gave over $ 30 million to climate denial groups. Exxon scientists internally admitted that burning fossil fuels caused greenhouse gases and that "addressing the greenhouse effect ' would require major reductions in fossil fuel combustion' and that without the reductions ' there are some potentially catastrophic events that must be considered.' Yet while they researched and admitted internally that climate change was happening, they funded thinktanks and PR firms to deny it.  

Reef

Ruling keeps lawsuit proceeding against government over failure to prevent climate change and the damage it will cause to young people. The oil & coal companies lost their attempt to dismiss the suit. Details.

link Here is one interview. The Water Knife is a detective thriller set amidst drought refugees and physical battles between cities over water. It has romance, murder, gangs, chases, and journalists. The Windup Girl is about a future of GMOs, rising sea levels, hunger, loss of species of food crops, racial blaming, and hunger after terminator genes wipe out many food varieties. Oil is gone. It is a bit violent. link Another interview. Drowned Cities and Ship Breaker are about societies where the oil based energy system is gone, and people struggle in gangs over the spoils or else move on to wind-powered ships. Zombie Baseball Beatdown is about middle schoolers battlling GMO mad cows from a slaughter house. It also touches on bullying, discrimination against immigrants, corporate power over local government, and friendship. The Doubt Factory is about radicals protesting against toxic products . It focuses on a high school girl's relationship to her father, who is doing the fake pr for tobacco, pesticide, drug, and oil companies. She is attracted to rebellious radicals who want to expose the corporate pr.