People’s Climate March

Sep 24, 2015

Climate Week NYC 2015

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By Melissa Dimas

NYC residents affected by Superstorm Sandy call for action at last year’s People’s Climate March.

It is climate week in the U.S. and here in New York City, we are coming up on the first anniversary of the People’s Climate March. Along with 400,000 other concerned citizens from around the world, I lined up along Central Park to show support for lawmakers working to create effective climate change policy, and dismay that all across the globe we have not done enough to combat and adapt to climate change. We need an international agreement; and, we needed about 20 years ago.

People’s Climate March in New York City, September 21, 2014.

For the past decade, and many years before that, climate experts and country negotiators have met for the Conference of Parties (COP) to attempt to come to an agreement, on how as a society, we can collectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Every year, it is two steps forward, one step back, but it is important to remember that we are still moving forward. We have come a long way from the 1997 Kyoto Protocol, but here we are, almost 20 years later and no solid agreement.

This year, at the end of November the 21st conference of parties is in Paris. World leaders are attending the COP 21 and there is hope, and momentum, that the world will finally agree to legally binding greenhouse gas emission targets. There are many other critical climate change issues that will be negotiated at the COP 21, and hopefully by the end of the two-week long meeting the world will move three steps forward and never look back.

About the Author: Melissa Dimas works in Region 2 as International Affairs Program Manager.

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Sep 26, 2014

This Week in EPA Science

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By Kacey Fitzpatrick

With more than 300,000 people turning out for the People’s Climate March in New York City and leaders from around the world meeting for the United Nations Climate Summit, climate change has been big news this week. It was also Climate Action Week at EPA, starting with Administrator Gina McCarthy’s message: Climate Week – It’s Time For Action.

As with so many other environmental challenges, the first steps toward taking meaningful action all start with science. Research lays the foundation for understanding our impact on the environment, and finding sustainable solutions for adapting to, and reducing the impact from, a changing climate.

This week’s Research Recap highlights some of the work that EPA researchers have done to support climate action.

Preparing to “Move:” EPA Research Supports Taking Action on Climate Change
EPA researcher Dr. Andy Miller is among the many people studying how climate change is affecting our environment. EPA scientists work behind the scenes to provide the knowledge people need to prepare for climate change and its impacts, so communities will have the best information possible to take action as they prepare their move into the future. Read more.
EPA Science Matters – Climate Change Research Edition
EPA’s Science Matters newsletter features a collection of stories on how EPA researchers and their partners are supporting both the Agency and President Obama to take action on climate change. Our scientists and engineers are providing the science that decision makers, communities, and individuals need for developing strategies and taking action to protect public health and the environment. Read more.

And here’s some more EPA research that has been highlighted this week.

THE PATH(FINDER) FORWARD
EPA’s innovation team is tapping the creativity of agency employees through Pathfinder Innovation Projects which provide space for bold ideas that have the potential for transformational scientific change. The program is an internal competition that provides seed funding and time for EPA Office of Research and Development scientists to pursue high-risk, high-reward research. Read more.
Reigning in the Rain with Satellite and Radar
Accurate rain totals are the basis of watershed modeling for evaluating the water cycle. EPA scientists were involved in a study aimed at providing options for watershed modelers. With options of using land-based or radar data, scientists will be able to conduct more accurate watershed assessments, providing important information for keeping our watersheds healthy. Read more.
LIVE! from the Lake Guardian: Bringing science to the classroom
A group of sixth graders from Charleston, IL took a virtual tour of the U.S. EPA vessel that was collecting samples in Lake Erie. Students and teachers watched as EPA researcher Beth Hinchey Malloy talked about living and working on a boat and showed them around. Eight classes across the Great Lakes region got a first-hand look at the research vessel this week and video chats with EPA scientists will continue throughout the school year. Read more.

If you have any comments or questions about what I share or about the week’s events, please submit them below in the comments section!

About the Author: Student contractor and writer Kacey Fitzpatrick is a frequent contributor to “It All Starts with Science.”

Sep 23, 2014

Preparing to “Move:” EPA Research Supports Taking Action on Climate Change

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By Andy Miller, Ph.D.

Large crowd of climate change marchers in New York CIty

Climate change march in New York City, September 21, 2014.

The issue of climate change is generating a lot of headlines again this week. The “People’s Climate March” in New York City, followed by the Climate Summit at the United Nations are sparking renewed interest in “taking action on climate change,” echoing the White House’s Climate Action Plan that President Obama released last summer. To lend our voices to the chorus, it’s also Climate Action Week here at EPA.

As a researcher working on climate change, I’m hopeful that such events, coupled with people’s own personal experiences, mean we are moving beyond the old “discussions” about climate change that have played out in the media by what seem to be a gang of professional arguers.

