Three climate actions to take this Earth Day

To celebrate Earth Day, PennFuture brings you three actions that you can take to help mitigate climate change. 

(1) Join us in thanking President Obama for his climate leadership by signing onto the United States’ Paris climate agreement pledge as a citizen signer 

This Earth Day, April 22, 2016, world leaders will gather at the United Nations in New York City to formally sign onto the Paris climate agreement. 

The historic agreement, negotiated by nearly 200 nations in late 2015, addresses the growing threat of global climate change with a pledge to hold the line on global temperature rise to “well below 2º Celsius above pre-industrial levels” and an aim to achieve carbon neutrality in the latter half of the century. 

In fulfillment of goals under the Paris climate agreement, the Obama administration has already taken significant action to mitigate climate change in the United States. This includes the Clean Power Plan, the first-ever limit on carbon pollution from the power sector, as well as the soon-to-be finalized federal methane rule. These measures are important first steps to ensure the transition to clean energy and a habitable planet for future generations. 

Lend your support President Obama’s climate agenda and to the Paris climate agreement as a citizen signer.

(2) Fight climate change in your own backyard 

Photo credit: Ronald Gibson via NWF

Believe it or not, gardeners are on the front lines of climate change. From unpredictable growing seasons to the spread of invasive species and pests, gardeners nationwide are experiencing the negative effects of a warming planet. 

As the National Wildlife Federation’s (NWF) state affiliate, we’re happy to share the following smart and simple tips from its “Gardening for Wildlife” program to help you fight climate change and protect wildlife in your own backyard: 

• Plant trees to absorb CO2 
• Replace invasive plants with native species 
• Reduce water consumption in your garden 
• Reduce use of gasoline-powered tools 
• Compost kitchen and garden waste 
• Recognize your yard as a Certified Wildlife Habitat by the National Wildlife Federation 

(3) Become a green power purchaser 

By purchasing green power, you can help expand the growth of solar and wind farms in Pennsylvania and beyond. Congress has extended Production Tax Credit (PTC) and Investment Tax Credit (ITC) to help tax credits solar and wind farms for the next five years. This will help give clean energy an extra push but we need smart consumers to show interest and keep these pollution-free energy sources growing. 

Photo Credit: Jeff Kubina via Flickr

Need more information on why you should make the switch to renewable energy? Or maybe just more information on how to make the switch? Check out the following short videos by PennFuture - Understanding Your Bill and Making the Switch. 

We hope you’ll take these actions on Earth Day to help mitigate climate change! In addition, feel free to join PennFuture for the many events that we are hosting or participating in throughout Earth Week! 

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

Dom McGraw, PennFuture volunteer based in Philadelphia, contributed to this post.

Poll: Pennsylvanians overwhelmingly want action on climate

Great news about our fellow Pennsylvanians: According to a poll released last week by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), residents of the Commonwealth are downright bullish on having state government, led by Gov. Tom Wolf, take strong action to limit carbon pollution from power plants.

Some surprising highlights of the poll, according to NRDC:

• 82 percent of Pennsylvanians endorse a state-crafted plan to curb carbon pollution -- as we'll need to in the near future, in response to the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan Rule. This includes strong majorities of Democrats, Republicans, and Independents.
• Even stronger numbers: 93 percent of Pennsylvanians support the expansion of utility programs to increase energy efficiency in homes, thus saving homeowners money.
• Better yet: 97 percent of Pennsylvanians see the tremendous promise of energy efficiency. More than 80 percent of us want to boost the state's use of renewable power, including solar and wind.
• And toss that stale old chestnut about "jobs versus the environment" out onto the compost heap, please: More than 60 percent of Pennsylvanians say using more energy from true renewables will create jobs.

Dig into the polling results yourself. Then you'll be more than ready the next time someone tries to tell you we're not ready to act on climate change.

Pennsylvanians are leading the call to a clean energy economy.

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

It's (almost) always sunny in Pennsylvania: Keystone Solar Project is rockin' it!

Big-time solar farms are sprouting all across the Keystone state. I had the good fortune to tour one of them this month. Located on the Kreider farm just south of Lancaster, and currently the largest solar installation in Pennsylvania, this farm is the aptly-named Keystone Solar Project.

Developed by our friends at Community Energy, Inc., and built on the Kreider farm, Keystone came online last October. The ground-mounted panels can produce up to 7.5 million kWh of electricity a year, the equivalent of powering 950 homes. This avoids 4,200 tons of carbon dioxide every year. How cool is that?
 
