Cashing In on Climate Change
Someone’s going to make money in our warming world.Editor’s please note: We support all peaceful action which promotes the protection of our planet and living an environmentally-friendly life. This includes peaceful protest, demonstrations and the positive actions of standing up against the detrimental effects of climate change. We do not support any illegal, dangerous, violent or unethical actions.
September 20, 2019 by Al Gore Original source New York Times . Things take longer to happen than you think they will, but then they happen much The destructive impacts of the climate crisis are now following the trajectory of that economics maxim as horrors long predicted by scientists are becoming
To address the climate crisis , we must address the democracy crisis so that the people This effort has won support from many Americans, just as the nuclear freeze movement of the early 1980s Al Gore shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for
© Getty Al Gore addresses CEDA's Climate Change and Economics event at Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre on June 07, 2019 in Brisbane, Australia. A special message from MSN:
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Things take longer to happen than you think they will, but then they happen much faster than you thought they could.
The destructive impacts of the climate crisis are now following the trajectory of that economics maxim as horrors long predicted by scientists are becoming realities.
Trump at the UN: Greta Thunberg staring at president in viral video
The video of the 16-year-old Swede came after she delivered an emotional speech regarding the climate crisis, telling world leaders, "How dare you?"WASHINGTON — After teen climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered an emotional speech to world leaders at the United Nations in New York City on Monday, news cameras captured her staring at President Donald Trump when he arrived in the same lobby she was in.
In this brand-new slideshow (premiering on TED.com), Al Gore presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists recently predicted. He challenges us to act.
The Climate Crisis Is The Battle Of Or Time , And We Can Win . Things take longer to happen than you think they will, but then they The destructive impacts of the climate crisis are now following the trajectory of that economics maxim as horrors long predicted by scientists are becoming realities.
More destructive Category 5 hurricanes are developing, monster fires ignite and burn on every continent but Antarctica, ice is melting in large amounts there and in Greenland, and accelerating sea-level rise now threatens low-lying cities and island nations.
Tropical diseases are spreading to higher latitudes. Cities face drinking-water shortages. The ocean is becoming warmer and more acidic, destroying coral reefs and endangering fish populations that provide vital protein consumed by about a billion people.
Worsening droughts and biblical deluges are reducing food production and displacing millions of people. Record-high temperatures threaten to render areas of the Middle East and the Persian Gulf, North Africa and South Asia uninhabitable. Growing migrations of climate refugees are destabilizing nations. A sixth great extinction could extinguish half the species on earth.
'It came from the heart, just genuine concern' - Ryan Tubridy addresses Greta Thunberg remarks after backlash
'It came from the heart, just genuine concern' - Ryan Tubridy addresses Greta Thunberg remarks after backlashThe broadcaster faced a backlash on social media after suggesting that the 16-year-old was too young to be subjected to the global stage and should be "brought home and watch a movie.
Why is Al Gore optimistic about climate change? In this spirited talk, Gore asks three powerful questions about the man-made forces threatening to destroy our planet — and the solutions we 're designing to combat them. (Featuring Q&A with TED curator Chris Anderson).
Al Gore has been the Cassandra of the climate crisis seemingly since the times of Cassandra. Starting in Congress more than 40 years ago, he I tell people that we don’t have time for despair. I mean, the truth is, anybody who deals with this issue on a sustained basis has to somehow deal with
Finally people are recognizing that the climate is changing, and the consequences are worsening much faster than most thought was possible. A record 72 percent of Americans polled say that the weather is growing more extreme. And yet every day we still emit more than 140 million tons of global warming pollution worldwide into the atmosphere, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. I often echo the point made by the climate scientist James Hansen: The accumulation of carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases — some of which will envelop the planet for hundreds and possibly thousands of years — is now trapping as much extra energy daily as 500,000 Hiroshima-class atomic bombs would release every 24 hours.
This is the crisis we face. 
© Na Kim
Now we need to ask ourselves: Are we really helpless and unwilling to respond to the gravest threat faced by civilization? Is it time, as some have begun to counsel, to despair, surrender and focus on “adapting” to the progressive loss of the conditions that have supported the flourishing of humanity? Are we really moral cowards, easily manipulated into lethargic complacency by the huge continuing effort to deceive us into ignoring what we see with our own eyes?
Merkel’s political twilight sees Germany’s influence wane
Merkel’s political twilight sees Germany’s influence waneDiplomats in Berlin fumed. “Who gave him the mandate to negotiate a new European security architecture with Russia?” asked one official. “We’re quite happy with the one we have right now, and he shouldn’t be calling it into question.
