https://www.facebook.com/groups/839992706135779/
Tuesday, April 26, 2016
Wednesday, September 16, 2015
climate change reading list
Jimmy Carter. A Call To Action : Women, Religion, Violence, And Power. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014.
Gore, Albert. The Future: Six Drives of Global Change. New York: Random House. 2013.
Griffin, David Ray. Unprecedented: Can Civilization Survive the CO2 Crisis? Atlanta, GA: Clarity Press. 2015.
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Fifth Assessment Report. available online at http://ipcc.ch/.
Jenkins, Willis. The Future of Ethics: Sustainability, Social Justice, and Religious Creativity. Washington DC: Georgetown University Press, 2013.
Klein, Naomi. This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2014. http://thischangeseverything.org/. http://www.naomiklein.org/main.
Bill McKibben. Oil And Honey : The Education Of An Unlikely Activist. New York: Times Books, 2013.
Public Religion Research Institute. Believers, Sympathizers, and Skeptics: Why Americans are Conflicted about Climate Change, Environmental Policy, and Science. Findings from the PRRI/AAR Religion, Values, and Climate Change Survey. [11.21.2014] available online at http://publicreligion.org/research/2014/11/believers-sympathizers-skeptics-americans-conflicted-climate-change-environmental-policy-science/.
Rasmussen, Larry L. Earth-honoring Faith: Religious Ethics in a New Key. New York: Oxford University Press, 2013.
Swimme, Brian Thomas, and Mary Evelyn Tucker. Journey of the Universe. New Haven CT: Yale University Press, 2011.
Sunday, September 13, 2015
Global Warming?
Spiritual Formation
Global Warming? How do we care for
our environment as stewards of God’s creation?
Saint Andrew’s
Episcopal Church
Sunday, September 13,
2015 9am
Theological
reflections on the spiritual context for environmental action
There was a landowner who
put his top employees in charge of his holdings. He said to them, “Take charge
of it – and take care of the place. Bring your families to live on the land,
and enjoy its produce. Serve it faithfully, and from its care you will live
abundantly.”
So the servants came on
board. They lived on the land, and raised families there. They were as fertile
as the land itself and they grew in numbers. And it was theirs for the taking –
to take charge of, to take care of, or to take advantage of – and with the land
they served as their home they would live in hope and abundance, or in fear and
scarcity – it was up to them.
What will they say when
the landlord comes? How will they be with him? As servants entering into joy,
or as sad stewards with empty fields, exhausted resources, and mistreated
fellow creatures, to show for their stewardship?
We are familiar now with the
data and analysis that have exposed to our concern the phenomenon of climate
change. It is a transnational challenge that faces us on a global front. Many
of the crises and problems facing humanity on occasional or local bases connect
to this root phenomenon: we live in the Age of the Anthropocene.
Human activity shapes
geography, climate, biosphere – and even geology. We are making, through our
collected and cumulative activities, a permanent impact on the landscape of our
world: its ice and free water, its air and clouds, its land and growing things
(including food for ourselves and all other animal creatures), and hence the
sustainability of life for ourselves and our fellow beings.
A Turkish seminarian from
Istanbul, an exchange student in the United States, told me he’d polled his
fellow students: If you saw a cricket in your room what would you do? Ninety
percent said, I’d kill it. And these were seminarians! He exclaimed. What
became of compassion for all creatures?
Let us not make the
Anthropocene the anthropocentric. Let us remember our special mandate as human
creatures to care for the earth: not just to multiply and fill it – but to tend
it. We are the stewards, the workers in the garden, of this green and gold, and
glorious, blue white planet. It is our home, but not as owners – not as
exploiters – but as chief tenants. We are the manager of the apartment house,
so to speak, not the landlord.
In our Christian hope we turn
to that landlord and yearn for his presence. We look forward to the return of
our Lord, with joyful expectation but also some anxiety. Our anticipation is
mixed with feelings of loss and grief – and even guilt.
As preparatory work for the
hope that is born in us through faith, we must acknowledge our failures –
perhaps irrecoverable, some of them – as stewards, even brothers and sisters,
to earth and our fellow created beings.
