Linda McClure's articles

The need for climate legislation is based upon a wide body of scientific evidence that shows global warming is happening now and warns of climactic changes as that warming continues.

Skeptics and some in the fossil fuels industries have joined forces to claim that the climate science is invalid, hoping to decrease public and Congressional support by tainting the foundation for legislation.

In many ways, their disinformation campaign carries similarities to the tactics of the tobacco industry that "misled the public about the scientific evidence linking smoking to lung cancer and heart disease," the Union of Concerned Scientists notes in its report Smoke, Mirrors and Hot air: How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco's Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science."

During the recent GOP boycott of climate bill talks in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce sent committee members a letter stating its view of acceptable and unacceptable policies for climate change legislation.

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) characterized this letter as a potential "Nixon to China moment", a possible breakthrough from the Chamber's hard-line opposition to real climate change legislation. After all, it was only a few months earlier that the Chamber filed a petition for a trial on climate change science, with one executive calling it a modern day "Scopes monkey trial."

The Chamber's line in the sand was stated in the letter:

"The Chamber will continue to oppose bad policies that resemble the failed climate proposals of the past, such as bills that jeopardize American jobs, create trade inequalities, leave open the Clean Air Act, open the door to CO2-based mass tort litigation, and further hamper the permitting process for clean energy."

The group has provided a few clues over the past few months as to what it means by the phrase, "open the door to CO2-based mass tort litigation." Those clues can help decipher whether the Chamber is actually open to climate action or deems the science a frivolous figment.

The World Economic Forum warns that in less than 20 years the world may face water bankruptcy caused by mismanagement and over-leveraging of our water supplies in a manner that is as "unsustainable and fragile as that which precipitated the collapse in global financial markets."

One systemic problem is the failure of governments to recognize that water is the resource that links economic growth, food, energy and national security challenges that will be faced by the world over the next few decades. Policies for these key issues tend to ignore consideration of water availability or sustainability under the mistaken view that a renewable resource is infinite.

At the Barcelona climate negotiations this week, the Stockholm International Water Institute, environmental groups and United Nations agencies urged world leaders to recognize water's critical role in climate change adaptation.

So far, though, their pleas have gone unanswered, says WWF International. The negotiating text mentions the dangers to water resources but offers no solution for water management as a tool for adaptation.

“It is imperative that negotiators recognize the crucial importance of wetlands and freshwater as key factors in any climate adaptation plan,” said Denis Landenbergue, manger of wetlands conservation for WWF International. “To ignore the role of water is to cripple any climate change adaptation plans.”