Climate Newsfeed
The Bottom Line
- Carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations in the atmosphere now stand at 385 parts per million (ppm), 67% above the average of the past 800,000 years, and 29% above the maximum of the same period.
- The rate of increase of CO2 is 2.2 ppm/year and getting faster.
- When atmospheric CO2 was above 450 ppm in the earth's history, the planet was completely ice-free, and sea level was 75 meters higher than today.
- The safe upper limit of atmospheric CO2 that we should aim to stay below is probably between 300-350 ppm. We have already overshot it and the longer we stay above that the more likely we will have set in motion long-term climate changes that will proceed beyond human control through powerful geophysical positive feedback mechanisms.
- Sudden warmings of a few degrees in the past have triggered mass extinctions. Current species extinction rate is estimated at 100 to 1000 times the average extinction rates in the evolutionary time scale of planet Earth. A mass extinction is underway and we have to reverse course quickly enough to prevent the worst.
SGF Mission Statement
The Secure Green Future (SGF) project educates, activates and empowers Massachusetts residents to effectively address the converging threats of climate change, resource depletion, and economic meltdown. We work to guide communities toward an essential economic transformation that will make possible a sustainable and just post-carbon future. SGF seeks to break the shackles of what is “politically feasible” and inspire change that addresses the magnitude and urgency of the dangers we are facing. We are committed to the principle of democratic empowerment as the most appropriate means for securing the just and sustainable future that we all deserve, and that is within our reach.
Landslide victories for the Secure Green Future ballot initiative!
Thanks to an incredible grassroots effort, the Secure Green Future ballot question has won in EVERY SINGLE DISTRICT it appeared, and by a total landslide margin! At least 153,252 voters said YES to a Secure Green Future on November 4th, netting the ballot question an astounding 81.44% of the vote!!!
Thanks to all of you who helped get these questions on the ballot and helped to spread the word to voters. Your efforts have paid off big time, and we now have clear evidence that the people of Massachusetts are READY for decisive action to fight climate change and energy uncertainty by transitioning to a secure, green economy NOW.
Earth Day co-opted by corporations
Like so many other good things, Earth Day has also been co-opted by the greed and power of corporations, into an occasion full of commercial possibilities, on top of providing a nice greenwash for all the worst polluters of the world.
This has been done with the HELP of big, "mainstream" environmental organizations who, by the way, never fail to use every opportunity to advertise themselves as "the voice of the environmental movement". They have sold out to corporations, pushed by a strong ideology of market fundamentalism that gradually took over the organizations from their original founders. They have become effective tools and mouthpieces and provided green cover for these corporations in their practice of what Canadian author Naomi Klein termed "disaster capitalism".
Here is a new article on Common Dreams: Mainstream Green Groups Cave In on Climate, Dangerously Allow Industry to Set Agenda
More on Greenwashers and Co-opted “Greens” here: http://www.climatesos.org/resources/ (last section)
We need to take political action against the disease of profit driving everything. We also need to stop supporting, and start exposing these "off-greens". They have to either change their policies and behavior, or step aside.