But our Christian
perspective, even in the kingdom of anxiety that is this world, is that we can
do something still worthwhile, small and large, in our collective identity and
our solitary pursuits, to move toward the day of his coming with rejoicing – a
welcome made possible only because we do not stand alone.
God is indeed already with us
– in our suffering and elation, our watchfulness and neglect.
What we face now with
environmental catastrophe is unprecedented in scale, possibly, but not in moral
quality or human impact. A famine up close is a hungry village, a starving
face, and a child with no solace. A forest fire or a drought is in aggregate a
great disaster.
But, again, up close it is
the tragedy of each creature swept up and away by destructive forces. Each of
us has stories to tell, and promises to keep, on the human level – efforts
token or tiny that help us forward as we confront the common foe. Together – as
we band together – there are large things we can do even yet to make the world
a better place.
Maybe the time of changing
light bulbs is over, as enough. But the time of the Anthropocene, the human-fashioned
epoch, has just begun. A couple of speakers at the American Academy of Religion
convention in San Diego this past Thanksgiving – including Bill – had some
things to say that are useful to us all, to guide our deliberations, and set a
spiritual context for our focus on climate change: sustainable living.
Bill McKibben talked about
the comforting whirlwind out of which God spoke to Job. We could distinguish
two calls in that voice: One is the call to humility – we are nowhere when it comes to the vast majesty of creation.
Where
were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
Tell me, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
Or who stretched the line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk,
or who laid its cornerstone
when the morning stars sang together
and all the heavenly beings shouted for joy?
Who
has cut a channel for the torrents of rain,
and a way for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?
and a way for the thunderbolt,
to bring rain on a land where no one lives,
on the desert, which is empty of human life,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
and to make the ground put forth grass?
(Job
38:4-7, 25-27. NRSV)
The other is the call to joy:
we are uniquely able to perceive God’s delight in this world. What we can see
and touch invites us into a joy just of being – not us exploiting or using –
just being.
We need that good-news
reminder at times of distress. There is too much goodness to give up now.
Our keynote speaker in San
Diego was Jimmy Carter, the former president. Jimmy Carter was there to talk
about the plight of women and children around the world. In getting there he
had some things to say about religious attitudes that shape our responses and
he had some things to say about the effect of climate change on women and
children.
That effect, I can tell you
first, is that the women and the children are in so many places and cultures
and traditions the last in line – when food is scarce, medicine is absent, and
there is no roof, or a lack of clothing, they are the ones who go with the
least, the last, and sometimes completely without.
That is only made worse by
climate change – as resources become scarce these the least able to cope, the
most vulnerable – are first to suffer and last to share in what’s left. Women
feel the pain first: climate change will exacerbate their plight in the future.
Cultural attitudes persist
that somehow some group of people are not as well beloved as all God’s children
are – and we are all God’s children – these attitude have played their part in
more than one story of human deprivation and prejudice.
The president’s example was
from his own childhood. He grew up in a small town in Georgia, playing with
other kids, working with them on the farm, and going to school together. That
his was the only white family did not seem to matter.
Except when experts came to
town, to the church, and sought to prove from the Bible that blacks were
inferior to whites and deserved a status of servitude. Folks, it’s just not
there. It’s not in the book.
That teaching was a willful
self-delusion on the part of people who benefited, holding positions of power
and privilege on the basis of that notorious falsehood.
Likewise, then, women and
children, treated as less than equal, as subservient, inferior or less deserving,
as if that was what God mandates in Scripture. Again, folks, it’s just not
there. It’s not in the book. It’s self-delusion, a prop for power – power over
one’s true equals in the sight of God. The truth is, we are equal before God
and equally beloved. To quote the president, “We are all created and loved by
God equally.”
Finally, a third
self-delusion – is this is my own addition to the mix: we are deluding
ourselves if we think our self-assumed pose of superiority to creation is
something mandated in the Bible. We are chosen, yes, and special, because we
are called to self-understanding, to knowledge (as partial as it may be) of our
place in the cosmos, and our role as stewards of the earth.
