This is largely due to the fact that, over the last several weeks, there has been extensive coverage of water as a pressing issue, and one that is inextricably bound to climate change.  Much of the coverage revolved around a discussion of James Workman’s book, Heart of Dryness.  He gave a round of interviews and wrote a compelling op-ed in the LA Times about the necessity of addressing water and adaptation in tandem with emissions mitigation at the Copenhagen Climate Conference.  (Water is not on the agenda in Copenhagen.)

Throughout the discussions of water weaves an underlying question:  Is water a unifying or a dividing force?  Heart of Dryness documents that water has the potential to unite people within and across communities.  But, as Workman himself acknowledges, water has been and still is a source of conflict among human populations.

This discussion about water once again leads us to an evaluation of systems.  I agree with Alex Steffen’s assessment that we (yes – me, you, all of us) need to become fluent in the economic and political systems that shape our world and are the primary source of meaningful, far-reaching change (The Revolution Will Not Be Hand-Made).  Because the fact is that water itself – that little H2O molecule – isn’t the issue.  Rather, it is the systems we have created to manage, regulate, trade, protect, distribute and conserve water that have tremendous power over our daily lives.  Indeed, our survival depends on finding and implementing systems that work.

Will water unite or divide?  When it comes down to it, we are the ones who must decide how to best answer that question.

More On Water:

• TED Talk: Anumpam Mishra, The Ancient Ingenuity of Water Harvesting (my favorite of the bunch)
• Watershed (by Vienna Teng)
• Heart of Dryness: How the Last Bushmen Can Help Us Endure the Coming Age of Permanent Drought (James Workman)
• Copenhagen’s Missing Ingredient: Water (James Workman, LA Times)
• James Workman on Tell Me More
• TreeHugger on Heart of Dryness (with video interview of James Workman)

To anyone who has been paying close attention to the climate change discussions, this announcement is not surprising.  It has been clear for quite some time that the Copenhagen conference would most likely not result in a comprehensive climate agreement.  In fact, it would have taken a political miracle.

Then What Does It Mean?

First, this announcement will most likely change the tone, and possibly the quantity, of mainstream media coverage of the Copenhagen conference.  Without the drama-factor of a binding agreement, Copenhagen could become just another blip in the pre-holiday blur of consumerism and gingerbread flavored lattes.

Second, it was already uncertain if President Obama would be attending the Copenhagen summit.  Obama stated that he would travel to Copenhagen if countries were “on the brink of a meaningful agreement.”  For those in the know (see above), this meant he was unlikely to attend.  And now?  It is even more unlikely.  This is extremely unfortunate, as his presence in Copenhagen would have gone a long way towards signaling (both at home and abroad) that the U.S. stands ready to move forward on this crucial issue.  Obama’s attendance would be meaningful.

So, What Now?

Now, we keep moving forward.  We keep drawing attention to the climate change issue in whatever way possible.  Leave comments and write letters to the editor when you see mainstream media covering this issue constructively.  Don’t stop talking about Copenhagen with each other.  In fact, talk about Copenhagen even more.

And contact the White House.  If you’re tired of hearing that (I know I am), too bad.  Do it anyways.  Tell the Administration that climate change is a priority and must be treated accordingly.  Impress upon them that President Obama’s presence at the Copenhagen summit is vitally important to our future, environmentally and economically.

And finally, don’t give up hope.  Yes, this is bad news.  But it is bad news that we expected to hear.  So brace yourselves and keep moving forward.  21 days to go.

Image: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wheatfields/ / CC BY 2.0

Cryptic?  Maybe.  But it shouldn’t be.  It is time for everyone to know what 350 means.  And that’s what October 24th, the International Day of Climate Action, is all about.

What is 350?

350 is the magic number.  350 is the line we have to get back to – or below – right now!  Enough mystery?  Here’s a nifty video put together by the folks over at 350.org, the brains behind the big day, and the launching point for Climate Actions taking place around the world.

Click here to view the embedded video.

For those of you at work or on slow internet connections (I know there’s at least one of you – Hi Mom), 350 is the “safe” level of CO2 in our atmosphere, measured in parts per million (ppm).  At 350 ppm, we will avoid catastrophic, runaway climate change.  Right now we are at 387 ppm.  We need to get back to 350 as quickly as possible.

What You Can Do

For the next few days, we have an addition to this blog.  Oh, look at that in the sidebar!  A neat new widget from 350.org.  All you have to do is enter your zip code to find out about Climate Actions taking place near you.