The battle to halt climate change can be won , he said, because the green revolution delivering clean energy is both bigger than the industrial revolution and Gore has played a major global role in raising awareness of the dangers of climate change since his 2007 film An Inconvenient Truth and made his
Al Gore is considered to be someone that considers global warming and environmentalism to be at the core of how Democrats are going to win elections In the film, Gore , who is the chairman and founder of the Climate Reality Project, warned that the Pacific Islands were drowning from global warming
More damage and losses are inevitable, no matter what we do, because carbon dioxide remains for so long in the atmosphere. So we will have to do our best to adapt to unwelcome changes. But we still retain the ability to avoid truly catastrophic, civilization-ending consequences if we act quickly.
This is our generation’s life-or-death challenge. It is Thermopylae, Agincourt, Trafalgar, Lexington and Concord, Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor, the Battle of the Bulge, Midway and Sept. 11. At moments of such crisis, the United States and the world have to be mobilized, and before we can be mobilized, we have to be inspired to believe the battle can be won. Is it really too much to ask now that politicians summon the courage to do what most all of them already know is necessary?
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Greta Thunberg pokes fun at trolls with 'Greta Thunberg Helpline'
Greta Thunberg has poked fun at trolls criticising her climate action campaign by sharing a video which mocked "adults angry at a child".Greta Thunberg has poked fun at trolls criticising her climate action campaign by sharing a video which mocked "adults angry at a child".
We have the technology we need. That economic maxim about slow-fast phenomena, first articulated by the M.I.T. economist Rudiger Dornbusch and known as Dornbusch’s Law, also explains the tsunami of technological and economic change that has given us tools to sharply reduce global warming pollution much faster than we thought was possible only a short time ago. For example, according to the research group Bloomberg New Energy Finance, as recently as 2014 — a year before the Paris climate agreement was reached — electricity from solar and wind was cheaper than new coal and gas plants in probably 1 percent of the world. Today, only five years later, solar and wind provide the cheapest sources of new electricity in two-thirds of the world. Within five more years, these sources are expected to provide the cheapest new electricity in the entire world. And in 10 years, solar and wind electricity will be cheaper nearly everywhere than the electricity that existing fossil fuel plants will be able to provide.
Gallery: Animals threatened by climate change (Photos)
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From polar bears to elephants and frogs to wombats, climate change is threatening the existence of several species of terrestrial and marine animals across the world. These creatures are being hit hard by disappearing habitats, warming oceans, droughts and wildfires. Check out some of these endangered animals.
In fast-thawing Siberia, radical climate change is warping the Earth beneath the feet of millions
Extreme climate change is pushing people out of their watery farms and sinking villages into new jobs in the city or on the lucrative mammoth-tusk trail.ON THE ZYRYANKA RIVER, Russia —Andrey Danilov eased his motorboat onto the gravel riverbank, where the bones of a woolly mammoth lay scattered on the beach. A putrid odor filled the air — the stench of ancient plants and animals decomposing after millennia entombed in a frozen purgatory.
All data taken from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and correct as of April 12, 2019.
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Tiger
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 2,154-3,159
Found mainly in the forests of tropical Asia (with a subspecies in the eastern forests of Russia), the biggest threat these big cats face is poaching; everything from their skin to body parts is valued highly in the illegal wildlife trade. In addition, vast stretches of its habitat are now subject to rapid urbanization and/or conversion to agricultural use.
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Snow Leopard
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: 2,710-3,386
Snow leopards are found in the mountainous regions of the Himalayan and Tibetan plateaus, at elevations of at least 9,840 feet (3,000 meters). Like their larger cousins, the tigers, the snow leopard is at risk from poaching. The demand from China and Eastern European markets drives this threat; poachers kill the animals for their skin, bones and body parts. They also face threats from declining prey numbers, climate change and habitat degradation.
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Whooping Crane
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 50-249
Native to Canada and the U.S. (regionally extinct in Mexico), the Whooping Crane’s only (known) self-sustaining breeding population is in Canada’s Northwestern Territories/Alberta region. Although the population trend signs are encouraging, over-hunting, habitat conversion, drought, storms, flooding and human encroachment still pose a major threat to its existence in the wild.
Extinction Rebellion protesters moved by gardaí during sit-in outside Dáil
The demonstration is part of a week-long protest by the group.A large number of gardaí arrived at the scene earlier this evening and directed protesters to leave the area, warning them that they faced arrest if they did not comply.
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Giant Panda
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: 500-1,000
Found primarily in China’s Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces (they were once found throughout southern China and even as far down as Southeast Asia), the panda’s present range is punctured by human settlements, resulting in highly fragmented and isolated populations. Infrastructure development (construction of roads, mining for resources and creation of dams), climate change, severe weather (drought and temperature extremes), wood harvesting, mining and quarrying has further threatened its fight for survival.
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Koala
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: 100,000-500,000
Found primarily throughout northeastern, central and southeastern Queensland, Australia, at first glance the koala may not seem particularly endangered. There are large populations in the wild, these populations aren’t fragmented, and they aren’t all in one part of the country.
However, the general population trend is decreasing (including the numbers of mature individuals) and existing populations are threatened by habitat destruction, bushfires, diseases, climate change, droughts and human encroachment. Koalas were once hunted for their fur, with millions killed; the hunting took place as recently as the mid-20th century.
