Why Florida should meet EPA power grab with power grab

Florida is facing aggressive regulatory moves by the Environmental Protection Agency—the moves constitute a power grab because the US Congress was bypassed. Congress did pass a Cap and Trade Bill (HR 2454), but Democrats couldn’t get a seal of approval from the US Senate.

Florida doesn’t have a program set up to manage greenhouse gases. Gov. Rick Scott’s executive order has suspended rule-writing. This summer is technically the deadline.

Florida can actually seize an opportunity here and set an example for other states. All carbon limiting policy and wannabe policy not only involved limiting carbon but also comprised carbon offsets.

Read more at Covering Florida Online.

Climate change leads to blame for hurricanes as summit eyes green profits

According to the Organization of American States, “The creation of carbon markets can involve two environmental risks. One is the risk of replacement of native forests by tree plantations with monocultures, which sequester carbon more quickly. The second environmental risk is financing conservation where no deforestation is occurring, which means forests would have no real value-added in terms of conservation since the forests were protected without payments in the first place.” [Photo US Forest Service, Douglas Firs, by W. E. Steuerwald]Climate change can’t get any crazier, but a little-noticed remark in an Inter Press Service article borders on fantasy. First let me give you some context. The U.N.-affiliated Indigenous Peoples' Global Summit on Climate Change was held in Anchorage this week. Stephen Leahy wrote the article ‘Native peoples sound dire warning.’ I didn’t think you could get more dire than Al Gore; how wrong I was.

Leahy begins his article by blending science, fiction and poetry: “Humanity's hot carbon breath is not just melting the planet’s polar regions, it is disrupting natural systems and livelihoods around the world.” I always like to say anybody can be a writer these days.

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