More and more people are experiencing higher temperatures, heavier downpours, rising sea levels, longer droughts, and bigger wildfires—all impacts that scientists have expected as the climate changes. Even though we can’t say for certain that any one of these is caused by climate change (see my previous post, What Does Climate Change Have to do with Weather…and Baseball?), taken together they provide increasingly strong evidence that the climate is changing and we need to prepare. And people are beginning to respond in meaningful ways to the reality of climate change.

So how do we know how to prepare? A good analogy to me is my recent move across the country. The basic preparation steps are similar: I looked for information about our new location, talked with experts who move people for a living, and made plans. When I started the actual process, I packed things one or two at a time, thinking about what I had to pack last and unpack first. It’s the same with preparing for climate change. We look for information and talk with experts, and then we make plans. We take actions one at a time, keeping in mind how those actions will affect other actions and don’t try to do everything at once.

Newspapers with articles and photographs of climate change march in New York City.

Taking action on climate change is big news.

EPA’s researchers are among the many people studying how climate change is affecting our environment to provide information to those who are making decisions. We study how rivers and coasts will change, and provide that information to towns, cities, states, and tribes so they can decide how they want to prepare for those changes and ensure their local communities will be resilient and healthy. EPA is doing research so we will continue to have healthy air as summers get hotter and drier. And we are working to develop the information needed by local water treatment facilities to deal with extreme rainfall events, so that our drinking water stays clean.

Knowledge, plans, and informed actions—these are at the heart of Climate Action Week. EPA science works behind the scenes to provide the knowledge people need to prepare for climate change and its impacts, so communities will have the best information possible to take action as they prepare their move into the new conditions brought on by our changing climate.

About the Author:Andy Miller is the Associate Director for Climate in EPA’s Air, Climate, and Energy Research Program that conducts research to assess the impacts of a changing climate and develop the scientific information and tools to act on climate change.

Sep 22, 2014

Climate Summit is a Galvanizing Event

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NYC residents affected by Superstorm Sandy call for action at the People’s Climate March.

By Tasfia Nayem

Tomorrow’s U.N. Climate Summit and the People’s Climate March in New York City this past weekend have helped to further galvanize climate change as an issue of prevailing concern and public importance. The Summit brings together world leaders to set the groundwork for a 2015 agreement that will attempt to increase climate action through reducing emissions, strengthening climate resilience and mobilizing political will across the globe.

The People’s Climate March brought together thousands of participating organizations and is helping to inspire companion marches worldwide. It is thought to be the largest demonstration in support of climate solutions.

In 2009, EPA’s scientific research determined that greenhouse gas pollution threatens Americans’ health and welfare by leading to long lasting changes in our climate. Carbon dioxide is the primary greenhouse gas pollutant, accounting for nearly three-quarters of global greenhouse gas emissions and 84 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. This summer, EPA released the Clean Power Plan proposal, which for the first time sets carbon pollution standards on existing power plants. Power plants are the single largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S., accounting for roughly one-third of all domestic greenhouse gas emissions. While limits have existed for the levels of arsenic, mercury, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particle pollution, there had been no national limits on carbon pollution levels that power plants can emit prior to this summer.

The Clean Power Plan attempts to cut carbon emissions from the power sector nationwide in 2030 by almost a third below 2005 levels, which is equal to the emissions from powering more than half the homes in the U.S. for a year. Not only will the proposal reduce the burden of carbon emissions internationally, but it will also cut particle pollution, nitrogen oxide and sulfur dioxide nationwide by more than 25 percent as a co-benefit, which will prevent up to 6,600 premature deaths, 150,000 asthma attacks in children, and 490,000 missed work or school days.

The plan prepares the nation for the impacts of climate change, while giving states the power to develop plans to meet state-specific goals. While this state-federal partnership is imperative in the national climate justice movement, there’s still a lot to be done. Local, community-based activism is crucial in fostering a community of environmental responsibility. It was on a smaller scale that people took measures to reduce their carbon footprint, applied pressure to representatives to fight for climate action, and propelled the environmental movement. These small-scale and individual actions existed for years prior to EPA’s regulations of greenhouse gases, and need to continue to exist to ensure responsible decision-making that continues to protect human health and the environment. Demonstrations that assemble these communities and the public, like the People’s Climate March, reveal how large the public demand for climate action has become. And at the end of the day, it’s up to the people to ensure we live a world where both our communities and leaders are taking climate action.

About the Author: Tasfia Nayem is an intern working in the Public Affairs Division of EPA’s Region 2. She holds degrees in Environmental Studies and Biology, and you can get a high-five from her this Sunday at the People’s Climate March.