24 Hours of Reality watch party in Pittsburgh

At PennFuture, we work hard every day to win environmental victories for your backyard, your local parks, and our shared planet. There are countless organizations around the globe who are also fighting for the health of people and planet, and the Climate Reality Project is one of them.

This Friday, the Climate Reality Project is presenting "24 Hours of Reality: The World is Watching," a global day of action and music to address climate change. PennFuture has strong ties to the Climate Reality Project as our president and CEO, Larry Schweiger, is a board member or the organization. A little less famous but involved nonetheless, I myself recently became a Climate Reality Leader after attending the training in Miami a little over a month ago.

In order to get the community in Pittsburgh involved, I’ve teamed up with Faith Nicholas, the Student Conservation Association fellow at the Higher Education Climate Consortium, to organize a watch party for the "24 Hours of Reality" so you can be a part of the action. Join us from 3 pm to 9 pm in Sanger Hall on Chatham University’s campus for live-streaming of the broadcast and also to hear about local initiatives fighting for our planet.

During this watch party, you'll be joining millions worldwide in urging our leaders to take action. Each hour, former U.S. Vice President Al Gore will share stories of progress from around the world and talk to influential artists, scientists, thought leaders, and policy makers about the exciting developments in clean energy and other areas that are bringing us to a global turning point on climate change.

This year's broadcast comes at a critical time for our climate, just before world leaders meet in Paris to create a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. 

Snacks and drinks will be provided. Feel free to attend for as long or as little as you like!
For more information and to RSVP go to the event page on Facebook.

Nicole Catino is Penn Future’s 2015 Student Conservation Association Green Cities Sustainability Fellow and is based in Pittsburgh. 

This summer, be a climate activist

Summer is a great time to recharge, relax, and forget about the daunting issues of our time, right? Not so if you’re a climate activist. This has been a busy summer for climate-related activity such as the G7’s commitment to phase out fossil fuels by the end of the century, the Environmental Protection Agency’s release of the first-ever standard on carbon pollution in the U.S., among many other local events that have brought together diverse voices calling for action to combat climate change. 

If you’re interested in contributing your voice as well, PennFuture and its partners are hosting two great events next week. 

Harrisburg: Interfaith Climate Advocacy Training 
PennFuture is joining our friends at Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (PA IPL) in Harrisburg to train people of all faiths to speak with moral authority about climate change and its impact on Pennsylvania.

Image via Flikr user, Nicholas A. Tonelli

Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 
Time: 9:30 AM - 4:00 PM 
Location:
Unitarian Church of Harrisburg
1280 Clover Lane
Harrisburg, PA 17113 

Registration (Tickets $30): http://bit.ly/1TTWINd 


Pittsburgh: Clean Energy Solutions Forum 
PennFuture is joining our friends at Mom's Clean Air Force, PennEnvironment, representatives from local clean-energy companies, and other environmental experts for a forum to discuss how America's Clean Power Plan can re-power the local economy while reducing carbon pollution from power plants.

Image via Flickr user Jeff Kubina

Date: Wednesday, August 26, 2015 
Time: 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM 
Location:
Mt. Lebanon Municipal Building
710 Washington Rd
Pittsburgh, PA 15228 

Registration (Free): 
http://bit.ly/1JiUsUD



Katie Bartolotta is southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.  

"Beat the Heat" with PennFuture and friends on July 30

This summer, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will finalize its Clean Power Plan -- the first federal standard on carbon pollution from power plants. This is big news and an historic achievement toward mitigating climate change. What's more, the rule is a step toward a zero-carbon, clean energy future. 

We need to show strong support for the Clean Power Plan, which will have significant public health benefits and will create jobs in the energy efficiency and renewable energy sectors. It will also provide states the flexibility to implement plans tailored to their unique situations. 

Will you join us during your lunch hour to support the Clean Power Plan? PennFuture and many partner organizations will gather for rallies in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia to show support for the Plan. Bring a friend, hold a sign, and enjoy FREE ice cream. 

Looking forward to seeing you there!

When, where and more:  

Pittsburgh Rally:
Thursday, July 30: 12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
Courtyard of Pittsburgh City-County Building, 414 Grant St., Pittsburgh, Pa. 15219
Updated location: Courtyard at the Allegheny County Courthouse (Enter on Fifth St.), 436 Grant St., Pittsburgh, PA 15219
There will be a brief lineup of speakers and FREE ice cream for attendees. 
Please let us know you'll attend by registering on our website.

