Climate Letter #704

The new Democratic party platform uses unusually strong language about climate action policy.  Here is an explanation from someone involved in writing it, in collaboration with Bernie Sanders, Bill McKibben and other individuals who are equally intense in their personal commitment.  What remains to be seen is whether the call to action will be pushed loudly or softly on the campaign stage, with most voters not prepared educationally for urgings at that level.

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Meanwhile, the Republican platform could not be more extreme in its opposition.  It makes you wonder about the motives of those who wrote it, since the explicit provisions listed here could not possibly represent the views of more than a small minority of the party’s usual voters.  Every Republican candidate at every level should be called upon to openly declare either support of opposition to each of the provisions.  (Some are already balking.)

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New insights into the way forests are likely to respond to rising CO2 levels and corresponding changes in climate.  This exceptionally thorough study covered all of the major forest regions of North America, largely based on how they have reacted to shifting environmental conditions in the past.  The conclusion does not favor those who expect them to continually serve as a carbon sink.  “Many previous climate modeling studies counted on the boreal forests to save us from the climatic disaster by offsetting our emissions, but we don’t see any greening in our results….”  Eurasian forests, while not included in the study, are thought likely to be comparable.

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