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Ever since I was a child, I have been very interested in nature and the environment. I have a B.S. degree in wildlife biology, and have worked as a zookeeper, wildlife biologist, and ecologist. I am conducting a brief survey of world leaders, government officials, religious leaders, corporate CEOs, environmental groups, wildlife experts, and others regarding nature and the environment. I am also very interested in religious views, customs, and beliefs from around the world, and the interactions between religion, culture, society, and the environment. This is something I am doing out of personal interest, and is not connected to any group or organization. I have been working on this project since the summer of 2006, and hope to eventually turn it into a book and/or documentary. I am hoping to make this into a global project, with responses from all segments of society. Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions or comments. If you have not already done so, I hope that you will consider taking part in my project, and please spread the word to anyone you think might be interested! Thanks for stopping by!

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September 25, 2015

Oil in Their Veins

Jeremy Taylor
September 24, 2015

In their typical fashion, the self-proclaimed experts of The Heartland Institute have once again come out in opposition to Pope Francis (Heartland Institute, 2015) and his views on climate change. After their trip to Rome (Heartland, 2015-2) in April failed to change his mind prior to the release of his encyclical Laudato Si, you would think they would think better about trying again. I am not really surprised by their latest diatribe though, as they are really nothing more than shills for Big Oil, Dirty Old King Coal, and the Koch Brothers. Thankfully however, just like E. Calvin Beisner of the Cornwall Alliance, the talking heads at Faux News, and the far out in right field members of the Republican Party like Senators James Inhofe and Ted Cruz, Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and Donald “The Spectacle” Trump (unfortunately, among many others), they don’t represent the views of most people.
Peoples' Climate March. © 2014, Jeremy Taylor

It was just one year ago this week that more than 400,000 people marched through the streets of New York City (Visser, 2014) for the Peoples’ Climate March, demanding action on climate change. I was one of them, marching alongside members of the interfaith contingent. In solidarity, thousands of people around the globe marched in similar events in more than 150 countries (Davey, et. al, 2014).  A recent poll shows that 69 percent of the American public believes that climate change is real and caused by human activity, with 62 percent believe that it presents a clear and present danger (Biggins, 2015). In a study conducted in 2014, there was 90 percent agreement among nearly 700 scientists from nonclimate disciplines that human activity has contributed to the rise in global temperatures (van Hoose, 2015). Between 97 and 99.99 percent of climate scientists agree that humans are causing global climate change (Hill, 2015).  Even the U.S. Military considers climate change to be a major threat to national and in fact global security in the not so distant future, and have already begun taking steps to address it (Schlanger, 2014 and Jahner, 2015). NASA just released information showing that much of their launch infrastructure around the United States is threatened by sea level rise as a result of climate change (Kiger, 2015).
Peoples' Climate March. © 2014, Jeremy Taylor




  Not only is the United States government and many of  its citizens taking the threat seriously, so is much of the business world, even if it might impact their profitability in the short-term. Many Fortune 500 companies have a plan for dealing with climate change in place, with more than 36 joining the organization RE100, formed at the 2014 Climate Week held in NYC. New members of RE100 (focused on converting to 100% renewable energy) include Johnson & Johnson, Starbucks, and Walmart (Gillis & St. Fleur, 2015 and Mazzoni, 2015).  Companies including Google, Yahoo, Facebook, and even energy giant Royal Dutch Shell have left the conservative non-profit (and KOCH funded) business organization ALEC over their denials of climate change (Page, 2015), and recently discovered internal documents from ExxonMobil (then Exxon) show that the company believed global warming as it was then called to be a threat as far back as 1982 (Song, et. al., 2015).  Many mayors and city officials from the U.S. and around the world have joined the fight against climate change. To date, 165 have become members of the Compact of Mayors (Compact of Mayors, 2015), and during the recent 2015 U.S.-China Climate Leaders Summit, numerous U.S. and Chinese cities made a variety of pledges (Shank, 2015) regarding carbon emissions, renewable energy, and other climate related initiatives.

