Category: Environment

Climate Change, Environment, Health March 17, 2019August 20, 2019

Think Green When Making Weekend & Vacation Plans

Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report | Perspective | March 17, 2019)
by Noreen Wise

GREEN should forever be at the forefront of our minds whenever we make weekend plans as well as vacation plans.

Climate Action, is nothing more than a resolution. A proposal. An urgent call of action to help address the most challenging crisis facing America and every nation around the world. Climate change impacts all of us. The traumatic reality brings our diverse global population together through a shared purpose.

With the arrival of spring, we can move into the GREEN fast lane and start planting trees. As many trees as space allows. Pakistan has planted over a billion trees. The most important step for us to remember here in America is that steady consistency is the best path forward. Let’s be inclusive. Let’s create a vision for solving this crisis that the vast majority will identify with and participate in. No closed doors. No closed minds.

Here’s a quick lesson on how to properly plant a tree:

Have fun! Make it a family or friend event. It’s wonderful to know that around the world, communities are gathering to plant trees. Not only will this reduce carbon, it will provide cleaner oxygen and a more beautiful environment that will add cheer to our lives. Health and beauty are worth fighting hard for.

Climate Change, Environment, Legislative Branch February 9, 2019March 3, 2019

Weekend Climate Change Fight Plan

Washington (Gallant Gold Media Hill Report) – Every Friday, from this day forward, we need to take a moment while chilling after work, and figure out what efforts we can exert over the weekend to aggressively fight the effects of climate change. This should become our new normal, the same way we tackle our other house chores, yard work, and exercise routines. Climate change isn’t going away, it’s only going to get worse.

Typically we feel a great sense of pride when we finish that weekend project. Painting the den. Working in the garden or mowing the lawn. Completing an oil painting. Expanding the family tree on Ancestry.com. Carving out family time for tackling climate change every single weekend will make so much sense once we start. It’ll feel very similar to buying a pet. One day there’s no pet, and the next day there is. The family has to launch immediately. All hands on deck.

Wednesday February 6, 2019, was a significant day on Capitol Hill. The House Natural Resource Committee held it’s first hearing on climate change in more than a decade. Witnesses pleaded their case in support of immediate and aggressive action by Congress to stem the violent and deadly force of climate change. Even the Republicans were convinced in the mandate that Congress has to take action.

Way out in front leading the conversation, was the Governor of North Carolina. North Carolina knows all to well the importance of taking climate change seriously. In September 2018, it was pummeled by Hurricane Florence so massive, it walloped 6 trillion gallons of rain across major sections of the congested coastline turning miles of I-40 into a river, causing $17 Billion in damage. Thirty-six people were killed. The forceful winds and drenching rains reeked havoc more then 100 miles inland, pounding two of the nations largest military bases located in Fayetteville, NC. There’s nothing like the voice of experience to drive home the point about the importance of taking aggressive action in battling the effect of climate change. North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper is a man on a mission, noting that the state just suffered two “once every 500 years” storms.

“I urge congress… to match the level determination brought to recovery efforts in our fight to reduce the effects of climate change.” ~Gov Roy Cooper (D-NC)

Cimate change is the great equalizer. It effects every single one of us, and it will take every single one of us to curb the brutal impact of an angry Mother Nature.

This weekend’s Climate Change efforts to choose from. These are very simple. It’s okay to choose all:

Tighten taps on all the sinks
Use cold water when washing clothes
replace lightbulbs with LED
recycle
plant a tree… or two
Walk or bike instead of driving
Research green energy and create timeline for transitioning

Environment, Health, Legislative Branch February 2, 2019April 27, 2020

Pesticide Chlorpyrifos Lowers Kids IQ | Bill to Ban

Washington (GGM) Analysis | February 2, 2019
by Noreen Wise

Chlorpyrifos was banned from home use in 2000, after years of monitoring its impact on public health. At the time, scientists proved conclusively that chlorpyrifos resulted in a permanent negative impact to public health, particularly children, when exposed. The chlorpyrifos damage to the American public includes:

developmental impairment of a child’s brain
environmental lowering of IQ
reduced working memory
delayed motor development
tremors
cancer
pregnant moms exposed to chlorpyrifos are 60% more likely to give birth to a child with autism spectrum disorder

In March 2017, shortly after Scott Pruitt was sworn in as EPA Director, Pruitt swiftly moved to reverse the late 2015 conclusion by the EPA that any of the existing predetermined tolerances to the exposure to chlorpyrifos were safe. Pruitt’s reversal, empowered farmers to continue the use of chlorpyrifos on our food supply.