We have experienced, are
experiencing, and will experience, loss and grief as this world changes – but
that grief and loss have a purpose and a meaning. As Walter Brueggemann points
out, once acknowledged and voiced, it is “the hard, painful, preparatory work
of loss and grief that makes hope credible. Without the preparatory work, the
offer of hope is too easy and too much without context to have transformative
power.”
As to metanoia, that word for a change of heart, two things: “Repent means stop doing it.” Metanoia means so much more. Metanoia is not just a turning
away – it is a turning toward. It is a response to a call to humility and a
call to joy. It is a change of heart, replacing a heart of cold stone with a
living heart of flesh – vulnerable, real, and alive.
As the passages from Job
remind us, there is much to be humbled by when we turn our eyes to the stars –
or to the smallest element of creation. And in what those same eyes see there
is much to respond to with joy – the majesty of the infinite and the delight of
the minute. That humility and that joy are part of what make us human, make us
special, and give us a unique purpose in the plan of God.
Genesis 2:15 (CEB): The
Lord God took the human being and settled him in the garden of Eden to farm it
and to take care of it.
In other words, we are both
to cultivate the land and to take custody of it as servants of the Lord. We are
stewards of the earth, caretakers and custodians.
In Genesis 1:26-28, God says,
“Let us make humanity in our image to resemble us so that they may take
charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, the livestock, all the
earth, and all the crawling things on earth.” God created humanity in God’s own
image, in the divine image God created them, male and female God created them.
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and
master it. Take charge of the fish of the sea, the birds in the sky, and
everything crawling on the ground.”
As the notes to the Common
English Bible inform us, to take charge – to rule as a master over servants, or a king over subjects – is a
way of characterizing human power and authority over the rest of the animal
world. But that in itself does not say anything one way or another about how
that power is exercised, whether in caring for creation or ruling harshly over
it.
We are God’s representatives,
or images, in creation, so exercising that authority of “taking charge” is a
servant role, subservient to the true Lord of the universe. We have power to
alter the world but we depend on the earth and its life for survival.
Our “rule” is subordinate –
submissive to God and God’s will for creation – God’s will, not our own.
Take care, take charge. Fill
the earth, be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. And delight in
it.
Monday, August 3, 2015
Clean Power Plan (US Environmental Protection Agency)
From the White House
We have a moral obligation to leave our children a planet that’s not polluted or damaged. The effects of climate change are already being felt across the nation. In the past three decades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is putting those Americans at greater risk of landing in the hospital. Extreme weather events – from more severe droughts and wildfires in the West to record heat waves – and sea level rise are hitting communities across the country. In fact, 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the first 15 years of this century and last year was the warmest year ever. The most vulnerable among us – including children, older adults, people with heart or lung disease, and people living in poverty – are most at risk from the impacts of climate change. Taking action now is critical.
The Clean Power Plan establishes the first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants. We already set limits that protect public health by reducing soot and other toxic emissions, but until now, existing power plants, the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States, could release as much carbon pollution as they wanted.
The final Clean Power Plan sets flexible and achievable standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, 9 percent more ambitious than the proposal. By setting carbon pollution reduction goals for power plants and enabling states to develop tailored implementation plans to meet those goals, the Clean Power Plan is a strong, flexible framework that will:
The final Clean Power Plan takes into account the unprecedented input EPA received through extensive outreach, including the 4 million comments that were submitted to the agency during the public comment period. The result is a fair, flexible program that will strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy. The Clean Power Plan significantly reduces carbon pollution from the electric power sector while advancing clean energy innovation, development, and deployment. It ensures the U.S. will stay on a path of long-term clean energy investments that will maintain the reliability of our electric grid, promote affordable and clean energy for all Americans, and continue United States leadership on climate action. The Clean Power Plan:
BUILDING ON PROGRESS
The Clean Power Plan builds on steps taken by the Administration, states, cities, and companies to move to cleaner sources of energy.Solar electricity generation has increased more than 20-fold since 2008, and electricity from wind has more than tripled. Efforts such as the following give us a strong head start in meeting the Clean Power Plan’s goals:
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
August 03, 2015
Fact Sheet: President Obama to Announce Historic Carbon Pollution Standards for Power Plants
The Clean Power Plan is a Landmark Action to Protect Public Health,
Reduce Energy Bills for Households and Businesses, Create American
Jobs, and Bring
Clean Power to Communities across the Country
Today at the White House, President Obama and Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy will release the final Clean Power Plan, a historic step in the Obama Administration’s fight against climate change.Clean Power to Communities across the Country
We have a moral obligation to leave our children a planet that’s not polluted or damaged. The effects of climate change are already being felt across the nation. In the past three decades, the percentage of Americans with asthma has more than doubled, and climate change is putting those Americans at greater risk of landing in the hospital. Extreme weather events – from more severe droughts and wildfires in the West to record heat waves – and sea level rise are hitting communities across the country. In fact, 14 of the 15 warmest years on record have all occurred in the first 15 years of this century and last year was the warmest year ever. The most vulnerable among us – including children, older adults, people with heart or lung disease, and people living in poverty – are most at risk from the impacts of climate change. Taking action now is critical.
