Blog posts on smallholder agroforestry, indigenous communities, and tropical timber.
At the most recent iteration of the UN Climate Change Conference in Warsaw, Poland, negotiators made significant progress on the forestry conservation policy called Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+).
Read MoreI think we would all agree that it is a disappointment that the US Senate didn't take up a climate bill that included a cap and trade system to finally put a price on carbon and begin reducing emissions.
The failure of the bill affects REDD not only in Panama, but throughout the world. Primarily, it hamstrings any meaningful encapsulating agreement coming out of Cancun in December, and probably even South Africa in 2011. More and more it looks like the best thing that can come out of Cancun for REDD is a "REDD+ Readiness" package that the new REDD+ Partnership can build off of. More on that Partnership later...
Most importantly for REDD, it doesn't look like we will have a significant market for any credits generated in the next 5-6 years; not a great signal to the private sector and investors.
I enjoyed this clip by John Stewart in retort to the climate change skeptics. That Vancouver is experiencing lower than average snowfall should make people question the rationale behind the DC snowstorm disproving global warming.
Seriously though, pointing out that a climate change denier is being irrational or thoughtless probably won't change his opinion (I've tried). When discussing this subject now, I frame the debate within the rubric of making our economy more efficient, healthy (less coal smog=less asthma), and less reliant on foreign energy. These are all things that can save us money by putting a price on the negative externalities (that are essentially subsidized by the US taxpayer).
If you live anywhere between Washington DC and Philadelphia (or watch the evening news) you know that this winter has produced some epic snow. Yesterday I shoveled 24" from the sidewalk in front of our house. The federal government is closed for the next two days, and public transportation is slow at best. The accumulation for this season is over 45", and with 10-20" more snow predicted for tomorrow, it looks like DC might break its record of 54.4" set in 1898-99.
This phenomenon is feeding the flames of argument between global warming naysayers and those who trust the hard science behind climate change. They say "Doesn't this record snowfall disprove global warming? Fortunately, Climate Progress has an answer for us.
Planting Empowerment is a sustainable agroforestry company working with indigenous communities and smallholders in Panama.