Pick one.  Go to it.  Talk about it.  Tell your neighbors.  Tell your friends.  Bring your children and explain to them what 350 means.  Talk to them.  Ask them what they think.

And afterward, keep thinking about it.  Write letters to your political leaders.  Keep talking to people.  We only have a couple of months before Copenhagen.  Let’s do everything we can to make the most of it.

(If you are reading this somewhere other than my site, you can go directly to 350.org to look up Climate Actions near you.)

(Oh, and “350 or bust!” is going to be my new – okay, my only – bumper sticker.  Let me know if you want one and I’ll see about getting some printed.)

Superman said that he would really like to take advantage of some of the available tax incentives for alternative energy construction.  He then mumbled something about being able to afford more squeaky toys.

Shoxy was still a little hung over from partying too hard last night.  But she did agree with her brother that conserving energy can make a big difference.

Unfortunately, neither of them had any answers on how we are going to solve the problem of climate change once and for all.  It is a complicated issue, and by the time I had gotten this much out of them, they were on to more important things (mind-controlling the refrigerator door and saving the world from backyard squirrels).

The truth is that my dogs are going to be gone long before we see any cataclysmic effects of climate change.  In fact, they probably won’t be impacted by climate change in any measurable way.

But my mother will likely be around long enough to see the beginning.  Barring unexpected tragedy, I most certainly will be.  And my children, if I have them, will see the full consequences of the action – or inaction – that we take today.  Climate change is not an issue where we can afford to adopt short-term policies.  It is absolutely imperative that we educate ourselves and make long-term decisions based on the big picture.  If we don’t get climate change right, nothing else is going to matter.

But the dogs are right – climate change is a complicated issue.  And part of the problem we have is that people don’t understand it.  In a way, simple information is needed to start thinking about complicated decisions.  Because, believe it or not, you can start thinking about climate change and climate change policy without being a scientific or political expert.

To that end, I have compiled a list of resources – some simple, some not – to help anyone who wants to start learning and thinking about climate change.  And, even better, I’ve assigned them all a difficulty level.  Because no one likes being given the molecular structure of mercury when you were just trying to figure out if it was cold enough to need a coat.

1 = EASIEST  5 = HARDEST

Background Resources

(1) 10 Climate Change Terms Everyone Should Know – My glossary, helpful to understanding anything else you read about climate change.

(1) The Most Terrifying Video You’ll Ever See – The best thing on climate change I’ve ever seen.  Especially good viewing for those of you who don’t believe in climate change.  Not a video of polar bears on melting icebergs.  However, there are smiley faces.

(2) Pew Center Global Warming Facts and Figures – Some nice scientific and statistical basics.

(3) Pew Center Climate Change 101 – This is an incredibly thorough intermediate collection of resources.  Part of what makes it a 3 in my book is that the complete document is fairly long.  This is not a bite-sized overview of climate change.  However, they have broken it down into useful sections.

(5) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports – Much of the core scientific data on everything to do with climate change.

U.S. Legislation

American Clean Energy and Security Act (H.R. 2454)

(1-3) Wikipedia on ACES – Useful shorter summary of the legislation, congressional process, and public debate.  Includes tables that break down required emissions reductions.

(4) Summary – I’ll admit it.  This is the one that I read.

(5) Full Text – You’re ambitious, I tell you, ambitious.  Very impressed.

Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act

(1-4) A variety of Summaries - In a variety of sizes to suit your fancy.

(5) But for those brave souls interested in working their way through all 821 pages, here is the full text of the bill.

Copenhagen, December 2009

(1-3) UN Climate Change Conference Homepage (Denmark) – A great collection of event info, up to date news, and blogs.

(2) Copen-Bloggin’ – The ever informative folks over at Mother Jones provide consistently good coverage of climate change issues.  I have been particularly enjoying the Copen-Bloggin’ posts as December closes in (look for “Copen-Bloggin” in front of the post title).

(2-4) UNFCC General Page – Some general info, press releases, etc.

(5) UNFCC COP15 Info Page – Current draft proposals going into COP15. 

Twitter Tags

I didn’t give the Twitter hashtags a difficulty rating.  You never know what you’re going to get with Twitter, but if you want to indulge in a few different discussions about climate change, this can be a good place to start.