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Indian Rhinoceros
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Extinction Rebellion activists bring protests to Penneys and Brown Thomas
Extinction Rebellion activists bring protests to Penneys and Brown ThomasEXTINCTION REBELLION ACTIVISTS brought the protest to Penneys and Brown Thomas stores in Dublin, staging their own fashion show on O’Connell Street this afternoon.
Number of mature individuals: 2,575
Found in the riverine grasslands along the Terai and Brahmaputra Basins, the Indian Rhinoceros (also called Greater One-horned Rhino and the Great Indian Rhinoceros) faces several severe threats, including invasion of its feeding range by alien plants, habitat loss (reduction in grasslands and wetlands) and encroachment by human communities and their domestic livestock. The rhino also faces threats from storms and flooding as well as poachers looking to cut off and sell its horn on the illegal wildlife market.
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African Elephant
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Despite drastic reductions in wild populations, African elephants are found across sub-Saharan Africa. They can be found in a variety of habitats, ranging from the deserts of Mali to the rainforests of central and West Africa. The largest wild populations are in southern African countries like Botswana and South Africa.
The African elephant has been hunted to the brink of extinction for its ivory and meat. Poaching for illegal markets remains the biggest challenge to its survival in the wild. Factors like droughts as well as habitat loss and fragmentation of habitat due to human encroachment don’t help its chances.
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Bornean Orangutan
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: N.A
Orangutans are the largest arboreal mammals in the world. Native to Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as in four of the five Indonesian provinces of Kalimantan (North, East, Central and West Kalimantan), orangutans face a number of threats to their existence. These include habitat loss, illegal hunting, habitat fragmentation, forest fires and climate change (habitat shifting and alteration).
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Caribou
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: 2,890,400
Found across the Arctic regions of the U.S., Canada, Finland, Norway and Russia, caribou are threatened by the destruction of forests and unregulated hunting. In addition, the effects of climate change are felt more keenly in the Arctic than most other parts of the world and changes like the melting of snow and rising water levels could severely impact their population levels.
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Cheetah
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: 6,674
Cheetahs are found in eastern and southern African parks, while their distribution in Asia is limited to central deserts of Iran. They face threat from fragmentation and habitat loss, hunting, infectious diseases and unregulated tourism.
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Corroboree Frog
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Native to Australia, the reasons for decline in corroboree frog's population are largely unknown. However, the possible factors have been listed as invasive exotic plant species, excavation by feral pigs and change in weather patterns.
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Sea Otter
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Found along the coasts of the Pacific Ocean in North America and Japan, this member of the weasel family faces threat from oil spills, severe weather, periodic climatic events (storms and flooding) and predation by killer whales, great white sharks or coyotes.
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Northern hairy-nosed Wombat
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: 80
Found in Australia, the species declined due to broad-scale habitat destruction, competition with sheep and cattle mainly during droughts, loss of genetic variation and predators.
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Ili Pika
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Native to China's Xinjiang, it is speculated that increase in grazing pressure and climate change are the causes of decline in their population.
(Pictured): A digital illustration of an Ili Pika (Ochotona iliensis)
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Polar Bear
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Found in the Arctic Circle (Canada, Russian Federation, Alaska, Greenland and Norway), the species are threatened due to erratic weather changes, shift in main food sources, changes in pathogen evolution and co-infections with multiple agents.
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Galapagos Penguin
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 1,200
Found in Galapagos, Ecuador, this species is mainly threatened due to climate change, disease outbreaks, oil spills and predation.
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Green Turtle
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Found in most tropical (and sometimes subtropical) waters across the world, Green turtles are native to a number of countries on the coasts of the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea. They are, however, regionally extinct in the Cayman Islands and Mauritius.
They are highly migratory animals – both males and females travel – traveling across ocean zones and over thousands of miles. This, unfortunately, increases the chances of population loss of a species that is already susceptible to human involvement in its lifespan. From getting caught in fishing nets to having its eggs and hatchlings stolen for human consumption, Green turtles face severe threats. Habitat degradation in the marine environment could also adversely affect green turtle populations.
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North Atlantic Right Whale
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Also called the Black Right Whale, the North Atlantic Right Whale used to be found on both sides of the North Atlantic. Now, however, it appears to be extinct from the eastern part of the ocean. In the western part, it migrates from off the Florida coast along the eastern seaboard, ranging as far north as Iceland and Norway.
Today, it faces threats from entanglement in fishing nets of trawlers and fishing ships, as well as collision with ships off the eastern U.S. coast and pollution (excess energy).
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Ivory Gull
IUCN status: Near threatened
Number of mature individuals: 38,000-52,000
Native to Canada, Greenland, Russia Federation, Svalbard and Jan Mayen and the U.S., the population of these birds is being affected by climate change, loss of sea ice and hunting. In addition, diamond mining in Canada and oil spills at sea are also causing habitat degradation and disturbance to breeding colonies.