The Clean Power Plan establishes the first-ever national standards to limit carbon pollution from power plants. We already set limits that protect public health by reducing soot and other toxic emissions, but until now, existing power plants, the largest source of carbon emissions in the United States, could release as much carbon pollution as they wanted.
The final Clean Power Plan sets flexible and achievable standards to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030, 9 percent more ambitious than the proposal. By setting carbon pollution reduction goals for power plants and enabling states to develop tailored implementation plans to meet those goals, the Clean Power Plan is a strong, flexible framework that will:
- Provide significant public health benefits – The Clean Power Plan, and other policies put in place to drive a cleaner energy sector, will reduce premature deaths from power plant emissions by nearly 90 percent in 2030 compared to 2005 and decrease the pollutants that contribute to the soot and smog and can lead to more asthma attacks in kids by more than 70 percent. The Clean Power Plan will also avoid up to 3,600 premature deaths, lead to 90,000 fewer asthma attacks in children, and prevent 300,000 missed work and school days.
- Create tens of thousands of jobs while ensuring grid reliability;
- Drive more aggressive investment in clean energy technologies than the proposed rule, resulting in 30 percent more renewable energy generation in 2030 and continuing to lower the costs of renewable energy.
- Save the average American family nearly $85 on their annual energy bill in 2030, reducing enough energy to power 30 million homes, and save consumers a total of $155 billion from 2020-2030;
- Give a head start to wind and solar deployment and prioritize the deployment of energy efficiency improvements in low-income communities that need it most early in the program through a Clean Energy Incentive Program; and
- Continue American leadership on climate change by keeping us on track to meet the economy-wide emissions targets we have set, including the goal of reducing emissions to 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020 and to 26-28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025.
The final Clean Power Plan takes into account the unprecedented input EPA received through extensive outreach, including the 4 million comments that were submitted to the agency during the public comment period. The result is a fair, flexible program that will strengthen the fast-growing trend toward cleaner and lower-polluting American energy. The Clean Power Plan significantly reduces carbon pollution from the electric power sector while advancing clean energy innovation, development, and deployment. It ensures the U.S. will stay on a path of long-term clean energy investments that will maintain the reliability of our electric grid, promote affordable and clean energy for all Americans, and continue United States leadership on climate action. The Clean Power Plan:
-
Provides Flexibility to States to Choose How to Meet Carbon Standards: EPA’s
Clean Power Plan establishes carbon pollution standards for power
plants, called carbon dioxide (CO2) emission performance rates. States
develop and implement tailored plans to ensure that the power plants in
their state meet these standards– either individually, together, or in
combination with other measures like improvements in renewable energy
and energy efficiency. The final rule provides more flexibility in how
state plans can be designed and implemented, including: streamlined
opportunities for states to include proven strategies like trading and
demand-side energy efficiency in their plans, and allows states to
develop “trading ready” plans to participate in “opt in” to an emission
credit trading market with other states taking parallel approaches
without the need for interstate agreements. All low-carbon electricity
generation technologies, including renewables, energy efficiency,
natural gas, nuclear and carbon capture and storage, can play a role in
state plans.
