Join us.

We’re working to create a just society and preserve a healthy environment for future generations. Donate today to help.

Donate

The Hill Op-Ed: UN Glasgow Summit May Be Our Last Chance to Prevent Self-Created Climate Disaster

This op-ed was originally published in The Hill.

Scientific concerns about the impacts and risks of global climate change are scarcely new. In 1988, those concerns became sufficiently widespread in the scientific community that the United Nations established the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), a committee that included hundreds of the world’s most distinguished climate scientists, to study the emerging climate problem and its implications. Since its creation, this panel has issued five full extensive reports. These assessments were soundly criticized by some independent climate scientists as understating the significance and dangers of climate change. However, earlier this month, the IPCC seems to have rectified that purported problem.

In the first segment of its Sixth Assessment, issued earlier this month, the IPCC report states that it "provides a full and comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change that builds upon the previous assessments ... and considers new information and knowledge from the recent scientific literature, including longer observational data sets, new scenarios and model results." This authoritative document draws conclusions that are deeply alarming. While (like all prior assessments) the report does not recommend specific remedial actions, the latest report implicitly suggests an urgent need for collective action to avoid natural devastation and massive future human catastrophes.

The report notes recent advances in climate science. Climate modeling has become more sophisticated and precise, and much helpful new data has been collected through the deployment of additional satellites and ocean buoys and recent robust analyses of ice cores and peat bogs.

New data demonstrates that current climate changes have had little precedent. Atmospheric carbon levels have not been this high for at least 2 million years, and the past five years are "the hottest five-year period in the instrumental record since at least 1850."  Moreover, human activities have "unequivocally" warmed our planet. Without question, the rapid rise in global temperatures since the 19th century has been driven by massive human atmospheric emissions of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. 

Read the full op-ed in The Hill.

Showing 2,828 results

Joel A. Mintz | August 30, 2021

The Hill Op-Ed: UN Glasgow Summit May Be Our Last Chance to Prevent Self-Created Climate Disaster

In the first segment of its Sixth Assessment, issued earlier this month, the IPCC report states that it "provides a full and comprehensive assessment of the physical science basis of climate change that builds upon the previous assessments ... and considers new information and knowledge from the recent scientific literature, including longer observational data sets, new scenarios and model results." This authoritative document draws conclusions that are deeply alarming. While (like all prior assessments) the report does not recommend specific remedial actions, the latest report implicitly suggests an urgent need for collective action to avoid natural devastation and massive future human catastrophes.

Darya Minovi, Katlyn Schmitt | August 30, 2021

Virginia Must Act Now to Hold Polluters Accountable

Virginia is home to thousands of unregulated and aging aboveground hazardous chemical storage tanks, which, when exposed to storms or floods, may be at greater risk of failing or spills. This risk — and the threat it poses to our health and safety — is rising as our climate changes.

Rebecca Bratspies | August 23, 2021

Building Environmental Justice in New York City

This November, New York voters will decide whether to enshrine an explicit environmental right in their state constitution. If adopted, the new section will read, “Every person shall have a right to clean air and water, and a healthful environment.” New York would join several other states, as well as the United Nations and roughly 150 countries across the globe, in recognizing a fundamental human right to breathe clean air and drink clean water. We all deserve to live in healthy communities. Yet, the grim reality is that Black communities, communities of color, and low-income communities frequently have to fight tooth-and-nail for these basic human rights. This situation is neither accidental nor inevitable. New York City is a clear example.

Karen Sokol | August 18, 2021

Bloomberg Law Op-ed: IPCC Report Shows Urgent Need for Two International Climate Policies

The Interdisciplinary Panel on Climate Change report released Aug. 9 declared that evidence is now unequivocal that human activity is driving global warming, and immediate steps must be taken to mitigate profound changes. Karen C. Sokol, professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law and CPR Member Scholar, says two essential international policies must be taken -- ending fossil fuel production and providing communities with the resources to adapt.

Melissa Lutrell, Sidney A. Shapiro | August 17, 2021

The Hill Op-ed: Regulatory Analysis Is Too Important to Be Left to the Economists

The surging COVID-19 delta variant is sending thousands of people to the hospital, killing others, and straining several states' hospital systems to their breaking point. The climate crisis is hurting people, communities and countries as we write this piece, with apocalyptic wildfires, crippling droughts and raging floodwaters. Systemic racism continues unabated, leading to vast economic and environmental injustices. It's beyond time for urgent action, but to get there, the federal government must reform the opaque, biased method it uses to evaluate our nation's public health, economic and environmental protections.

Karen Sokol | August 13, 2021

The Hill Op-ed: The Policy Significance of the Polluters Pay Climate Fund Act

On Aug. 9, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) published the first installment of its latest report assessing the state of scientific knowledge about the climate crisis. As United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres put it in a press release, the report is nothing less than “a code red for humanity.” The good news is that the science indicates that there is still time to respond by taking drastic and rapid action to shift from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy and to keep people safe in the face of the dangerous changes in the climate system that have already taken place. That will be expensive, and a group of senators led by Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) plan to introduce legislation based on the well-established legal and moral principle that those who cause damage should pay for it.

Maggie Dewane | August 12, 2021

Following the Most Recent UN Climate Change Report, Here Are Some Policies to Move Us Forward

The latest report out of the UN's Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change is harrowing. But it's not too late to take action. Here are some of the policies the United States should implement immediately.

Alina Gonzalez | August 9, 2021

How Big of a Deal Is Biden’s Justice40 Initiative?

In his first week of office, President Joe Biden signed an executive order, "Tackling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad," that responds to climate change with an emphasis on environmental justice. Notably, the order creates a government-wide "Justice40 initiative," which sets a goal for disadvantaged communities most impacted by climate change and pollution to receive at least 40 percent of overall benefits from federal investments in climate and clean energy.

Marcha Chaudry | August 2, 2021

To Protect Workers and Consumers, Congress Must End Forced Arbitration

In February, Georgia Rep. Hank Johnson, chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet, reintroduced the FAIR Act. The legislation would protect workers and consumers by eliminating restrictive "forced arbitration" clauses in employment and consumer contracts. The bill would also allow consumers and workers to agree to arbitration after a dispute occurs if doing so is in their best interests. A companion measure has been introduced in the Senate. Arbitration -- a process where third parties resolve legal disputes out of court -- is a standard precondition to most, if not all, nonunion employment and consumer contracts. It's considered "forced" because few consumers and workers are aware that they are agreeing to mandatory arbitration when they sign contracts. In most contracts, arbitration is imposed on a take-it-or-leave-it basis before any dispute even occurs; refusing to sign is rarely a realistic option because other sellers and employers impose similar arbitration requirements.