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Walrus
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: 1,12,500
Native to Canada, Greenland, Russian Federation, Svalbard and Jan Mayen and the U.S., wild populations of the walrus are threatened by global warming, sedimentation from industrial development and oil pollution that impact most of their diet.
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Dugong
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Found in warm coastal waters between East Africa and the islands of Vanuatu (off Australia's eastern coast), including the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the major threats faced by the species are hunting, boating activities, damage/modification of habitat, chemical pollution (oil spills) and climate change (storms and flooding).
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Staghorn Coral
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Native to western central Atlantic, this species (Acropora cervicornis) faces a major threat from factors such as disease, loss of habitat, climate change, temperature extremes, fisheries, pollution, human recreation and tourism activities.
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Laysan Albatross
IUCN status: Near threatened
Number of mature individuals: 1,600,000
These birds are mainly found in Canada, Japan, Mexico, Hawaiian Islands in the U.S. and Marshall Islands. There has been a significant decline in their population due to fisheries, illegal high seas driftnet operations, habitat shifting and alteration, oil spills, plastic ingestion, lead poisoning and human disturbance.
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Golden hamster
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Native to Syria and Turkey, the population of this species is declining due to habitat loss caused by increased human settlements.
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Red-breasted Goose
IUCN status: Vulnerable
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Found mainly in Bulgaria, Greece, Iran, Iraq, Romania, Russia, Turkey, Serbia and Ukraine, these birds are facing threats due to hunting, habitat shift/loss and climate change.
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African Wild Ass
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: 23-200
Native to Eritrea and Ethopia in East Africa, the major threat these animals face is being hunted for food and the use of its body parts in traditional medicine. In addition, limited access to drinking water and food – a function of both climate change and human encroachment – are also threats to their survival.
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Brown spider monkey
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
They are native to Colombia. Hunting and habitat loss are the major reasons for the decline in their population. In addition, the lowland forests in the Andean Mountains are being destroyed by commercial logging.
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Bactrian Camel
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: 950
Found in China's Xinjiang territory and Mongolia, the population of these camels is declining due to predation by wolves due to reduction in water points (oases) and droughts as well as hunting.
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Malagasy Pond Heron
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 1,300-4,000
Native to most countries in Africa (wild populations in Angola, Somalia and Yemen are classified as vagrant), the main threat to these birds is habitat loss. Specifically, it is the loss of wetlands as they are converted to rice fields.
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Asian Buffalo
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 2,500
Native to Bhutan, India, Nepal and Thailand, Cambodia and Myanmar, wild populations of the Asian Buffalo (also called Wild Water Buffalo) are threatened by inbreeding with domestic animals and habitat loss and degradation, in addition to being hunted by humans for food.
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Hawaiian Monk Seal
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 632
Native to Hawaii in the U.S., the seals' existence is threatened by limited food supplies (due to climate changes affecting ocean conditions), entanglement with marine debris (often thrown by humans) and predation by sharks.
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Ethiopian Wolf
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 197
Found in Ethiopia and also called Simien Fox and Simien Jackal, the population of these species is declining due to factors such as habitat loss, the building of infrastructure like roads and the increasing presence of commercial sheep farms.
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Nassau Grouper
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
The species is found in the western central Atlantic, including Bermuda, Florida, Bahamas, Caribbean Sea and along the southern coast to Venezuela. The major threats faced by them are heavy fishing and loss of quality coral reef habitat caused by climate change.
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Przewalski's Horse
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 178
Native to China, the existence of these species is threatened due to significant cultural changes, military exercises, competition with livestock, increasing land use pressure, hunting and climate change-influenced events like droughts, temperature extremes, storms and flooding.
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Philippine Eagle
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: 180-500
As the name suggests, the birds are native to Philippines. They are mainly threatened due to forest destruction and fragmentation, uncontrolled hunting and severe weather events such as storms and flooding.
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Peacock Tarantula
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
These species are native to India's Jharkhand and West Bengal states. Habitat loss and degradation as well as incidents of smuggling threaten the survival of this species.
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Delacour's langur
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: Unknown
Found in very restricted areas of north-central Vietnam, the threats faced by the species include hunting (for the purpose of traditional medicine), quarrying for limestone and loss of forest cover, which can adversely impact the climate.
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Spoon-billed Sandpiper
IUCN status: Critically endangered
Number of mature individuals: 240-456
Originating along the Chukotsk peninsula and southwards to the isthmus of the Kamchatka peninsula in north-eastern Russia, these birds migrate down the western Pacific coast through countries like Japan, China, North Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, to its main winter grounds in Thailand, Bangladesh, India, Myanmar. The major threats faced by them includes hunting, climate change and associated habitat shifts.
