Northern Spotted Owl. Photo by Dennis Newman.
As if old growth logging, and competition from barred owls wasn’t enough.
There’s another threat to Oregon’s fragile population of northern spotted owls.
Research from Oregon State University says climate change may also hurt the spotted owl’s chances for survival.
A new report from the EPA looks at how Climate Change is affecting the United States. Since 1990 we live in a country that’s warmer, with more heat waves and hurricanes. Sea levels are rising and glaciers are melting.
When President Obama arrives at the U.N. Climate Conference in Copenhagen later this month, he won’t be coming empty handed.
The EPA wants to limit greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks. Photo from ODOT.
Today, the Environmental Protection Agency declared greenhouse gases a threat to public health, and will start regulating them as pollutants under the Clean Air Act. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson says the agency will move forward on plans to control greenhouse emissions from cars and trucks, and from large stationary sources such as factories.
The decision is receiving, so far, unanimous praise from Northwest environmental groups.
Environment Oregon calls this the, “Most significant step the federal government has taken on global warming.”
The Center For Biological Diversity, a national group with offices in Portland says, “We applaud the EPA for moving forward to implement one of our nation’s most successful environmental laws to avert catastrophic runaway global warming.”
Seattle based Earthjustice adds, “We are heartened to see that our government is recognizing the global warming threat.”
One of the hottest stories on the web today. The Environmental Protection Agency has decided that greenhouse gases are a threat to human health and need to be regulated. This could be a major shift in how the federal government deal with climate change. Rather than waiting for Congress to pass a law, the decision could allow the Obama Administration to take action by itself to control carbon emissions.
See stories from:
Associated Press via Yahoo News
New York Times
Washington Post
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson holds a press conference at 10:15am, Portland time. Check back for live updates and hopefully streaming video.
If you’re looking for independent, citizen driven coverage of the U.N. Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, you’ll want to check out The Uptake. This is a citizen journalism news site based in Minnesota. Full disclosure here… a good friend of mine is one of the founders.
The Uptake has an impressive array of live and streaming video, video on demand, plus twitter feeds and live blogging.
Here’s a look at what they’re streaming now. If you can’t see it here please go directly to The Uptake home page or click on the headline of this story.
If you’re following this on Twitter, check out the #cop15 and #copenhagen hash tags.
While Congress dithers on climate change legislation, a new report says we’re actually in pretty good shape for the upcoming global warming talks in Copenhagen. The reason? The report says several states are showing strong leadership on global warming and that’s giving the U.S. a head start on reducing carbon emissions.
Although the report is national in scope, it was released locally by Environment Oregon.
Here are some of the major findings:
Capping Carbon: Six states, including California, have set caps on carbon pollution. There’s also a regional cap-and-trade program for power plant emissions in the Northeast. These efforts will cut carbon emissions by 270 million metric tons annually by 2020. Oregon tried to create a cap-and-trade system during the last legislative session, but business groups and utilities were able to kill it.
Clean Energy: 29 states, including Oregon, now require that a certain percentage of power in the state come from renewable sources. In Oregon, we’re aiming for a 25% renewable energy standard by 2025. Meanwhile, 22 states are taking concrete steps to improve energy efficiency in homes and buildings. Others, including Oregon, are looking at new rules on low-carbon fuel for cars and trucks.
States Are Leading By Example: California’s clean cars program has been adopted by 14 states, including Oregon and Washington. There’s an effort underway to make it a national program. That would mean 31 million fewer tons of carbon emissions every year, by 2020. States have also led the way on efficiency standards for appliances and lighting. The federal government is considering national standards.
More on this after the video…
The result of all these initiatives is that the United States is already on track for removing 536 million tons of carbon every year by 2020.
Meanwhile, check out the new “We’re Ready” video produced by Environment America.
Ever have one of those days? You make a lot of phone calls and nobody is calling you back? That’s what I get for slacking off yesterday and trying to do some news gathering the day before a long Holiday weekend.
When they do call back, I’ll have some interesting stuff to report. But in the meantime, a few things to pass along that I should have already posted.
The climate change study was conducted in the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest. Photo by Mike Gooseff, OSU.
The Impact Of Climate Change On Western Oregon
Research by Oregon State University shows that snowpack in the Cascades is about half of what it was 77 years ago. It’s not that we’re getting less precipitation. It’s that we’re getting less snow and what we do get is melting faster.
Since 1958, temperatures in January, March and April have increased an average of four degrees. Spring is arriving earlier. But the study also shows little change in average temperatures the other times of the year.
“What we’ve seen the most already, and will probably see even more in the future, is declining snowpacks and related effects on stream flows,” says Julia Jones, a professor of geosciences at OSU and coordinator of the report.
But what’s not so clear is how this will impact trees and vegetation. Jones says they have some ability to adapt to changing climate. Older Douglas Fir, for example, can survive droughts by shutting down their photosynthesis, she says. “Some of them are 500 years old and have already lived through a lot of climate variability, they get knocked around all the time.”