-
More Time for States Paired With Strong Incentives for Early Deployment of Clean Energy: State
plans are due in September of 2016, but states that need more time can
make an initial submission and request extensions of up to two years for
final plan submission. The compliance averaging period begins in 2022
instead of 2020, and emission reductions are phased in on a gradual
“glide path” to 2030. These provisions to give states and companies more
time to prepare for compliance are paired with a new Clean Energy
Incentive Program to drive deployment of renewable energy and low-income
energy efficiency before 2022.
-
Creates Jobs and Saves Money for Families and Businesses: The
Clean Power Plan builds on the progress states, cities, and businesses
and have been making for years. Since the beginning of 2010, the average
cost of a solar electric system has dropped by half and wind is
increasingly competitive nationwide. The Clean Power Plan will drive
significant new investment in cleaner, more modern and more efficient
technologies, creating tens of thousands of jobs. Under the Clean Power
Plan, by 2030, renewables will account for 28 percent of our capacity,
up from 22 percent in the proposed rule. Due to these improvements, the
Clean Power Plan will save the average American nearly $85 on their
energy bill in 2030, and save consumers a total of $155 billion through
2020-2030, reducing enough energy to power 30 million homes.
-
Rewards States for Early Investment in Clean Energy, Focusing on Low-Income Communities: The
Clean Power Plan establishes a Clean Energy Incentive Program that will
drive additional early deployment of renewable energy and low-income
energy efficiency. Under the program, credits for electricity generated
from renewables in 2020 and 2021 will be awarded to projects that begin
construction after participating states submit their final
implementation plans. The program also prioritizes early investment in
energy efficiency projects in low-income communities by the Federal
government awarding these projects double the number of credits in 2020
and 2021. Taken together, these incentives will drive faster renewable
energy deployment, further reduce technology costs, and lay the
foundation for deep long-term cuts in carbon pollution. In addition, the
Clean Energy Incentive Plan provides additional flexibility for states,
and will increase the overall net benefits of the Clean Power Plan.
-
Ensures Grid Reliability: The Clean Power
Plan contains several important features to ensure grid reliability as
we move to cleaner sources of power. In addition to giving states more
time to develop implementation plans, starting compliance in 2022, and
phasing in the targets over the decade, the rule requires states to
address reliability in their state plans. The final rule also provides a
“reliability safety valve” to address any reliability challenges that
arise on a case-by-case basis. These measures are built on a framework
that is inherently flexible in that it does not impose plant-specific
requirements and provides states flexibility to smooth out their
emission reductions over the period of the plan and across sources.
-
Continues U.S. Leadership on Climate Change: The
Clean Power Plan continues United States leadership on climate change.
By driving emission reductions from power plants, the largest source of
U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, the Clean Power Plan builds on prior
Administration steps to reduce emissions, including historic investments
to deploy clean energy technologies, standards to double the fuel
economy of our cars and light trucks, and steps to reduce methane
pollution. Taken together these measures put the United States on track
to achieve the President’s near-term target to reduce emissions in the
range of 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020, and lay a strong
foundation to deliver against our long-term target to reduce emissions
26 to 28 percent below 2005 levels by 2025. The release of the Clean
Power Plan continues momentum towards international climate talks in
Paris in December, building on announcements to-date of post-2020
targets by countries representing 70 percent of global energy based
carbon emissions.
-
Sets State Targets in a Way That Is Fair and Is Directly Responsive to Input from States, Utilities, and Stakeholders:
In response to input from stakeholders, the final Clean Power Plan
modifies the way that state targets are set by using an approach that
better reflects the way the electricity grid operates, using updated
information about the cost and availability of clean generation
technologies, and establishing separate emission performance rates for
all coal plants and all gas plants.
-
Maintains Energy Efficiency as Key Compliance Tool: In
addition to on-site efficiency and greater are reliance on low and zero
carbon generation, the Clean Power Plan provides states with broad
flexibility to design carbon reduction plans that include energy
efficiency and other emission reduction strategies. EPA’s analysis
shows that energy efficiency is expected to play a major role in meeting
the state targets as a cost-effective and widely-available carbon
reduction tool, saving enough energy to power 30 million homes and
putting money back in ratepayers’ pockets.