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African Penguin
IUCN status: Endangered
Number of mature individuals: 50,000
Native to Namibia and South Africa, the population of these species has declined due to food shortage, oil spill, human disturbance and climate change (habitat shifting and alteration) and climate-induced food shortage (shift in fish stocks).
This transition is already unfolding in the largest economies. Consider the progress made by the world’s top four emitters of greenhouse gases. Last year, solar and wind represented 88 percent of the new electricity capacity installed in the 28 nations of the European Union, 65 percent in India, 53 percent in China and 49 percent in the United States.
This year, several American utilities have announced plans to close existing natural gas and coal generating plants — some with decades of useful life remaining — to replace their output with cheaper electricity from wind and solar farms connected to ever-cheaper battery storage. As the chief executive of the Northern Indiana Public Service Company said recently, “The surprise was how dramatically the renewables and storage proposals beat natural gas.” He added, “I couldn’t have predicted this five years ago.”
© Getty Svinafellsjoekull glacier in Vatnajoekull NP during winter. Today, the fastest-growing occupation in the United States is solar installer, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and it has exceeded average job growth sixfold in the last five years. The second-fastest growing job: wind turbine service technician.
In Australia, a high-tech entrepreneur, Mike Cannon-Brookes, is reportedly planning to sell renewable electricity generated in the Northern Territories to South Asian cities over a long-distance undersea cable. Globally, close to 200 of the world’s largest companies have announced commitments to use 100 percent renewable energy, and several have already reached that goal. A growing number of cities, states and provinces have pledged to do the same.
The number of electric vehicles on the road has increased by 450 percent in the past four years, and several automobile manufacturers are shifting research and development spending away from internal combustion vehicles, because the cost-reduction curve for E.V.s is expected to soon drop the cost of the vehicle well below comparable gasoline and diesel models’. Over half of all buses in the world will be electric within the next five years, a majority in China, according to some market experts. At least 16 nations have set targets to phase out internal combustion engine vehicles.
More broadly, the evidence now indicates that we are in the early stages of a sustainability revolution that will achieve the magnitude of the Industrial Revolution and the speed of the digital revolution, made possible by new digital tools. To pick one example, Google has reduced the amount of electricity required to cool its enormous server farms by 40 percent using state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. No new hardware was required. Sustainable alternatives to existing methods of industrial production are being pursued by more and more companies.
A farmer-led regenerative agriculture revolution that is also underway avoids plowing and focuses on building soil health by sequestering carbon dioxide in the ground, making the land more fertile. The farmers are using rotational grazing and planting trees and diverse cover crops to enrich soil and protect against erosion.
© Damon Winter/The New York Times Greta Thunberg at the climate protest in New York on Friday. And so far, the best available technology for pulling carbon dioxide from the air is something called a tree. That’s why many nations are starting ambitious tree planting efforts. Ethiopia recently reported planting 353 million trees in 12 hours, nearly double the goal of 200 million. Scientists calculate that we have enough available land worldwide to plant between one trillion and one and a half trillion trees. To protect our vast but dwindling forests, new satellites and digital tools can now monitor deforestation virtually tree by tree, so corporations will know if the products they buy were grown on razed or burned forestland.
Yet for all this promise, here is another hard truth: All of these efforts together will not be enough to reduce greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently without significant policy changes. And right now, we don’t have the right policies because the wrong policymakers are in charge. We need to end the mammoth taxpayer-funded subsidies that encourage the continued burning of fossil fuels. We need to place a direct or indirect price on carbon pollution to encourage the use of cheaper, sustainable alternatives that are already out there. New laws and regulations may be needed as well to encourage innovation and force more rapid reductions in emissions.
The political reconfiguration we have desperately needed has been excruciatingly slow in coming, but we now seem to be at an inflection point, when political change begins to unroll more rapidly than we thought was possible. It’s Dornbusch’s Law, brought to politics.
The people, in their true function as the sovereign power, are quickly understanding the truth of this crisis, and they are the ones who must act, especially because the president is not on speaking terms with the truth and seems well beyond the reach of reason.
This will require a ferocious attack on the complacency, complicity, duplicity and mendacity of those in Congress who have paid for their careers by surrendering their votes and judgment to powerful special interests that are sacrificing the planet for their greed. To address the climate crisis, we must address the democracy crisis so that the people themselves can reclaim control of their destiny.
As has often been the case in successful political revolutions, young people have taken up the gauntlet with inspiring passion. Greta Thunberg has stirred millions as the school strike movement she began in Sweden spreads to many countries. The Sunrise Movement, the Extinction Rebellion, Zero Hour and other youth-led movements are gathering momentum daily. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of people around the world were marching and gathering to call for action on climate change. Employees of many corporations are aggressively demanding that their employers take action to help save the climate balance.
