Two steps forward

Since I may have been a bit pessimistic in my post last week -- complaining about insufficient progress on climate -- let's look at two brighter stories that have come to light since then.

-- A rare sign of hope has emerged from a petroleum company: Shell Oil is recommending its investors support a shareholder resolution that would have the company report annually on how it's preparing its business model for potential risks posed by climate change. To pass, the resolution would need the support of 75 percent of its shareholders at its annual meeting in May.

(But Shell hasn't completely changed its tune as it also announced that it intends to resume drilling in the arctic. Sigh.)

-- And more props to President Obama for smart, long-term thinking about how we'll deal with the damage that climate change will almost invariably bring. He signed an executive order last week establishing the Federal Flood Risk Management Standard. To quote the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), "The new federal flood risk standard requires all future federal investments in and affecting floodplains to meet the level of resilience as established by the Standard. For example, this includes where federal funds are used to build new structures and facilities or to rebuild those that have been damaged."

Learning from the devastation caused by Superstorm Sandy, and knowing that these catastrophic weather events will only increase in number as the atmosphere warms, it's good to know the President isn't hiding his head in the sand from our responsibility to future generations. Thanks, O!

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