-
Requires States to Engage with Vulnerable Populations:
The Clean Power Plan includes provisions that require states to
meaningfully engage with low-income, minority, and tribal communities,
as the states develop their plans. EPA also encourages states to engage
with workers and their representatives in the utility and related
sectors in developing their state plans.
- Includes a Proposed Federal Implementation Plan: EPA is also releasing a proposed federal plan today. This proposed plan will provide a model states can use in designing their plans, and when finalized, will be a backstop to ensure that the Clean Power Plan standards are met in every state.
BUILDING ON PROGRESS
The Clean Power Plan builds on steps taken by the Administration, states, cities, and companies to move to cleaner sources of energy.Solar electricity generation has increased more than 20-fold since 2008, and electricity from wind has more than tripled. Efforts such as the following give us a strong head start in meeting the Clean Power Plan’s goals:
- 50 states with demand-side energy efficiency programs
- 37 states with renewable portfolio standards or goals
- 10 states with market-based greenhouse gas reduction programs
- 25 states with energy efficiency standards or goals
-
Standards for Light and Heavy-Duty Vehicles: Earlier
this summer, the EPA and the Department of Transportation proposed the
second phase of fuel efficiency and greenhouse gas standards for medium-
and heavy-duty vehicles, which if finalized as proposed will reduce 1
billion tons of carbon pollution. The proposed standards build on the
first phase of heavy-duty vehicle requirements and standards for
light-duty vehicles issued during the President’s first term that will
save Americans $1.7 trillion, reduce oil consumption by 2.2 million
barrels per day by 2025, and slash greenhouse gas emissions by 6 billion
metric tons through the lifetime of the program.
-
Low Income Solar: Last month, the White
House announced a new initiative to increase access to solar energy for
all Americans, in particular low-and moderate income communities, and
build a more inclusive workforce. The initiative will help families and
businesses cut their energy bills through launching a National Community
Solar Partnership to unlock access to solar for the nearly 50 percent
of households and business that are renters or do not have adequate roof
space to install solar systems and sets a goal to install 300 megawatts
(MW) of renewable energy in federally subsidized housing by 2020.
Through this initiative housing authorities, rural electric co-ops,
power companies, and organizations in more than 20 states across the
country committed to put in place more than 260 solar energy projects
and philanthropic and impact investors, states, and cities are committed
to invest $520 million to advance community solar and scale up solar
and energy efficiency for low- and moderate- income households. The
initiative also includes AmeriCorps funding to deploy solar and create
jobs in underserved communities and a commitment from the solar industry
to become the most diverse sector of the U.S. energy industry.
-
Economy-Wide Measures to Reduce other Greenhouse Gases: EPA
and other agencies are taking actions to cut methane emissions from oil
and gas systems, landfills, coal mining, and agriculture through
cost-effective voluntary actions and common-sense standards. At the same
time, the U.S. Department of State is working to slash global emissions
of potent industrial greenhouse gases, called hydrofluorocarbons
(HFCs), through an amendment to the Montreal Protocol; EPA is cutting
domestic HFC emissions through its Significant New Alternatives Policy
(SNAP) program; and, the private sector has stepped up with commitments
to cut global HFC emissions equivalent to 700 million metric tons of
carbon pollution through 2025.
-
Investing in Coal Communities, Workers, and Communities: In
February, as part of the President’s FY 2016 budget, the Administration
released the POWER+ Plan to invest in workers and jobs, address
important legacy costs in coal country, and drive the development of
coal technology. The Plan provides dedicated new resources for economic
diversification, job creation, job training, and other employment
services for workers and communities impacted by layoffs at coal mines
and coal-fired power plants; includes unprecedented investments in the
health and retirement security of mineworkers and their families and the
accelerated clean-up of hazardous coal abandoned mine lands; and
provides new tax incentives to support continued technology development
and deployment of carbon capture, utilization, and sequestration
technologies.
