Obama: No Nation, Not Even One As Powerful As The U.S., Is Immune From Climate Change

US President Barack Obama addresses the 2016 Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 31, 2016. / AFP / SAUL LOEB        (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)
US President Barack Obama addresses the 2016 Pacific Islands Conference of Leaders at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii, August 31, 2016. / AFP / SAUL LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

HONOLULU ― Days after creating the largest marine protected area on the planetPresident Barack Obama on Wednesday traveled to Hawaii to address those attending the world’s largest conservation event, highlighting his administration’s expansion of the nearby monument and the need to swiftly combat climate change.

“No nation, not even one as powerful as the United States, is immune from a changing climate,” Obama told a small, private audience at Honolulu’s East-West Center that included the Pacific Island Conference of Leaders and delegates of the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress.

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Pope Francis declares care for creation a new work of mercy

Credit_Gez_Xavier_Mansfield_via_Unsplash_CNAOn Thursday Pope Francis yet again showed his knack for surprises and his openness to “newness” by adding the care of creation to the traditional sets of both the corporal and spiritual works of mercy.

“We usually think of the works of mercy individually and in relation to a specific initiative: hospitals for the sick, soup kitchens for the hungry, shelters for the homeless, schools for those to be educated, the confessional and spiritual direction for those needing counsel and forgiveness.”

However, when we look at the works of mercy as a whole, “we see that the object of mercy is human life itself and everything it embraces,” the Pope said in his message for the World Day of Prayer for the Care of Creation, published Sept. 1.  Continue reading

Professors tell students: Drop class if you dispute man-made climate change

‘We will not, at any time, debate the science of climate change’

censoredThree professors co-teaching an online course called “Medical Humanities in the Digital Age” at the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs recently told their students via email that man-made climate change is not open for debate, and those who think otherwise have no place in their course.

“The point of departure for this course is based on the scientific premise that human induced climate change is valid and occurring. We will not, at any time, debate the science of climate change, nor will the ‘other side’ of the climate change debate be taught or discussed in this course,” states the email, a copy of which was provided to The College Fix by a student in the course.  Continue reading

White House defends Obama evading Senate on Paris climate deal

Asia_Obama_Trade.JPEG-a71e9_c0-301-4826-3114_s885x516The White House on Monday defended President Obama’s decision to enter into the Paris climate accord without Senate ratification but stopped short of confirming a Chinese report that he will do so this week during his trip to China.

Still, it would surprise no one if Mr. Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping were to announce the ratification of the sweeping climate change agreement before the Sunday opening of the Group of 20 summit in Hangzhou, Zhejiang.

White House senior adviser Brian Deese said the president has the legal authority to ratify the accord without the two-thirds Senate vote required for treaties. He said the pact negotiated by 195 countries in December is merely an “executive agreement.”  Continue reading

‘World can’t afford to silence us’: black church leaders address climate change

African American religious leaders have added their weight to calls for action on climate change, with one of the largest and oldest black churches in the US warning that black people are disproportionally harmed by global warming and fossil fuel pollution.

The African Methodist Episcopal church has passed its first resolution in its 200-year history devoted to climate change, calling for a swift transition to renewable energy.

“We can move away from the dirty fuels that make us sick and shift toward safe, clean energy like wind and solar that help make every breath our neighbors and families take a healthy one,” states the resolution, which also points to research showing that black children are four times as likely as white children to die from asthma. Continue reading

John Kerry: Climate Change as Big a Threat as Islamic State

At an international meeting on global warming Friday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry compared the effects of climate change to the horrors of Islamic terrorism, suggesting that the two pose an equivalent danger to the world’s population.

“Yesterday, I met in Washington with 45 nations – defense ministers and foreign ministers – as we were working together on the challenge of Daesh, ISIL, and terrorism,” Kerry said at the Vienna summit. “It’s hard for some people to grasp it, but what we – you – are doing here right now is of equal importance because it has the ability to literally save life on the planet itself.” Continue reading

The Church of Global Warming

What role, if any, should the church play in combating climate change?

It was this kind of question former Vice President Al Gore answered over two decades ago when he wrote that men should harness religion as a political tool. “The fate of mankind,” he wrote, “as well as of religion, depends upon the emergence of a new faith in the future. Armed with such a faith, we might find it possible to resanctify the Earth.”

Fifteen years later, in his Nobel Peace Prize speech, he quoted himself to reiterate his belief that global warming was a spiritual issue that needed to be addressed by faith. Continue reading

Our new alliance unites 600m city dwellers in fight against climate change

When it comes to confronting climate change, the world’s cities are proving that there’s strength in unity. The historic climate agreement reached in Paris in December, which was approved by nearly all of the world’s nations, was made possible in part by the progress that cities have made by working together.

Today, the two biggest coalitions of cities in the world – the EU-based Covenant of Mayors and the UN-backed Compact of Mayors – are forming an alliance to link more than 600 million city dwellers in the fight against climate change.  Continue reading

Lake disappears overnight drained by a deep sinkhole in Russia

lake-disappears-overnight-russiaA 200 meters in diameter and 3 meters in depth forest lake – Lake Peschёra – disappeared overnight underground as a deep sinkhole drained the enire water and the fish in it.

The incident is worrying residents who are scared that a nearby lake – Lake Lyubimov -, which feeds water to 300 houses and a local farm with more than 1000 head of cattle, also suddenly vanishes. That would be a tragedy!  Continue reading…

Climate is a matter of justice, peace and faith, world churches leader tells Lutherans

lutheranShanghai, Kolkata, Jakarta, Tokyo, New York City, Hong Kong, Miami and New Orleans are not cities linked to the geography of the Reformation that was happening 500 years ago in Wittenberg.

“These are among the thousands of cities around the world that will be hit by rising sea levels as a consequence of climate change,” said World Council of Churches general secretary, Rev. Olav Fykse Tveit.

He was speaking at the meeting of the main governing body of the Lutheran World Federation, its council, in Wittenberg, Germany, where 500 years ago “waves of change reaching every country on earth were created”.  Continue reading…