#BAD09 – Blog Action Day ’09 official twitter hashtag.  10,000+ bloggers around the world talking about climate change today.
#aces – Relating to the American Clean Energy and Security Act tag.  Still often used to discuss climate change legislation by some people (like me) who have fallen behind and don’t know about the next hashtag.
#CEJAPA – Relating to the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act.
#climatebill – Yet another one. (The one thing that bugs me about Twitter hashtags is the lack of consolidation. With only 140 characters, you’d think we could agree to use just one.)
#climate – Any and all tweets related to climate change more generally.

And finally – next week, on October 24th, is the International Day of Climate Action.  This doesn’t have a difficulty level.  Anyone can participate and everyone needs to.  Because climate change really matters.  To all of us.  So please go to the website, sign up, and get involved.  It’s just one day, but one day can make a big difference.

Tomorrow, October 15th, is Change.org‘s Blog Action Day ’09.  This year, climate change is the issue at hand.  Over 6,500 bloggers have committed to devote tomorrow’s post to climate change.  They’re not all environmental and political bloggers either.  Parenting bloggers, financial bloggers, hobby bloggers, professional bloggers — this is an international movement to raise the level of awareness and education about an issue that affects each and every one of us.

So if you’re a blogger, hop on over to Blog Action Day ’09 and join the cause, just for a day.  If you’re a non-blogger, keep your ears and eyes open tomorrow for climate change conversations all over the world.  And be sure to stop back here to find out what my greyhounds have to say about climate change.

(I assure you, it’s going to be very deep and profound.)

It can be easy to get lost in the sea of technical jargon accompanying any detailed discussion on climate change. While they are just the tip of the proverbial iceberg, knowing these ten climate change terms will help you to understand what everyone is carrying on about.

Greenhouse Gases (GHGs)

Naturally occurring compounds in the Earth’s atmosphere that allow sunlight to enter the atmosphere. When sunlight is reflected off the Earth’s surface, these gases trap the heat in the atmosphere. Six GHGs – carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride – will be classified as pollutants under the Clean Air Act.

CO2

Of the greenhouse gases, CO2 is receiving the most press these days. Our cars and factories breathe it out. Plants breathe it in. The problem is that these days, we have more cars and factories and fewer plants. There is some debate if other GHGs will be addressed in climate change legislation. There is no debate about CO2.

Tipping Point

“The levels at which the momentum for change becomes unstoppable.” In climate change terms, the atmospheric concentration of CO2 at which some scientists argue there will be no chance of preventing negative consequences of climate change. Some refer to it as a scenario of “irreparable change” – for example, the loss of polar ice sheets that might never be regained. There is still debate about whether a tipping point exists and, if so, the concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere at which this would occur. However, some scientists are concerned that we are approaching the tipping point more quickly than originally predicted.

Mitigation

The process by which human beings attempt to prevent or reduce climate change. Emissions reductions, a shift towards renewable energy, reforestation and prevention of further deforestation, and carbon capture and sequestration all fall under the broader term of mitigation.

Adaptation

The process by which human beings adjust to global changes brought on by climate change. One extreme example of adaption is can be found in the Maldives, an island nation which is preparing to relocate its entire population in the event that the country is submerged by rising ocean waters.

Business As Usual (BAU)

The current emissions level and trajectory for emissions growth. Many models have a projection for results based on BAU emissions.

Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS)

Also known as carbon capture and storage, CCS is an umbrella term for the theoretical process by which CO2 is collected from the atmosphere or at the emission source, and then stuck somewhere not in the atmosphere. While this technology is not yet deployable, it is getting a big chunk of money.

Renewables

Add it to your spellchecker, because this new word is here to stay. Renewables are sources of energy that are continually naturally replenished, such as wind, solar, geothermal heat, rain, and tides. In contrast, while fossil fuels are natural, they are not naturally replenished in a reasonable time for our species.

Cap & Trade

The type of climate change policy proposed by the draft House bill released in April. A cap and trade program is based on a government-mandated ceiling of sector/industry emissions with a system of permits allowing companies a certain amount of emissions, generally measured in millions of metric tons. (For reference, the average carbon footprint of a U.S. resident is 20 metric tons per year.) Companies can then buy and sell permits, which should create a market mechanism for the pricing of carbon.

Copenhagen

The Copenhagen Climate Conference in December 2009 is the last meeting of the members of the United Nations Framework Convention of Climate Change before the renewal of an international agreement on climate change. At this conference, world leaders will come to an agreement to be adopted upon the expiration of the Kyoto Protocol in 2012 – or they won’t. Only time will tell.