The Climate Minute - the Longest Day

Today is June 21, 2013, the summer solstice, the day of the year with the longest sunshine period. Here in Boston, the sun rose at 5:08AM and will set at 8:25PM, giving us 15hours, 17min and 5 seconds of daylight. It is literally a planetary event, and is one of the opportunities we are given to recognize our place in the cosmos. Thanks to Pamela Bongas McIntyre for the musical interlude.  More at end of the podcast. So, the Summer Solstice is upon us.  Solstice is derived from the Latin sol (sun) and sistere (to stand still), which the sun seems to do on this long day.  For more on the Solstice go here.  This is an opportunity to reflect on where we fit in and how the universe works… the big question is: Why do humans so resonate with this day/occurrence, even if it is little recognized? Well, ancient peoples were certainly connected to astronomical events like the Solstice.  Stonehenge, for example, is aligned so that the summer solstice comes through the arches…

For more on the various ways different cultures celebrate the solstice, or midsummer, go here. So let's kick off this week's link-a-thon with a little bit of Shakespeare:

"Oh what fools these mortals be."  Sadly apt when you think about the damage we've done to our climate and continue to do every day.

There's been a lot of chatter this week about the President kicking off a new round of climate action in July, possibly including new powerplant rules.  One very interesting issue will be how he will handle the Keystone approval.   Mounting events makes Keystone a harder and harder pill to swallow and make the State Department's draft EIS finding of no adverse environmental impact look more and more silly.  Take for example the drilling wastewater spill that the Canadian government kept under wraps for 11 days while it spilled 2.5 million gallons of wastewater.  The pipeline rupture, which actually may have occurred over the winter but was just noticed in early June, was in a pipeline only five years old. In good news, Energy Secretary Ernest Monitz chose Union of Concerned Scientist President Kevin Knobloch as his chief of staff this week.  As we wrote yesterday, we think Knobloch is an excellent pick and is another example of the Commonwealth's increasing influence on climate change leadership in Washington. Internationally, the Chinese city of Shenzhen kicked off a cap and trade system this week aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Shenzhen, which is in a Chinese "special economic zone" (read proto-free market area) joins six other pilot city-based cap and trade programs as the country attempts to meet its commitment to reduce their carbon emissions to 40-45% below 2005 levels by 2020.  Interestingly they will be getting help from the California Air Resources Board. Apparently there will be a hearing on several carbon tax / climate bills this summer in Washington DC.  From Greenwire: At a briefing with reporters, the California Democrat (Barbara Boxer) said the committee will hold a hearing on climate change next month as part of an effort to move forward on a bill that could potentially put a fee on carbon. Boxer said the committee will hold a hearing in July on climate change that will in part consider a bill she sponsored with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to levy a fee on large fossil fuels facilities, with 40 percent of the proceeds going to energy efficiency, renewable energy and deficit reduction Meanwhile in New England, the recent RGGI auction showed our cap and trade system is alive, well, and producing benefits for all of New England.  And finally, since everyone else in the world is talking about Edward Snowden, we give a little thought to why Snowden's revelations of the "enhanced surveillance" techniques of the American intelligence community might get climate activist a little on edge.  Heck, the folks at Transcanda  already go around equating Keystone protesters with terrorists.  Check out their Powerpoint (when the history of our times it written it will be on three-bullet slides).  Not to be outdone, the Feds are apparently taking a larger interest in the potential intersection of social upheaval and climate change activism. It's enough to get anyone a little paranoid.  Made Ted think of an old song: Must be because I had the flu for Christmas And I'm not feelin' up to par.  It increases my paranoia Like lookin' at my mirror and seein' a lit up police car.  But I'm not givin' in an inch to fear I promised myself this year.  I feel like I owe it to someone.

Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; "Almost Cut My Hair"

(Personally my paranoia go-to song is "For What it's Worth" by Buffalo Springfield, each to his own.) We closed out the podcast with the full mantra from Pamela, make sure you hang on and give it a listen.  Learn more about chanting and mediation here. Stuff to do: For more about the 350Massachusetts "People's Action Assembly on the Climate Crisis" on Sunday, June 30th in Worcester, check out their Facebook page here. For more about the Boston Mayoral Candidate's Environmental Forum on July 9th at Suffolk Law School check out our calendar note here. Remember, for climate activities near you check out our MCAN climate action calendar.  You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it's been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you.  You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automatically here.  Feel free to give us your thoughts on our Facebook page, or through old-fashioned email.  You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, please contribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous backer.  We're at the halfway point in our fiscal year and need help to be able to enter the second half of the year on a strong footing! So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions,  because we accept responsibility for building a durable future and because we believe it is a patriotic duty as citizens, we insist that the US put a price on carbon. Good bye and see you next week…