© Pete Marovich for The New York Times Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey introduced the Green New Deal at the Capitol in February. The “blue wave” that gave Democrats control of the House in last year’s midterm elections was fueled in part by concern about climate. The Green New Deal, introduced by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York and Senator Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, ties solutions to the climate crisis to environmental justice and a “just transition” that will create millions of well-paying jobs. This effort has won support from many Americans, just as the nuclear freeze movement of the early 1980s attracted wide approval and helped pave the way for an arms control agreement between President Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, the leader of the Soviet Union.
Virtually all of this year’s Democratic presidential candidates are making the climate a top priority. Many have released impressive and detailed plans that would have been unthinkable only a few years ago. A CNN poll in April found that the climate crisis was the No. 1 concern of Democrats who are registered to vote. Another recent poll showed that a record 79 percent of American adults and 86 percent of teenagers believe, finally, that the climate crisis is caused by human activity, and, even more significantly, so do 60 percent of Republicans. Americans’ disapproval of President Trump’s approach to the climate was higher, at 67 percent, than on any other issue.
Gallery: Famous people with an eco-conscience (Photos)
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Leonardo DiCaprio
The Oscar-winning actor has long been involved in a series of environmental causes – forest preservation, clean water access and renewable energy – and has set up the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation, which works toward that. An active member on the boards of numerous environmental organizations, he produced a docudrama on global warming in 2007, “The 11th Hour.” During his award acceptance speech at the 2016 Oscars, he noted: “Climate change is real, it is happening right now, it is the most urgent threat facing our entire species and we need to work collectively together and stop procrastinating.”
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Meryl Streep
The actress founded Mothers & Others, an environmental group providing information about the presence of chemicals and pesticides in green produce, in 1989. While this campaign ended in 2001, she continues to spread awareness about toxins present in water and food sources, and is associated with the Healthy Child Healthy World (formerly called Children's Health Environmental Coalition). Her foundation, Silver Mountain Foundation for the Arts, also funds projects on conserving rainforests, sustainable agriculture and reducing pollution.
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Pierce Brosnan
The actor is a committed environmentalist and has been vocal about raising awareness and campaigning against ecologically disruptive projects. He is associated with the organization Natural Resources Defense Council, which successfully campaigned against the U.S. Navy’s deployment of a sonar system that allegedly kills marine mammals and a proposed salt factory at Laguna San Ignacio, which is the breeding ground for the Pacific gray whale. Brosnan received the Environmental Leadership Award by Green Cross International in 1997 and has been an ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2001. He is also the member of Oceana’s Ocean Council and serves on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society’s board of advisers.
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Al Gore
The former U.S. vice president and winner of the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize is known worldwide for climate change activism. The documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” (2006), which followed his campaign to educate citizens about global warming and toxic waste, won the Oscar for Best Documentary in 2007. He helped organize the Live Earth series of concerts and is also the driving force behind The Climate Reality Project, a non-profit organization involved in education and advocacy related to climate change.
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Cate Blanchett
Blanchett, along with her playwright husband Andrew Upton, advocated the installation of solar panels at The Wharf Theatre in Sydney, Australia, as part of the Greening the Wharf project in 2010. An ambassador of the Australian Conservation Foundation, she once drew negative comments for appearing in a TV ad campaign to “Say Yes” to carbon tax. She responded and said that she will “not be deterred from spreading the message about climate change.” She is also a patron of the charity SolarAid, which installs solar panels in rural areas across East and Southern Africa.
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Brad Pitt
The actor helped set up the Make It Right Foundation in 2007, to build environment-friendly structures using sustainable materials in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He also committed over $5 million for the rehabilitation of those affected by the disaster. Pitt spearheaded the cause of eradicating extreme rural poverty, protecting natural resources and conserving wildlife under the Jolie-Pitt Foundation.
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Maroon 5
The band is committed to "green touring" – using bio-diesel-powered tour buses, consuming organic food, using recycled products, and donating a portion of their ticket sales to Global Cool, a climate change charity. They are in a partnership with environmental non-profit REVERB since 2008.
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Gisele Bündchen
The supermodel raises funds through her eco-friendly flip-flop line, Ipanema Gisele Bündchen. She was appointed the U.N. Environment Goodwill Ambassador and named Global Environmental Citizen by Harvard’s Center for Health and Global Environment. She has also initiated the Clean Water Project, under which deforested areas of the Amazon basin are replanted. Bündchen also joined the Rainforest Alliance in 2014 as a board member.
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Ian Somerhalder
Moved by the effects of the BP oil spill in the Gulf, “The Vampire Diaries” actor founded the Ian Somerhalder Foundation in 2010 that is solely dedicated to educating and working on projects that positively impact the climate. They do public outreach and also fund global efforts on conservation. He was also a correspondent on the climate change series “Years of Living Dangerously” (2014) and its 2016 follow-up.