-
Energy Efficiency Standards: DOE
set a goal of reducing carbon pollution by 3 billion metric tons
cumulatively by 2030 through energy conservation standards issued during
this Administration. DOE has already finalized energy conservation
standards for 29 categories of appliances and equipment, as well as a
building code determination for commercial buildings. These measures
will also cut consumers' annual electricity bills by billions of
dollars.
- Investing in Clean Energy:In June the White House announced more than $4 billion in private-sector commitments and executive actions to scale up investment in clean energy innovation, including launching a new Clean Energy Impact Investment Center at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to make information about energy and climate programs at DOE and other government agencies accessible and more understandable to the public, including to mission-driven investors.
###
https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/08/03/fact-sheet-president-obama-announce-historic-carbon-pollution-standards
* * *
Compare these two states' emissions rates and goals:
http://www2.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan
* * *
Compare these two states' emissions rates and goals:
In 2012, California’s power sector CO2 emissions were approximately 44 million
metric tons from sources covered by the rule. The amount of energy
produced by fossil-fuel fired plants, and certain low or zero emitting
plants was approximately 138 terawatt hours (TWh)*. So, California’s 2012 emission rate was 698 pounds/megawatt hours (lb/MWh).
EPA is proposing that California develop a plan to lower its carbon pollution to meet its proposed emission rate goal of 537 lb/MWh in 2030.
...
In 2012, Arizona’s power sector CO2 emissions were approximately 37 million
metric tons from sources covered by the rule. The amount of energy
produced by fossil-fuel fired plants, and certain low or zero emitting
plants was approximately 56 terawatt hours (TWh)*. So, Arizona’s 2012 emission rate was 1,453 pounds/megawatt hours (lb/MWh).
EPA is proposing that Arizona develop a plan to lower its carbon pollution to meet its proposed emission rate goal of 702 lb/MWh in 2030.
*includes
existing non-hydro renewable energy generation and approximately 6% of
nuclear generation. The 2012 emission rate shown here has not been
adjusted for any incremental end-use energy efficiency improvements that
states may make as part of their plans to reach these state goals.
http://www2.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan
Monday, July 20, 2015
Global Conference on Religion and Sustainable Development
From Anglican Communion News Service (ACNS)
Anglicans input at global development conference that names faith partnerships as the 'new normal'
Posted on: July 20, 2015 1:23 PM
Based on contributions by Susan Kim and Anglican Alliance
Representatives from the Anglican Communion were among
the presenters at a recent landmark Global Conference on Religion and
Sustainable Development held in Washington, DC that recognised the
important contribution of faith partnerships.
The conference on 7-9 July aimed to connect senior
policymakers to research on how to work effectively in partnership with
faith communities and faith-based organisations towards ending extreme
poverty and promoting sustainable development.
Presenters underlined the central role faith-based
actors play in provision of health care, working to end sexual and
gender-based violence, addressing Ebola and HIV, and responding to
humanitarian crises.
In his opening remarks, World Bank President Dr Jim Kim
cited the Catholic social teaching for “a preferential option for the
poor". He said that every religion shares this fundamental commitment
to the poorest and most vulnerable and that this provided a common
platform with the international development community’s aim to end
extreme poverty.
“We are the first generation in history that can say we
can end extreme poverty in our lifetime,” Dr Kim said. “We can’t get
there without all of you,” he added, addressing the faith communities.
“We need prophetic voices to inspire us and evidence to lead the way.”
The Revd Rachel Carnegie, co-executive director of the Anglican Alliance, spoke at the opening panel and in a session on ending gender-based violence.
"It was a privilege to attend this conference and
experience the range of speakers from faith-based, academic, UN and
bilateral backgrounds,” Carnegie said.
“We not only gained insights on the significant and
distinctive contribution of faith-based actors in relief and
development, but also examined the most effective mechanisms for
building partnerships.”
“This long standing development debate about the value
of faith partnerships appears to have made a gear change. Such
partnerships have become, as one UN participant said, the 'new normal',”
she said.
Carnegie was citing Dr Azza Karam, senior advisor on culture for the
United Nations Population Fund, who stated that the meeting at the World
Bank had given legitimacy to this “new normal” of engagement with faith
actors.