Philadelphia Rally:
Thursday, July 30: 12:30 - 1:00 p.m.
Outside of Senator Casey's Office, 2001 Market St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19103
There will be a brief lineup of speakers and FREE ice cream for attendees. 
Please let us know you'll attend by registering on our website.

Katie Bartolotta is PennFuture's southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.

ICYMI: The Weather Channel’s "The Climate 25"

Despite the consensus among climate scientists that human activity causes global warming, some people insist that the jury is still out.  

In response, The Weather Channel has weighed in with its position on climate change: “We report the science, and the science consistently says climate change is real, humans are causing it, and we must prepare for its effects.”

As a follow up to its position statement, they produced a series featuring “The Climate 25,” a diverse group of thought leaders who discuss their perspectives on global climate change and solutions for mitigating it. 

The presentation is simple – participants speak for less than two minutes and the footage is in black and white – but their commentary is illuminating. Their reflections are a stark reminder that inaction on climate change will have wide-reaching and interconnected effects on resource availability, national security, and the global economy. 

Below are just a few quotes that indicate the range of perspectives included in the Weather Channel’s series: 

“You can’t say that environmental regulation automatically causes the economy to stop. It doesn’t. It’s the wrong way to frame the issue.”
--Christine Todd Whitman, Former New Jersey Governor, EPA Administrator (2001-03)

 “Many conflicts throughout our history have been based on resource competition. Increasingly, in the future, we’ll be defining some of our national security interests in those resource contests. And so, availability of energy [is] at the top of the list; availability of fresh water, [is] right up there with energy. You can predict that that drives human activity in a way that can create conflict.”
--General Charles H. Jacoby (Ret.), Commander, U.S. North Command

“Let us change our ways of living because we depend on agriculture and agriculture is now not dependable. Everyone will suffer if it continues like this.”
--Constance Okollet, Community Leader, Uganda

As an organization, we’re excited to advocate for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Clean Power Plan -- the first ever standard on carbon pollution – along with grassroots leaders in Pennsylvania who want to facilitate the transition to a clean energy economy. Like the Climate 25, we know that we don’t have time to debate the facts – we must act. 

Katie Bartolotta is PennFuture's southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.

Guest post: Conservatives for climate change? It’s true. Read on.

This guest post was written by climate advocate Joy Bergey. Joy advocates for clean air, clean energy, and clean water from her base in suburban Philadelphia. Reach her on Facebook, or on Twitter @joybergey. The opinions expressed are her own.

The big news this week about unexpected voices speaking up for action on climate change is, of course, from Pope Francis’ encyclical.  

It’s hard to find a more influential voice than that of His Holiness. And yet, I’ve been hearing an encouraging array of calls for climate action from non-traditional allies, namely, the political right. I’ll share a few.

Conservative politicians and funders

Former member of Congress Bob Inglis now heads the Energy and Enterprise Initiative based at George Mason University. A personal hero of mine, Mr. Inglis famously called for Congress to act on climate when he was running for re-election in South Carolina back in 2010 and paid a steep political price for being ahead of the curve: he was “primaried,” that is to say, he lost his bid for re-election when a Republican to the right of him beat him in the primary election. But that hasn’t slowed Mr. Inglis one bit. Watch his comments (starting at about 24 minutes into the video) at a recent World Resources Institute webinar on pricing climate.

U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a declared candidate for President, is on record calling for his fellow Republicans to take action.  

Jay Faison, a Republican entrepreneur from North Carolina, recently announced he’s putting up $175 million of his own money to get this campaign message out there and put some heat on Republican candidates who haven’t yet seen the light like Sen. Graham. 

Florida Congressman Carlos Curbelo, a Republican whose district includes the Everglades and the Keys, said this: 

This is an important step for conservatives on the climate; just to have a conversation and say, ‘well even though I am not a scientist I can look at very basic data and realize that there are some challenges that we are going to be faced with.’ Scientific American also wrote about his good work. 

Defense experts

Rear Admiral David W. Titley (Ret.), whose national security bona fides and expertise on climate can be questioned by none, is founding director of the Center for Solutions to Weather and Climate Risk at Penn State University. We Pennsylvanians are lucky to have Adm. Titley as a tremendously important voice on the national security threats of climate. We ignore his message at our enormous collective peril. 

George Schultz, who served as Secretary of State under President Reagan, has strong views on the need to act and calls for a revenue-neutral carbon tax. 