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Edward Norton
The actor is involved in a number of environmental causes and credits his passion for nature to his father, an environmental lawyer and conservationist. Norton runs the BP Solar Neighbors Program, which donates a solar energy system to a low-income family every time a celebrity purchases one. A regular contributor to various organizations and trust, including the Grand Canyon Trust, Wilderness Society and Earthjustice, he hosted the National Geographic series “Strange Days on Planet Earth” (2005). In 2009, he ran the New York City Marathon with Maasai warriors to raise funds for the Maasai Wilderness Conservation Trust. In 2010, he was appointed the U.N. Goodwill Ambassador for Biodiversity.
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Drew Barrymore
The actress’ make-up brand, Flower Beauty, is not only cruelty-free, it’s also an eco-friendly collection. All her products use botanical-infused ingredients and are produced in the U.S. to reduce their carbon footprint. She has also campaigned for food security with the UN World Food Programme in Kenya and Malawi.
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Woody Harrelson
The actor works with Living Tree Paper company that recycles materials to produce “tree-free” paper. The vegetarian and raw food enthusiast worked in the documentary “Go Further” (2003) that chronicled a group traveling in an environment-friendly bus that runs on hemp and vegetable oil. He is also an opponent of destructive mining practices and has written a book titled “Coal Country: Rising Up Against Mountaintop Removal Mining.”
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Sting
The British singer – along with his wife Trudie, Belgian author-activist Jean-Pierre Dutilleux and an indigenous leader named Raoni – co-founded the Rainforest Foundation Fund in the late 1980s, aimed at preserving rainforests. With branches across Central and South America and Southeast Asia, the organization promotes projects that assert indigenous people’s rights over their land and spread awareness about healthy living. In 2018, he joined the board of advisers of activist investor fund Jana Impact Capital, which works on environmental as well as social causes.
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Mark Ruffalo
Ruffalo was hailed as “anti-fracking’s first famous face” in 2011, after he started appearing on TV shows and writing newspaper columns against fracking. He founded Water Defense, an organization dedicated to banning hydraulic fracturing in New York, U.S. He is an active promoter of The Solutions Project, which aims for 100 percent renewable energy usage in the U.S. by 2050.
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Natalie Portman
The Oscar winner’s passion for the environment began at an early age when she became a vegetarian and appeared in a video promoting recycling. A staunch opponent of animal slaughter, she even designed a vegan shoe line for Te Casan with part of the proceeds going to charity. She traveled to Rwanda to film the Animal Planet documentary “Saving a Species: Gorillas on the Brink” (2007).
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Robert Redford
The actor-director is a noted advocate of environmental issues and a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council. He regularly writes columns and blogs about big oil companies, global warming and the negative impact of fracking on the planet. From 1975-96, Redford, along with others, fought against the handover of a vast expanse of land in Utah for commercial purposes. It later became the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument. Time magazine named him a Hero of the Environment in 2007.
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Adrian Grenier
Grenier, in collaboration with tech firm Dell, launched the NYC Tech Takeback, which encourages citizens to recycle their used electronic goods through the Dell Reconnect program. In 2015, he founded the Lonely Whale Foundation, a program to educate and spread awareness about ocean health and the well-being of marine life. A U.N. Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador since 2017, he's involved with SHFT Mobile Kitchen Classroom and Charity Water. The actor also developed an eco-themed app called Ecohero that aids consumers to check the environmental and health impacts of different products.
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Shailene Woodley
The “Fault in Our Stars” actress, along with her mother, founded the non-profit organization All it Takes in 2010. She was even arrested while protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline in 2016. Woodley also gathers her own spring water every month and goes to a farm for her food. She makes her own medicines, lotions and even forages for wild foods.
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Jessica Alba
The actress launched her own company after she couldn’t find environment-friendly baby and cleaning products for her family. “I founded The Honest Company because I wanted safe, effective products that perform. After all, you shouldn’t have to choose between what works and what’s good for you,” said Alba. The products are completely eco-friendly and the company’s philosophy includes not “harming people or the planet.” She has also lobbied the U.S. Congress for stronger chemical protections.
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Alec Baldwin
Baldwin is a vocal critic of the United States’ dependence on fossil fuel. In 2012, he hosted an anti-fracking event as part of the What the Frack? movement and also joined the Artists Against Fracking initiative. An advocate of renewable energy and animal rights, he is also a generous donor to conservation organizations including the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Wildlife Preservation Coalition of Eastern Long Island and the Central Park Conservancy.
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Daryl Hannah
A dedicated green crusader, Hannah has had quite a few run-ins with the law for her vocal stand on environmental protection. In 2006, she was arrested for staging a 23-day protest against authorities bulldozing an urban farm in Los Angeles, California, U.S.; in 2009, she was detained for holding a demonstration against mountaintop mining in West Virginia, U.S.; and in 2011 and 2013, she was taken into custody for campaigning in front of the White House against the Keystone oil pipeline. She produced the 2012 documentary “Greedy Lying B******s” to raise awareness about climate change and has a weekly video blog on sustainable solutions. She lives in a house that runs on solar power and grows her own food. She is also a member of the World Future Council, which focuses on climate security.
