While The Coal Industry Is Fighting Clean Water Act Protections For Rivers And Streams From Mountaintop

Forest cover on Borneo over time, projected to 2020. Deforestation, driven mostly by clearing land to produce palm oil plantations, means less habitat for species such as orangutans, and more carbon emissions from disturbed peat lands.

“Employment in the U.S. solar business grew 12 times faster than overall job creation... Fed by state initiatives to spur clean energy and innovative financing measures offered by companies such as SolarCity Corp., developers are adding workers at record rates to install rooftop panels. Oil and gas producers by contrast have slashed 351,410 jobs worldwide since prices began to slide in the middle of 2014, according to Houston-based Graves & Co.... This increase is being driven by declining renewable energy technology costs and enabling policy frameworks. We expect this to continue as the case for renewables strengthens and countries move to achieve climate targets... The group projects the workforce in clean energy will grow to 24 million by 2030 if United Nations targets are met on climate change and development.” - Bloomberg

Another graph from Theda Skocpol's analysis of why the 2009 Cap and Trade bill failed, this one looking at increasing political polarization between the Democrats and the GOP from the 1970s on.

*The LCV (League of Conservation Voters) average reflects LCV scores given to lawmwakers, which are based on their votes on important environmental legislation. The higher the score the more "pro-environment" the lawmaker.

A study of "fossil beaches", those areas where geology and fossils show they were once pre-historic coasts, is aiming to give us a better picture of the threat of sea level rise. Researchers acknowledge that, even during natural climatic shifts, carbon dioxide is the primary driver of global warming and cooling. During the Pliocene, carbon dioxide was at 400ppm and sea level was much higher. We are currently at 393ppm and rising. We are likely to cross over 400ppm in the next several years. Thus, looking at sea level rise during the Pliocene can give us a picture of what sea levels may look like as a result of current global warming. This map shows where the coastline was in the U.S. during the Pliocene.

Offshore wind energy in Europe: Lots

Offshore wind energy in the US: none

When thinking of ways to make renewable energy cost-competitive with fossil fuels, an important consideration are the market distortions caused by substantial government subsidies to fossil fuels versus subsidies to renewable energy. De-carbonizing the global energy sector will require removing subsidies for fossil fuels.

Numbers from http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-04-13/sustainability-indicator-130-billion-pints-of-beer.html

Percent of electricity produced from renewable sources

Most (59%) Americans say that stricter environmental laws and regulations are worth the economic cost, but there is a sharp partisan divide. Democrats overwhelming (77%) favor stricter environmental laws and regulations, but only 36% of Republicans agree. But this 41-point opinion gap is relatively recent. In 1994, the gap was only 8 points. Yet over the decades views of Republican and Democratic voters have diverged, with the divergence occurring rapidly and dramatically starting around 2008.