The new year brought a breath of fresh, clean air to the federal legislature in DC, sweeping in the Democratic House Majority. On day one, January 3, 2019, Representative Nydia Velazquez of NY’s 7th District introduced H.R. 230: Ban Toxic Pesticides Act of 2019 along with her 55 co-sponsors (54-D, 1-R) in a valiant effort to finally ban chlorpyrifos from farming and the American food supply.

Several big hurdles must be overcome before H.R. 230: Ban Toxic Pesticides Act of 2019 can be enacted and become law.

The next steps for Representative Nydia Velazquez and co-sponsors:

consider the bill in committee
bring to House floor for a vote
bring to Senate floor for a vote
signed by the President

CALL to ACTION: The American people must unite in support of this vital, life-saving ban on toxic chemicals. Call or email Congressional Representatives and Senators, as well as post on their Facebook Pages, to let them know that we demand their support for this critical Ban on Toxic Chemicals.

Climate Change, Environment, Legislative Branch, Mitch McConnell, Senate December 22, 2018July 11, 2019

McConnell Most Responsible for Climate Change

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell was first elected to the United States Senate in 1984. After serving five terms, he was re-elected to a sixth in 2014. He steadily rose the ranks to various leadership positions:

National Republican Senatorial Committee | 1998 – 2000
Majority Whip | 2003 – 2005, 108th Congress
Minority Leader | 2006 – 2014
Majority Leader | 2014 – present

The global temperature in 1984, when McConnell was first elected, was 14.10 Celsius / 57.38 Fahrenheit. During the thirty-four years since then, the global temperature has risen to approximately 14.8 Celsius / 58.64 Fahrenheit, more than half of one full degree. Numerous urgent international global warming warnings have spanned the past three plus decades; McConnell was present for every single one of these. In his leadership capacity, McConnell had the unmistakable, repeated opportunity to rally support and Legislative action to curb the rise in global temperature, but he chose to shun responsibility, bury his head in the sand and aggressively promote the fossil fuel industry. His campaigns have received a stunning $2,151,444 from Oil & Gas industries.

Timeline of Global Warming Warnings During McConnell’s Tenure in the Senate:

1985 – Villach Conference | Consensus amongst experts, global warming inevitable, calls on governments to “consider international agreements to take action to restrict emissions”
1987 – Montreal Protocol of the Vienna Convention | “imposes international restrictions on emissions of ozone-destroying gases”
1988 – Toronto Conference | “calls for strict, specific limits on greenhouse gas emissions; UK Prime Minister Thatcher is first major leader to call for action”
1989 – Global Climate Coalition established | created by “fossil-fuel and other U.S. industries to tell politicians and the public that climate science is too uncertain to justify action”
1990 – First IPCC Report | “world has been warming and future warming is likely”
1992 – Rio de Janeiro Conference | “produces UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, but U.S. blocks calls for serious action”
1995 – Second IPCC Report | “detects ‘signature’ of human-caused greenhouse effect warming”
1997 – Kyoto Protocol | “setting targets for industrialized nations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (rejected by U.S. senate in advance)”
2000 – Global Climate Coalition dissolves | “as many corporations grapple with threat of warming, but Oil lobby convinces U.S. administration to deny problem”
2001 – Third IPCC Report | “global warming, unprecedented since the end of the last ice age, is ‘very likely,’ with highly damaging future impacts”
2004 – “First major books, movie, and art work featuring global warming appear”
2005 – Kyoto Treaty | “signed by major industrial nations except U.S.”
2006 – “An Inconvenient Truth” documentary | “persuades many but sharpens polarization”
2007 – Fourth IPCC Report | “warns that serious effects of warming have become evident”
2009 – Copenhagen Conference | “fails to negotiate binding agreements,” hopes fade of “avoiding dangerous future climate change”
2015 – Paris Agreement | 196 nations/state parties “pledge to set targets for their own greenhouse gas dust and to report their progress” | McConnell sends letter “urging states not to comply with EPA’s Clean Power Plan”
2017 – McConnell succeeds at urging Trump to pull United States out of Paris Agreement
2018 – Katowice Climate Change Conference COP24 | “leaders reach deal bolstering Paris Agreement,” but not United States, “U.S. held event promoting fossil fuels“

In a stunning rebuke of the 800 million people across the globe who are impacted by global warming, McConnell has consistently corralled his senate colleagues, and now the current president, to maintain staunch opposition to the science behind the global warming warnings. Despite the scientific facts, and the yearly physical proof that climate change is a reality, McConnel persists at denying the research and guidance of experts, and plows forward with legislating in conflict with the damaging impact of climate change reality.

Unfortunately, McConnell’s thirty-four years representing Kentucky in DC have not proven to be a career of public service, but rather of self-service. Hundreds of thousands of lives have been lost, and many millions are at stake.