Waldo Lake Gas Motor Ban Supported At Public Hearing
The overwhelming number of people who testified at this week’s hearing on the Waldo Lake motor ban were in favor of the idea. The Eugene Register Guard estimated that about 75% of those who testified were in favor while 25% were against.
See Story: Many Favor Ban On Motors At Waldo Lake
The Oregon State Marine Board is looking at banning all gas boat motors and float planes from Waldo Lake, but allowing electric motors. Waldo Lake is more than a mile high in the Cascades in far eastern Lane County. If the ban is approved, it would be the largest “no gas motor” lake in the state.
Interior Announces Oil and Gas Lease Auctions For Oregon
The energy industry will have four chances next year to bid on oil and natural gas leases on federal lands in Oregon. The auctions are scheduled for March, June, September and December. The Bureau of Land Management says there are more than 500 leases available representing about 775,000 acres in Oregon and Washington.
But in Oregon, auctions are frequently canceled for lack of interest. Last year, only one auction was held and no bids were offered.
Yes, there really was a nearly naked PETA protestor painted to look like Mother Earth.
There was also a woman dressed up as a polar bear trying to convince me the species wasn’t in trouble.
The rallies were peaceful. Though I did see one man being arrested. “You broke the law when you made contact with him,” I heard the police officer scold him. “But he was in my face yelling at me,” the arrested man protested. I felt sorry for the guy. He was led away in handcuffs.
If you only went by who rounded up the most supporters, then the night belonged to the Gore protestors. I’d guess a few hundred people came to the Americans For Prosperity rally next to Keller fountain. They obviously had been preparing for some time. One of the speakers mentioned something about a bus and car caravan coming down from the Puget Sound area.
There were only a few dozen Gore supporters, not too surprising considering environmental groups only heard about the protest plans the day before.
But it wasn’t until I began to walk around that I noticed something really important. Despite the rhetoric, despite the chants, people were talking to each other. Small groups – maybe a dozen or so by my count – of Gore supporters and protestors talking to each other, discussing the issues, trying to make sense of it all. They were passionate, intelligent, knowledgeable and above all, respectful to the those they disagreed with.
Things turned kind of stupid when the Americans For Prosperity Rally broke up and the protestors walked Keller Auditorium chanting, “Gore Lies!” This was followed by some yelling back and forth across SW 3rd Ave. None of it was very illuminating.
But those small person-to-person conversations continued. I’m not sure any minds were changed. But was good to see that despite the strong feelings on both sides, ordinary Oregonians were still taking part in an important conversation about climate change, global warming and how we move forward.
With less than three hours to go, some updates to pass along about the rallies and protests planned outside Keller Auditorium.
At least three groups plan to protest outside Gore's speech tonight.
The Oregon League of Conservation Voters has joined the cause to support for former Vice-President Al Gore. Get more information on the OLCV blog page, “Drown Out The Tea Party”. Environment Oregon has sent out messages via Twitter and Facebook.
All the new posts and tweets point in one direction, the Repower America sign up page. So far, this page still says the rally starts at 6:00pm outside Keller Auditorium at SW 3rd Ave and Clay. But Andy Grow of Climate Solutions says they’re hoping people will start showing up about 5:30pm.
NOTE: Please be careful about what you read in the comment section of the blog. Some anti-Gore groups have been posting misinformation about where the rallies will be held. Until further notice, use the Repower America link as your best source.
Some of this last minute support appears to have been motivated by some anti-Gore graffiti that sprayed painted on the outside of Keller Auditorium.
At least three groups plan to protest Gore’s appearance, including MoveOnDotGore, Americans For Prosperity, and PETA.
Gore’s speech at Keller starts at 7:30pm.
At least two more groups are calling for protests outside Keller Auditorium, the stage for tonight’s public lecture by former Vice President Al Gore.
Joining the anti-Gore protests will be Americans For Prosperity, a group that opposes cap-and-trade legislation. In their view, it’s an unaffordable tax on energy. The group’s President Tim Phillips will be speaking at the Keller Fountain about 5:30pm.
That’s in addition to the protest already planned by MoveOnDotGore. This group will gather outside Keller about the same time and their agenda appears very similar to Americans For Prosperity, against cap-and-trade and doubters on climate change.
Plus, according to Willamette Week, PETA plans a third protest. They want Gore to stop eating meat and prove his “green” credentials.
The Oregonian reports this morning that someone vandalized Keller Auditorium with anti-Gore graffiti.
Meanwhile environmental groups are rallying supporters to put on a counter demonstration. Repower America, Climate Solutions and Oregon Environmental Council are all spreading the word to gather outside Keller starting about 5:30pm. Get more information here.
So, PETA is promising a “nearly” naked Mother Earth, and MoveOnDotGore is asking people to show up in polar bear costumes. Could be quite show. The best seats for tonight may be outside of Keller.
But on a serious note, no matter how you feel about Gore, climate change and cap-and-trade, this is an excellent opportunity to show up and be heard. With the United Nations Climate Change conference starting in less than three weeks, this issue will dominate the headlines for some time to come.
