PennFuture Launches Podcasts and Blog with Series from UN Global Warming Conference and Reports on Pennsylvania Legislature’s Clean Vehicles FightInterviews include NPR’s Steve Curwood, US Senator Jeff Bingaman, Pennsylvania State Senator Vince Fumo, State Representative David J. Steil, Others
Pittsburgh, PA - Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) today formally launched the organization’s podcasts and blog, called “Voices of Pennsylvania’s Future,” with two timely series - one, a six

This podcast explains the background and current attack on the proposed Clean Vehicles Program, and includes the December 12, 2005 press conference by both Republican and Democratic state legislators pledging their support for the program.

Hear live reports from the UN Global Warming Conference in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, Joy Bergey talks to London, England’s Deputy Mayor W.D. Gavron about London’s successful congestion fee management scheme; and State Representatives Greg Vitali (Pennsylvania, D-166) and James Marzilli (Massachusetts, D-23) about efforts at the state level to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

The Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee and the Senate Transportation Committee held a joint hearing today to gather information and opinions on the Pennsylvania Clean Vehicle Program. The program, unanimously adopted by the Environmental Quality Board in 1998 during the Ridge Administration, adopts strict tailpipe emissions for automobiles based on the standards in effect in California.

Testifying at today’s hearing was DEP Secretary Katie McGinty, PennDOT Secretary Al Beiler, three representatives from the Automobile Manufacturers Alliance, Nathan Willcox of PennEnvironment and Ted Leonard of AAA.

Both Senator White and Senator Madigan made their displeasure with the Clean Vehicles Program clear. They believe that Pennsylvania does not need the Clean Vehicles Program to meet clean air standards. Secretary McGinty presented information that demonstrates the need for the program to attain the standards, but Sen. White debated her on those points.

During the hearing, PennEnvironment’s Nathan Willcox underwent an intense grilling from Sen. Mary Jo White who challenged his well-documented information and complained about PennEnvironment’s action alerts.

The AAA Executive Director reiterated their opposition to the Clean Vehicle Program, although one wonders if he is expressing the views of a majority of his members.

Kevin Stewart, the Director of Environmental Health for the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Lung Association asked to testify but was turned down. That’s unfortunate because his message, that more than 1 million Pennsylvanians with chronic lung disease need cleaner air, is the one that needs to be heard.

Hear live reports from the UN Global Warming Conference in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, we hear a portion of U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman’s (D-NM)unplanned address at the Conference. He discusses some legislative strategies in the U.S. Senate.

Hear live reports from the UN Global Warming Conference in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, Joy Bergey speaks with NPR’s “Living on Earth” host Steve Curwood about his impressions on the conference and U.S. involvement. She also attends a Youth Protest where members of the Sierra Youth Coalition focused on implementing Article 3.9 of the Kyoto Protocol, a section of the Protocol that focuses on future steps to be taken.

Hear live reports from the UN Global Warming Conference in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, Joy Bergey speaks to several native people from througout the Arctic on December 6, 2005, Arctic Day at the conference.

Hear live reports from the UN Global Warming Conference in Montreal, Canada. In this episode, Joy speaks with Joan Masterton, a member of the Presbyterian Church of Canada’s and their representative to the Ecological Justice Program Committee of Kairos, an ecumenical group in Canada; and Elias Abramides, the Commissioner of the World Council of Churches from Buenos Ares, Argentina.

Things are getting more intense here at the U.N. Summit on global warming. Although the conference started on November 28, only yesterday did heads of state and senior environmental ministers start arriving from around the world.

Paul Martin, Canada’s prime minister, opened the plenary session in what was generally perceived as a strong speech. My Canadian colleagues, however, are quick to point out that Canada is lots of talk with not much action. Although Canada has ratified the Kyoto Treaty, there is concern among Canadians about achieving the goals they have committed to. For example, global warming emissions have increased 24 percent since 1990 (US emissions have increased 14 percent during that time.) Canadian citizens have mentioned to me repeatedly in the past week that U.S. voluntary initiatives, especially from the business community, e.g., green buildings, are far ahead of Canadian initiatives.

Please know, friends in the States, that Canadians and Europeans are highly aware that the Bush Administration does not speak for millions of Americans. Our friends abroad appreciate every single thing we do to pressure our government, both at the federal and state levels, to act now on global warming.

Some background on the Treaty process: This Conference of the Parties of the Kyoto Treaty or “COP,” as its called, is the eleventh such international meeting since the Kyoto Treaty was written in 1997 (hence, this particular conference is referred to as COP11.) This is the first “Meeting of the Parties” since the Kyoto Treaty went into effect in February. So, this conference is actually called COP11/MOP1. How warm and cuddly is that?

Two primary goals of COP11/MOP1 are to work out the nuts and bolts of the Kyoto Treaty now that it is international law, and to determine what will come next, when the treaty expires in 2012 (yes, they think about these things seven years in advance.)

There was news on the issue of nuclear power. Canada is a leading global exporter of uranium, the fuel for nuclear plants. Thus, Canada has been lobbying hard that the sale of uranium to developing countries should qualify for the treaty’s clean development mechanisms (CDMs.) Briefly, CDMs allow developed countries to get credit towards lowering their own emissions when they provide financial backing to “clean,” i.e., low carbon-emitting, energy projects in developing countries. (email me for more details at joybergey@earthlink.net). The conference apparently ruled yesterday that developed countries like Canada can NOT get credit for selling uranium to developing countries. This will no doubt slow the tide of new nukes around the world, although I don’t have the expertise to say how much.

Evening of December 7, Montreal

I’m learning so much about the impact of global warming on the, well, globe, during this conference.

The Inuit are an arctic tribe of 155,000 people living in Canada, Alaska, and Greenland. (These are the people we used to call “Eskimos.”) The Arctic and its indigenous people are already suffering greatly because of the well-documented melting of the snowcaps and land ice. Winter freeze-ups now are delayed in some places until December instead of October, and spring thaws start in March instead of May. Tundra lands that have been frozen for eons are melting. The indigenous peoples’ lifestyles are already changing as a result of this. (hear more details in my podcast, featuring interviews with Inuits.)

Today in Montreal, the Inuit Circumpolar Conference filed a petition with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Their claim charges that the US is responsible for violating Inuit human rights as a direct result of the huge American contribution to global warming. My understanding is that this claim is precedent setting. The Inuit stress that this is not about money — they are not seeking financial damages — but it is about human justice.