Archbishop Bernard Ntahoturi of the Anglican Church of
Burundi presented a case study in a conference session entitled “Sexual
& Gender-Based Violence”. He shared a compelling portrayal of the
role of the Church in working to end sexual violence. He talked of the
importance of listening to the voices of survivors, creating the local
church as a safe space to connect survivors with other services,
transforming understandings of masculinities and ending the culture of
impunity.
In Burundi, the Anglican Church, together with other
faith-based organisations, has made a remarkable difference in the lives
of people affected by this violence, Archbishop Bernard said. “We are
called to have a concerted effort in areas of prevention, breaking the
silence by denunciation, support for the victims, speaking out for the
weak, the lonely, and the oppressed, without forgetting the power of
prayer.”
Abagail Nelson, senior vice president of programmes at
Episcopal Relief & Development, gave a presentation on the malaria
initiative, Nets for Life. This included statistics on the remarkable
and sustained impact of local church and community mobilisation on
malaria prevention and treatment
Nelson said, “We were really honoured to be part of this
historic event, and also to be able to showcase the extraordinary work
of all our partners in addressing the challenges of extreme poverty and
marginalisation.”
The conference also saw the launch of the Lancet medical
journal series on faith and health, with contributions from academics
and practitioners focusing on the contributions and challenges of the
faith sector on health promotion and service delivery.
The Global Conference on Religion and Sustainable
Development was convened and co-hosted by the World Bank Group, German
Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, U.S. Agency
for International Development, UK Department For International
Development, GHR Foundation, World Vision and the Joint Learning
Initiative on Faith and Local Communities, a coalition of faith-based
organisations and academic institutions.
The conference attracted a unique combination of policy
makers, multilateral and bilateral agencies, religious leaders,
development professionals from faith-based organisations and academics.
The conference process focused on reviewing the evidence
base and developing specific recommendations for action to strengthen
effective partnerships between religious and faith-based groups and the
public sector. It sought to obtain leadership commitments to follow-on
activities and to establish specific next steps.
Susan Kim is a writer for the World Council of Churches.
Read More
http://www.anglicannews.org/news/2015/07/anglicans-input-at-global-development-conference-that-names-faith-partnerships-as-the-new-normal.aspx
Monday, July 13, 2015
Friday, July 10, 2015
C045 Environmentally Responsible Investing (General Convention of the Episcopal Church)
C045
Environmentally Responsible Investing
Topic: Responsible Investment
current text |
original text
Committee:
16 - Environmental Stewardship and Care of CreationProposer:
MassachusettsCurrent version of the text
Resolved, the House
of Deputies concurring, that the 78th General Convention of the
Episcopal Church welcomes the release of the Environmental Protection
Agency’s proposed carbon rule for existing power plants; and be it
further
Resolved, That the 78th General Convention calls upon the Investment Committee of the Executive Council, the Episcopal Church Endowment Fund, and the Episcopal Church Foundation to divest from fossil fuel companies and reinvest in clean renewable energy in a fiscally responsible manner, and be it further
Resolved, That the 78th General Convention calls on the Investment Committee of the Executive Council, the Episcopal Church Endowment Fund, and the Episcopal Church Foundation to refrain from purchasing any new holdings of public equities and corporate bonds of fossil fuel companies, and be it further
Resolved, That the 78th General Convention urges all dioceses and parishes of the Episcopal Church to engage the topic of divestment from fossil fuels and reinvestment in clean energy within the coming year.
Resolved, That the 78th General Convention calls upon the Investment Committee of the Executive Council, the Episcopal Church Endowment Fund, and the Episcopal Church Foundation to divest from fossil fuel companies and reinvest in clean renewable energy in a fiscally responsible manner, and be it further
Resolved, That the 78th General Convention calls on the Investment Committee of the Executive Council, the Episcopal Church Endowment Fund, and the Episcopal Church Foundation to refrain from purchasing any new holdings of public equities and corporate bonds of fossil fuel companies, and be it further
Resolved, That the 78th General Convention urges all dioceses and parishes of the Episcopal Church to engage the topic of divestment from fossil fuels and reinvestment in clean energy within the coming year.
http://www.generalconvention.org/gc/2015-resolutions/C045/current_english_text
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