The Climate Crisis Isn't On Hold Until After Trump Is Impeached

Everybody's attention span seems fully engaged with impeaching Trump right now. Many people predicted-- correctly-- that that is exactly hat would happen and that it would take a sense of urgency away from other urgent matters, the Climate Crisis being on the top of most lists. This isn't something that we have infinite time to get to; we have very little time get to it and the power of concentrated wealth is lined up against doing anything at all. This is insane, even if arguing that removing Trump would make it easier to address the crisis (which is true).

Nancy Goroff, a celebrated scientist, was the head of the chemistry department at Stony Brook University, where I went to school-- albeit when she was just student herself. Today she's a candidate for Congress on Long Island, in a district occupied by hard-core Trump enabler Lee Zeldin, a foolish guy who somehow has made sure to not understand that there even is a Climate Crisis. Goroff has told me from the first time we ever spoke that she was then thinking of running for Congress because of the Climate Crisis and that she agrees that it's time for scientists to take a more active public role. Today she told me that she "chose to step down from my position as Chair of the Chemistry Department at Stony Brook University to run for Congress because our current representative, Lee Zeldin, has done nothing to help the urgent climate crisis. We live on an island, where coastal erosion, extreme weather, and sea level rise threaten our way of life. Yet Zeldin has voted to prevent federal agencies from even considering climate change in their analysis of government regulations. Our district, our country, and the world need us to take ambitious, sustained action to reduce our CO2 emissions, and the sooner we move forward, the better."

Yesterday Matthew Green, reporting for Reuters, wrote that "Almost 400 scientists have endorsed a civil disobedience campaign aimed at forcing governments to take rapid action to tackle climate change, warning that failure could inflict “incalculable human suffering. In a joint declaration, climate scientists, physicists, biologists, engineers and others from at least 20 countries broke with the caution traditionally associated with academia to side with peaceful protesters courting arrest from Amsterdam to Melbourne."

Wearing white laboratory coats to symbolize their research credentials, a group of about 20 of the signatories gathered on Saturday to read out the text outside London’s century-old Science Museum in the city’s upmarket Kensington district.

“We believe that the continued governmental inaction over the climate and ecological crisis now justifies peaceful and non-violent protest and direct action, even if this goes beyond the bounds of the current law,” said Emily Grossman, a science broadcaster with a PhD in molecular biology. She read the declaration on behalf of the group.

“We therefore support those who are rising up peacefully against governments around the world that are failing to act proportionately to the scale of the crisis,” she said.

The declaration was coordinated by a group of scientists who support Extinction Rebellion, a civil disobedience campaign that formed in Britain a year ago and has since sparked offshoots in dozens of countries.

The group launched a fresh wave of international actions on Monday, aiming to get governments to address an ecological crisis caused by climate change and accelerating extinctions of plant and animal species.

A total of 1,307 volunteers had since been arrested at various protests in London by 2030 GMT on Saturday, Extinction Rebellion said. A further 1,463 volunteers have been arrested in the past week in another 20 cities, including Brussels, Amsterdam, New York, Sydney and Toronto, according to the group’s tally. More protests in this latest wave are due in the coming days.

While many scientists have shunned overt political debate, fearing that being perceived as activists might undermine their claims to objectivity, the 395 academics who had signed the declaration by 1100 GMT on Sunday chose to defy convention.

“The urgency of the crisis is now so great that many scientists feel, as humans, that we now have a moral duty to take radical action,” Grossman told Reuters.

Other signatories included several scientists who contributed to the U.N.-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which has produced a series of reports underscoring the urgency of dramatic cuts in carbon emissions.

“We can’t allow the role of scientists to be to just write papers and publish them in obscure journals and hope somehow that somebody out there will pay attention,” Julia Steinberger, an ecological economist at the University of Leeds and a lead IPCC author, told Reuters.

“We need to be rethinking the role of the scientist and engage with how social change happens at a massive and urgent scale,” she said. “We can’t allow science as usual.”

Extinction Rebellion’s flag is a stylized symbol of an hourglass in a circle, and its disruptive tactics include peacefully occupying bridges and roads.

The group has electrified supporters who said they had despaired at the failure of conventional campaigning to spur action. But its success in paralyzing parts of London has also angered critics who complained the movement has inconvenienced thousands of people and diverted police resources.

Extinction Rebellion is aligned with a school strike movement inspired by Swedish teenage activist Greta Thunberg, which mobilized millions of young people on Sept. 20. It hopes the scientists’ support for the urgency of its message and its embrace of civil disobedience will bolster its legitimacy and draw more volunteers.

The group said more than half the signatories of the declaration are experts in the fields of climate science and the loss of wildlife. Although British universities and institutes were well represented, signatories also worked in countries including the United States, Australia, Spain and France.