Conservative economists

Hank Paulson served as Secretary of the Treasury under Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Paulson says bluntly of inaction on climate, “Doing nothing is radical risk taking.” Read more of his compelling statements, part of the Weather Channel’s exciting “Climate 25” series.

Jerry Taylor, libertarian economist of the Niskanen Center (and formerly of the Cato Institute and the American Legislative Exchange Council) is calling for a carbon tax. His reasoning? It could obviate regulations conservatives find loathsome, plus it could lower taxes.

Even the American Enterprise Institute held a seminar on April 22 (Earth Day!) called “Implementing a Carbon Tax: Practicalities and Prospects.” Read Myron Ebell’s blog post. (The Institute itself does not take policy positions.)

* * * * * * * * *

I am always hopeful that we’ll soon reach the tipping point and decide as a nation to act on climate change. But after decades of pushing for meaningful action, at this point, it’s rare that I feel optimism. And yet, right now, with the eyes of the world on the Pope, and with conservative voices increasingly speaking out, I do feel optimism that we may be nearing broad consensus to #ActOnClimate.

Pope Francis’ encyclical on the environment to be released June 18

Pope Francis’ long-awaited encyclical on the environment is slated for official release on Thursday, June 18. Pope Francis is the leader of 1.2 billion Catholics worldwide and considered one of the most influential people in the world. The Pope's encyclical is expected to be a call to moral action for Catholics (and global citizens alike) to embrace environmental stewardship, as the impacts of a changing climate disproportionately affect the world's most vulnerable citizens.

In anticipation of its release, we rounded up answers to basic questions about papal encyclicals and what to expect from “Laudato Si,” which translates as “Praised Be."

We’ve also shared portions of a pre-encyclical release blog post by our friends at Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (PA IPL), a state affiliate of Interfaith Power and Light, “a national religious response to the threat of climate change.” PA IPL is comprised of hundreds of individuals and over 40 religious institutions across the Commonwealth, bringing people of diverse faith backgrounds together to act on climate. 

As supporters of the environment, we applaud Pope Francis for choosing an encyclical topic with implications for all citizens of this earth but we’d also like to elevate the voices of those for whom this text holds special meaning. As the encyclical is a religious text intended for a Catholic audience, we plan to share commentary from faith leaders in the days after its official release. Follow the hashtags #Encyclical, #OurCommonHome, and #AllAreCalled for the latest on social media.

What’s an encyclical?

From the Pew Research Center:

Encyclicals are papal letters – the word “encyclical” means “circular letter” – usually addressed to Catholic clergy and the laity and containing the pope’s views on church teachings and doctrine in a particular area.

While encyclicals do not set down new church doctrine (the Roman Catholic Church’s core beliefs), they are in essence official statements and are considered authoritative teaching, since popes speak for the church.

How have past popes addressed environmental issues?

From the New York Times:

Recent popes have made clear that human activity is largely to blame for the environmental degradation that is threatening the Earth's ecosystems. They have demanded urgent action by industrialized nations to change their ways and undergo an "ecological conversion" to prevent the poor from paying for the sins of the rich.

Some have even made their points in encyclicals, the most authoritative teaching document a pope can issue. 

Also from the New York Times:

And then there was Pope Benedict XVI, dubbed the "green pope" because he took concrete action to back up his strong ecological calls: Under his watch, the Vatican installed photovoltaic cells on the roof of its main auditorium, a solar cooling unit for its main cafeteria and joined a reforestation project aimed at offsetting its CO2 emissions.

What do we expect will be included in Pope Francis’ encyclical?

From The Guardian:

The [leaked] draft is not a detailed scientific analysis of the global warming crisis. Instead, it is the pope’s reflection of humanity’s God-given responsibility as custodians of the Earth.

At the start of the draft essay, the pope wrote, the Earth “is protesting for the wrong that we are doing to her, because of the irresponsible use and abuse of the goods that God has placed on her. We have grown up thinking that we were her owners and dominators, authorised to loot her. The violence that exists in the human heart, wounded by sin, is also manifest in the symptoms of illness that we see in the Earth, the water, the air and in living things.”

He immediately makes clear, moreover, that unlike previous encyclicals, this one is directed to everyone, regardless of religion. “Faced with the global deterioration of the environment, I want to address every person who inhabits this planet,” the pope wrote. “In this encyclical, I especially propose to enter into discussion with everyone regarding our common home.”

According to the leaked document, the pope will praise the global ecological movement, which has “already travelled a long, rich road and has given rise to numerous groups of ordinary people that have inspired reflection”.

