Climate Capsule Week of October 13

Highlight of the Week
In Final Presidential Debate, Watch Candidates Discuss Climate Change

This Wednesday marks the final presidential debate before the November 4 elections, and offers the two candidates a widely viewed forum to discuss the critical need for climate action now.

The rise in global warming pollution—in the form of carbon dioxide emissions—is happening faster than expected. Carbon dioxide emissions increased by 3 percent from 2006 to 2007, new numbers considered surprising to many who thought an economic downturn would slow energy consumption.  

A poll released by WorldPublicOpinion.org finds that most supporters of John McCain and Barack Obama actually agree on how the United States should address the energy crisis and solve global warming.

The poll of 1,174 Americans shows that 66 percent would favor the government requiring utilities to use more alternative energy sources. Of these respondents, 75 percent are Obama supporters, 60 percent are McCain supporters, and 59 percent are undecided.

Tomorrow’s debate will be watched by millions of constituents. Our next president must address the need to cut emissions by two percent per year and move to a clean energy and green job economy. 

Public Health At Risk As Planet Warms

Global warming’s tumultuous temperature and precipitation changes may cause a spike in deadly infectious diseases in people and animals, according to this month’s report by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).

The “deadly dozen” diseases such as Lyme disease, yellow fever, plague, and bird flu, may skyrocket as climate change transforms ecosystems for the worse. Babesia, cholera, Ebola, parasites, red tides, Rift Valley fever, sleeping sickness and tuberculosis complete the deadly dozen list, National Geographic reports.

The WCS report called The Deadly Dozen: Wildlife Diseases in the Age of Climate Change was released at the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress held in Spain.

According to the authors, the best defense is good offense—sensitive wildlife monitoring can detect how these diseases are spreading in the animal world so health professionals can prepare to mitigate their impact.  

“The term ‘climate change’ conjures images of melting ice caps and rising sea levels that threaten coastal cities and nations, but just as important is how increasing temperatures and fluctuating precipitation levels will change the distribution of dangerous pathogens,” said Dr. Steven E. Sanderson, WCS President and CEO.

“Without the presence of wildlife, we would be clueless about what's going on in the environment,” said William Karesh, report coauthor and vice president of Global Health Programs at the WCS. “Why wait until people are sick and dying?”

Happening This Week

Congress is on recess this week.

Quote:

“Politically, scientifically, legally, and morally, the question has been settled: regulation of greenhouse gases in the United States is coming.”

—House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman John Dingell (D-MI) and Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee Chairman Rick Boucher (D-VA) in a letter explaining new legislation to reduce global warming pollution, reflecting the growing momentum for Congress to pass a climate plan within the first 100 days of the new administration.

Economic Message of the Week
Conference of Mayors Examines Economic Benefits of Green Economy

Green jobs and investment in our clean energy economy will help dig the United States out of the current financial crisis. Employment in the renewables sector could more than double in the next 10 years, making it the fastest growing employment arena, according to a new report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The report called U.S. Metro Economies: Current and Potential Jobs in the US Economy, says that there are roughly 750,000 jobs related to the green sector in the country today. The report estimates this number will grow to 2,540,800 by 2018 and to 4.2 million jobs by 2038.

The report says economic advantages of the green economy include “the macroeconomic benefits of investment in new technologies, greater productivity, improvements in the U.S. balance of trade, and increased real disposable income across the nation.

“They also include the microeconomic benefits of lower costs of doing business and reduced household energy expenditures. These advantages are manifested in job growth, income growth, and of course, a cleaner environment.”

Last month’s report by the Political Economy Research Institute illustrates that investing in clean energy would create four times as many jobs as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.

Green Recovery: A Program to Create Good Jobs and Start Building a Low-Carbon Economy shows that the United States can create two million jobs nationwide by investing in clean energy technologies that will create good paying jobs, recharge America’s economy, solve the climate crisis, and help protect America’s natural resources for our children’s future.

Economics of Climate Change Dwarf Financial Crisis, Study Says

The world’s economy is losing more money each year from nature loss than through the current financial crisis, according to a new European Union-commissioned study.

The study puts the annual cost of forest loss at between $2 trillion and $5 trillion. This statistic comes from adding up the value of environmental services provided by the world’s forests, such as filtering water and absorbing global warming pollution.

The study was led by Deutsche Bank economist Pavan Sukhdev and parallels the Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change. Sukhdev said that the global ecosystem decline dwarfs the losses in this year’s financial crisis.

“It's not only greater but it's also continuous, it's been happening every year, year after year,” Pavan Sukhdev told the BBC. “So whereas Wall Street by various calculations has to date lost, within the financial sector, $1-$1.5 trillion, the reality is that at today's rate we are losing natural capital at least between $2-$5 trillion every year.”

Sukhdev leads The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity, a study initiated by Germany under its European Union presidency; the European Commission provided funding. The first phase concluded this past spring, when the team released its conclusion that forest decline is costing possibly as much as seven percent of global gross domestic product.