Progressive pastor and North Carolina congressional candidate Jason Butler get's the urgency. "This is indeed a crisis that cannot wait," he told me. But the sad reality is that many of our representatives have shown little to no interest in moving to reverse climate change. Here’s why-- most of our elected officials are rich and the rich can shield themselves from the affects of climate change. It will be the poor that suffer first. To me, this is a moral failure. Representatives like my opponent, George Holding, who took nearly $60,000 from oil & gas companies last election cycle, shelf life-saving green energy legislation. Holding recently voted in support of S.J. Res. 24, a 'resolution of disapproval' under the Congressional Review Act that would nullify the EPA's Clean Power Plan-- the first nation-wide limit on greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, and key climate change policy. Holding is content dining with oil executives while the poor and vulnerable suffer. I, unlike my opponent, will stand with these scientists and prophets like Greta Thunberg and move to take urgent and direct action to do all we can to try to reverse this crisis. This can’t wait. We need to fund the campaigns of those who can beat climate deniers, like Holding, in order to save our planet. We’ll have to take matters into our own hands, fill the streets, fund campaigns, and vote like the future of the human race depends on it-- because it does." Contribute to Jason's campaign here.

Kim Williams is the Central Valley progressive running for the Fresno/Merced/Los Baños congressional seat held by conservative Blue Dog Jim Costa. "Our district," she told me. "has the dirtiest air in America, and this is the result of decades of failed policies. Trump compounds the problem with his disparaging rhetoric and through the creation of echo chambers that dismiss every variety of expert testimony and research. Of course, he’s not alone. The Central Valley is home to plenty of climate deniers, but even more problematic are the climate delayers. Jim Costa is one such individual. He rushes to take selfies with Greta Thunberg and then cashes checks from Chevron. He condemns climate change at local democrat club meetings but won’t hold millionaire farmers, like himself, accountable. More than ever we need representation from inside the Central Valley that acknowledges the harsh realities of climate change and supports real reform. Blue dog calls for 'common sense' solutions have loosely translated into no solutions at all." Contribute to Kim's campaign here

Betsy Sweet is the progressive favorite in the Maine U.S. Senate race to replace Susan Collins. Chuck Schumer recruited a middle of the road obedient candidate of his own, Sara Gideon, but, Betsy pointed out-- "I am the only one who supports a Green New Deal. The world is literally and figuratively on fire and politicians in Washington are, at best, bringing a watering can to the edges. We need bold, fast action NOW. We can't wait til 2045-- Gideon's suggestion-- to be fossil fuel free... we must act now. And, for Maine it represents an incredible economic opportunity. We could be the Saudi Arabia of green energy production between solar, wind and ocean/tidal power we could not only make Maine fossil fuel free, but we could export much of that green energy to the rest of New England.  I am calling on the U.S. to END the 20 billion dollars a year of fossil fuel tax payer subsidies and redirect that money to the development of clean, efficient green technologies." Meanwhile Gideon won't comment and Collins takes money from fossil fuel money hand over fist. Contribute to Betsy's campaign here

State Rep. Jon Hoadley (D-MI), who is running for a seat occupied by multimillionaire pollution-protector Fred Upton, told us earlier that "It has never been more critical for our elected leaders to take action to address climate change. As a state representative, I have been proud to be a leader on this issue and, unlike my opponent who is funded by corporate polluters, I will take those same values to congress. I will continue to fight for the environmental issues facing our communities, address the climate crisis, and continue advocating with the thousands of concerned climate activists across southwest Michigan." Contribute to Jon's campaign here.

Rachel Ventura is one of an increasing number of progressive candidates who decided to run because of the Climate Crisis. Her opponent, wealthy New Dem Bill Foster, is an advocate of a go-too-slow approach. But Rachel told us that "the race in Will DuPage, Kane and Kendall counties mirrors the national debate between corporate Democrats and progressives about how we will address the climate crisis. I believe that we need to transition away from of fossil fuels and I oppose the expansion of the such infrastructure. We don’t need the fossil fuels industry, we need energy. This is where my opponent and I differ. He has co-sponsored the Use It Act that waste tax payer dollars in a farce of capturing carbon for Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR). EOR is something the fuel fossil industry has been doing for the last 30 years and in 2018 Trump expanded tax credits from $10/ton to $35/ton with no limit. He also allocated $50/ton if using sequestration. This is a clear tax bail out for the oil companies. They want to pressurized this captured carbon with water to push the oil toward the surface. We can no longer produce cheap oil, and this bill subsidizes the production of oil while compounding the climate crisis. The fossil fuel industry estimates CO2-EOR in United States could generate an additional 240 billion barrels of recoverable oil resources. This would be catastrophic for the environment. These tax credits alone may sequester between 200 million and 2.2 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide. Whereas, I support carbon capture sequestration thru tried and true means using trees, prairie grasses, and soil. This will actually reduce carbon in the atmosphere and protect our oceans, land, and air. I’m a strong advocate for the Green New Deal (GND), $16 trillion dollars job bill that would incentivize making homes more energy efficient or installing solar panels on tax payers homes. The GND would also invest heavily in renewable municipal power and smart grid technology. The United States is far behind other industrialized Nations in using renewable energy. My opponent thinks the GND is a pie in the sky idea." Contribute to Rachel's campaign here.