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Rachel McAdams
"The Notebook" actress co-founded the eco-friendly lifestyle website GreenIsSexy.org with two of her friends; it ran between 2007-11. She also maintains a green lifestyle – her Toronto home is powered by Bullfrog renewable energy and she travels a lot around the city on a bicycle. McAdams was a volunteer at the clean-up efforts after Hurricane Katrina. She also filmed two videos for Food & Water First Movement in 2013 that were made as part of conservation efforts of prime farmland in Canada.
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Bill Clinton
The former U.S. president passed quite a few laws protecting the environment during his time in office. Afterward, the Clinton Foundation established the Clinton Climate Initiative to help communities address the adverse effects of climate change and other environmental issues. They also have programs to prevent deforestation and developing clean energy.
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Melinda and Bill Gates
Co-founders of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the former tech chief and his wife have been working on waste treatment, water recycling, sustainable agricultural development and food security. Bill also launched the Breakthrough Energy Coalition fund that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and consider investments in the alternative energy sector.
College Republicans at dozens of schools have called on the Republican National Committee to support a carbon tax and have loudly warned the party that it will forfeit support from younger voters if it does not. Another recent poll shows that 67 percent of millennial Republican voters say their party needs to do more on climate.
Next year’s election is the crucial test of the nation’s commitment to addressing this crisis, and it is worth remembering that on the day after the 2020 election, the terms of the Paris climate accord will permit the United States to withdraw from it. We cannot allow that to happen. Political will is a renewable resource and must be summoned in this fight. The American people are sovereign, and I am hopeful that they are preparing to issue a command on the climate to those who purport to represent them: “Lead, follow, or get out of the way.”
Al Gore shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change for his work to slow global warming. He is the author of, among other books, “An Inconvenient Truth: The Crisis of Global Warming.”
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Extinction Rebellion activists bring protests to Penneys and Brown Thomas .
Extinction Rebellion activists bring protests to Penneys and Brown ThomasEXTINCTION REBELLION ACTIVISTS brought the protest to Penneys and Brown Thomas stores in Dublin, staging their own fashion show on O’Connell Street this afternoon.
Someone’s going to make money in our warming world.Editor’s please note: We support all peaceful action which promotes the protection of our planet and living an environmentally-friendly life. This includes peaceful protest, demonstrations and the positive actions of standing up against the detrimental effects of climate change. We do not support any illegal, dangerous, violent or unethical actions. 
The video of the 16-year-old Swede came after she delivered an emotional speech regarding the climate crisis, telling world leaders, "How dare you?"WASHINGTON — After teen climate activist Greta Thunberg delivered an emotional speech to world leaders at the United Nations in New York City on Monday, news cameras captured her staring at President Donald Trump when he arrived in the same lobby she was in. 
'It came from the heart, just genuine concern' - Ryan Tubridy addresses Greta Thunberg remarks after backlashThe broadcaster faced a backlash on social media after suggesting that the 16-year-old was too young to be subjected to the global stage and should be "brought home and watch a movie. 
Merkel’s political twilight sees Germany’s influence waneDiplomats in Berlin fumed. “Who gave him the mandate to negotiate a new European security architecture with Russia?” asked one official. “We’re quite happy with the one we have right now, and he shouldn’t be calling it into question. 
Greta Thunberg has poked fun at trolls criticising her climate action campaign by sharing a video which mocked "adults angry at a child".Greta Thunberg has poked fun at trolls criticising her climate action campaign by sharing a video which mocked "adults angry at a child". 
Extreme climate change is pushing people out of their watery farms and sinking villages into new jobs in the city or on the lucrative mammoth-tusk trail.ON THE ZYRYANKA RIVER, Russia —Andrey Danilov eased his motorboat onto the gravel riverbank, where the bones of a woolly mammoth lay scattered on the beach. A putrid odor filled the air — the stench of ancient plants and animals decomposing after millennia entombed in a frozen purgatory. 
The demonstration is part of a week-long protest by the group.A large number of gardaí arrived at the scene earlier this evening and directed protesters to leave the area, warning them that they faced arrest if they did not comply. 
Extinction Rebellion activists bring protests to Penneys and Brown ThomasEXTINCTION REBELLION ACTIVISTS brought the protest to Penneys and Brown Thomas stores in Dublin, staging their own fashion show on O’Connell Street this afternoon. 
Cashing In on Climate Change 
Trump at the UN: Greta Thunberg staring at president in viral video 
'It came from the heart, just genuine concern' - Ryan Tubridy addresses Greta... 
Merkel’s political twilight sees Germany’s influence wane 
Greta Thunberg pokes fun at trolls with 'Greta Thunberg Helpline' 
In fast-thawing Siberia, radical climate change is warping the Earth beneath... 
Extinction Rebellion protesters moved by gardaí during sit-in outside Dáil 
Extinction Rebellion activists bring protests to Penneys and Brown Thomas 