How is the environment an interfaith issue?

From Pennsylvania Interfaith Power and Light (PA IPL) Executive Director Cricket Hunter:

With this encyclical, Pope Francis is creating a beautiful opportunity; while meant for Catholics particularly, his instruction also opens space for all of us to reflect on climate justice, our values, and the teachings of our faiths–to hear the ways in which our diverse traditions speak in harmony and in unison on care of Creation. In this space, we have an opportunity to stand shoulder-to-shoulder, linked by our shared calls to care for the earth, care for the most vulnerable, and look together for solutions.

Katie Bartolotta is PennFuture's southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta. 

Garden for climate: Fighting climate change in your own back yard

For anyone paying attention to the California drought, you've noticed that climate change has altered the way that Californians garden. For example, homeowners now replace grass with drought-tolerant plants to reduce the frequency with which they water their gardens.

However, thinking critically about gardening in a changing climate is not limited to west coast gardeners. From unpredictable growing seasons to the spread of invasive species and pests, gardeners nationwide are experiencing the effects of climate change.

Gardeners are on the front lines of climate change and they’re taking action this May as part of the National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) “Garden for Wildlife” month. As NWF’s state affiliate, we’re happy to share the following smart and simple gardening tips to help you fight climate change and protect wildlife in your own backyard:

• Plant trees to absorb C02
• Replace invasive plants with native species
• Reduce water consumption in your garden 
• Increase household energy efficiency and reduce use of gasoline-powered tools
• Compost kitchen and garden waste
• Recognize your yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation

If you’re a resident of central Pennsylvania, there's a terrific event on the horizon that will bring these tips to life. On May 30, Ed Perry of the National Wildlife Federation is hosting an event titled, “Climate Solutions: Action to Reduce Energy Consumption and Help Pollinators and Wildlife.” Participants will learn how to make their homes more energy efficient and how to provide habitat for pollinators and wildlife. Following a presentation by a great slate of speakers, local homeowners will open their homes and gardens to participants to see these solutions in action!

What’s another tool for curbing carbon pollution and protecting wildlife and habitat? Urge Congress to protect gardens, communities, and wildlife by supporting the EPA Clean Power Plan to reduce carbon pollution from power plants. Contact me at PennFuture to learn how you can get involved.


Katie Bartolotta is southeastern Pennsylvania outreach coordinator for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @KatieBartolotta.

The people marched -- more than 300,000 of them!

Over 300,000 people, frustrated by government inaction on climate change, took to the streets of New York on Sunday, prior to this week's meeting of world leaders at the United Nations. The march attracted some notable figures including former Vice President Al Gore and U.N. Secretary Genereal Ban Ki-moon but it was mostly an event for concerned citizens -- average joes like you and me. 

According to The New York Times, attendees were diverse:
"From the scientists holding an oversize chalkboard to the Hurricane Sandy victims toting life preservers, the march was a self-consciously inclusive affair, with the organizers intent on creating a very big tent, which they hoped would hammer home the relevance of climate change and its effects."

Bill McKibben, one of the march organizers, characterized the noise marchers made as "sounding a burglar alarm on the people who are stealing the future” in a recent TIME article.

And mostly, people marched because they have hope. From The Washington Times:

“'Today I march because I want to behold a brighter future. We have destroyed ourselves. We have destroyed our health, and I’m here because our political leaders have failed us,' Stanley Sturgill, a retired coal miner from Kentucky who’s now fighting black lung, said during a press conference. 'We know together we can build our bright future.'” 

I'm so glad I made the trek to New York on Sunday. It was astounding and deeply moving to be with more than 300,000 people, marching through the streets, calling on the President and Congress to ‪#‎ActOnClimate‬. The day felt historic, something I'll remember decades from now. 


Photo by Karyn L. Wiseman

I've been pushing for climate action for 30 years so I can be as jaded as the next activist about when this country will take meaningful steps to get slow climate change. (How deeply sad that I can no longer even call on the country to stop climate change. That train left the station maybe a decade ago.)

So I'm a realist, and a skeptic, but not entirely without hope. This could be the week that tips the balance. Not all our leaders will ignore the voices of 300,000 people, nor the exciting and well timed announcement this week from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund to divest of fossil fuels. We'll see.

Whatever the outcome in the U.N. this week, the call for change is growing louder. It will eventually be heard.

And I wouldn't have missed the People's Climate March for the world.

Joy Bergey is federal policy director for PennFuture and is based in Philadelphia. She tweets @joybergey.