And for the clean energy geeks out there: You can actually view the current power output of Keystone solar farm (the page is updated every 15 minutes). Gosh, it's almost as good as being there.

The American climate

News you can use

Time to act
Alarmed, doubtful, or dismissive? These are a few of the "six Americas" that comprise the public and their views on climate change. There is hope, according to the authors of a report. A full 90 percent of those polled say the United States should act -- even if it has economic costs. From The Center for American Progress

The science of extreme weather and climate
This week's destructive tornadoes have again brought into the limelight the questions about extreme weather and climate. This column takes an extended look at the scientific literature. From Think Progress

Crape myrtles creep north
Gardeners around Pennsylvania are experiencing our warming climate firsthand -- in earlier-blooming perennials, shrubs and fruits. Not a problem, some say? Learn what has also happened to native hardwood trees at Longwood Gardens and the resulting pests, weeds and disease. From PennLive

All streets are not created equal
How many trees are in your neighborhood? These statistics tell us where the worst urban heat islands are -- and why this is part of the larger discussion of inequality and climate change. From The Atlantic Cities

Fun stuff

Sunny options
It's the unofficial start of summer - and outdoors time is high on all our agendas. How about forgoing the fuel to boil your water and charge your cell -- with these solar-powered alternatives. Every little bit adds up. From Good and Treehugger

Say it ain't so: 400

Other news
The atmosphere's CO2 levels briefly topped 400 parts per million (ppm) --another ominous milestone in the climate crisis -- at an observatory in Hawaii this week. But, alas, that doesn't stop a vocal minority of deniers who've come up with a long list of talking points.

Copernicus also had skeptics -- who persisted for decades after his death --who didn't believe his argument that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. (In 2013, Copernicus' birthday was celebrated with a Google doodle).

But the climate crisis is even more urgent than the 16th century debate over the sun. It's one of the reasons PennFuture has been working on climate change since we were founded -- and recently concluded 100 Days of Action for Climate in Pennsylvania. We're also continuing the fight to confirm Gina McCarthy as EPA administrator: Learn more at www.standwithgina.com.

"It's a natural cycle," "there's no scientific consensus," and "it's a conspiracy" are a few common arguments heavily used by organizations with a stake in dirty fossil fuels.  So we know you'll find good use for these 99 climate-denier rebuttals -- whether you submit a comment to your morning newspaper or drop a line at your next neighborhood cookout.  From Think Progress

Some good news
How many ways can you say it? Environment + economy are not mutually exclusive (it's right in our PennFuture mission). A new report by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) makes clear: over the last decade, EPA regulations imposed about $45 billion in costs, but created $640 billion in benefits. From Triple Pundit

Fun stuff
What would Jules Verne think? A plane has begun a historic around-the-world trip one section at a time. Why is this news? The plane -- Solar Impulse -- is a prototype that flies on solar cells and lithium batteries. From Treehugger

To do
Join PennFuture in Pittsburgh for NWF's Google hangout with renowned climate guru and scientist Dr. Michael Mann. We'll have pizza and snacks as we discuss climate science followed by a Q&A session with Dr. Mann. What's a Google hangout, you ask? It's a virtual meeting -- You can participate right in our Pittsburgh office on Monday, May 13, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Not in Pittsburgh? You can still participate online from your computer or smartphone.

Welcome back, Climate Digest fans.

We're back talking climate news that's good, bad -- and even entertaining. Like our other e-publications, A Climate for Change has joined the blogosphere - and we want to know what you think. You've sent us emails and questions which we always appreciate -- now you can talk back in the climate conversation.

Have you used the latest NWF report on warming and wildlife for reference for a class or community group? Or maybe you're an angler/hunter who notices the changes in our wild natives of the Pennsylvania woods. Tell us about it -- and we'll share your Pa. stories of the climate crisis when we advocate at the State Capitol and on Capitol Hill like we did this past month.

Are you powering your home with sun, wind or the geothermal power beneath our feet? Share your inspirational photos from all corners of Penns' Woods and tell your stories: in your comments here or on our Facebook page.

You can still find all the past issues you need right on our Climate for Change email archive. We love to find the unusual from around the web, because we all need inspiration. The slide show on sustainable Hobbit houses in this 2012 issue got a lot of clicks. Since most Hobbits don't use the internet, we'll leave it to you, our human readers to tell us what you think -- and what we can all do together to confront the crisis of our age.

Happy May to readers new and old -- and welcome to the climate conversation here at PennFuture.