American Indians Help Climate Fight -Climate Crisis News Round Up 4/24/24

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Another study has revealed the danger of plastics to the environment. Research from the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab shows that plastic manufacturing could account for 25% to 35% of the global carbon emission budget in 2050. That budget level has been set to keep global temperatures above pre-industrial levels by no more than 1.5 degrees C. “Currently, the industry is responsible for four times more greenhouse gas emissions than the airline industry, or about 600 coal-fired power plants.” Climatecrisis247 believes that the number of human activities identified as dangers to the climate continues to grow. While the data on plastics is not new, it is become the latest to be highlighted. The challenge to keeping greenhouse gas emissions low is not just to identify sources. It is to find capital, political policies that nations will honor, and corporate promises that will be kept. So far, the track record for these is poor.

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The Department of Defense has issued a climate change policy titled “DOD Combines Adaptation, Mitigation to Confront Climate Change.” The authors wrote that the primary goal is “The Defense Department is actively engaging a two-pronged approach to confront climate change by avoiding the unmanageable while at the same time managing the unavoidable.”Part of the plan is to adapt equipment, including planes and ships. Another way to do this is to decrease energy use via innovation. The paper also points out that the military is dealing with its own climate problems, including the flooding of some of its facilities. Climatecrisis247 believes the document is short on specific plans, which means it is not a map for the DOD to follow if it wants to decrease its contribution to the climate crisis.

The Military Attacks Climate Change

The US is not the only place where activists are filing suits to press governments and industries to enact and follow policies to fight climate change. The latest wave of these is in South Korea. According to Democracy Now, “In South Korea, a court heard from youth climate activists and their families, who accuse the government of failing to meaningfully act on climate change. It’s believed to be the first such case in Asia; similar cases have been filed in Europe and the U.S.” Climatecrisis247 believes that the legal system may be one of the most effective paths to forcing governments and industries to change policies that endanger the climate. In the US, several states and cities have filed suits against the largest oil companies to force them to pay billions of dollars for their decades of pollution.

An Indian Tribe’s Climate Contribution

California will have more access to wind energy. The parties involved released a statement. The “Northern Chumash Tribal Council (NCTC) and Morro Bay Offshore Wind Leaseholders (Leaseholders) have announced a joint position in support of a phased approach to the designation of the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary (CHNMS) by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Office of National Marine Sanctuaries (NOAA ONMS).” The arrangement allows for climate preservation protection of parts of an offshore area while setting up a concrete plan to allow cables to run from wind farms to the coast. Climatecrisis247 believes that this creative compromise between climate-minded landowners and energy producers is an effective path to more energy creation without years of fighting through the court systems to come to a resolution.