Climate change and environmental stewardship is an important concern of almost every faith group and organization, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Evangelical Environmental Network, the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, GreenFaith, and others. Muslim leaders recently issued the Islamic Declaration on Climate Change (Al Hussein, 2015), as did more than 400 rabbis (Waskow, 2015) and members of many different Pagan organizations (Halstead, 2015).  The head of the Eastern Orthodox Church, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople is often referred to as the Green Patriarch for his strong feelings regarding protecting the environment. 

Peoples' Climate March. © 2014, Jeremy Taylor
Recently, some members of the Republican Party showed that the entire party does not have an addiction to Koch; 11 members of the U.S. House of Representatives broke ranks with their party, offering a resolution calling for action on climate change (Pandey, 2015). Even George W. Bush called global warming “an issue that we need to take very seriously” (Issues2000, 2000), and in 2005, during his Presidency, admitted that human activity is causing global warming (NRDC, n.d.). Former Florida Governor and current Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush has made all sorts of statements over the years about climate change and global warming, recently saying that humans are indeed causing it, although rejecting the need for government action (Kerr, 2015).

The tide seems to be turning on climate change, yet there are some who much like our coastlines if too little is done too late are standing on the beach with their heads in the sand, waiting to get washed out to sea.


 **The views expressed herein are mine alone, and not to be seen as representative of any organization or person that I am affiliated with. Permission is granted to distribute these comments in their entirety, as long as credit is given and I am notified at jeremyjtaylor@yahoo.com.

References

Al Hussein, N. (2015). Islam, Faith, and Climate Change. Retrieved from 
         https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/islam-faith-climate-change-by-noor-al-hussein-2015-09.

Biggins, K. (2015). Whether GOP likes it, climate change part of presidential debate. Retrieved from               http://www.nj.com/opinion/index.ssf/2015/09/whether_gop_likes_it_climate_change_part_of_presid.html.

Compact of Mayors. (2015). Ten Global Cities Present Climate Action Plans Ahead of Paris COP21. Retrieved from http://www.compactofmayors.org/press/ten-global-cities-present-climate-action-plans-ahead-of-paris-cop21/

Davey, M., Holpuch, A., and Vaughan, A. (2014). People's Climate March: thousands demand action around the world - as it happened. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/environment/live/2014/sep/21/peoples-climate-march-live

Gillis, J., and St. Fleur, N. (2015). Global Companies Joining Climate Change Efforts. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/23/science/global-companies-joining-climate-change-efforts.html.

Halstead, J. (2015).  Pagans Around the World Join the Pope in Calling for Environmental Action. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-halstead/pagans-around-the-world-join-the-pope-in-calling-for_b_7618326.html.

Heartland Institute. (2015). Heartland Institute Experts Respond to Pope Francis’s Comments on the Climate at White House. Retrieved from https://www.heartland.org/press-releases/2015/09/23/heartland-institute-experts-respond-pope-franciss-comments-climate-white-h

Heartland Institute. (2015). Tell Pope Francis: Global Warming Is Not a Crisis! Retrieved from https://www.heartland.org/Vatican-Environment-Workshop

Hill, T. (2015). The 97 Percent Scientific Consensus on Climate Change Is Wrong—It’s Even Higher. Retrieved from http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/07/09/climate-consensus-deniers-97-percent-is-wrong.

Issues2000. (2000). George W. Bush on Environment. Retrieved from http://www.ontheissues.org/George_W__Bush_Environment.htm.

Jahner, K. (2015). Climate change is major threat to readiness, expert says. ArmyTimes. Retrieved from http://www.armytimes.com/story/military/2015/09/23/climate-change-major-threat-readiness-expert-says/72682246/.

Kerr, J. (2015). Jeb Bush Now Says Humans Contribute To Climate Change. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/jeb-bush-climate-change_55ba4fcde4b095423d0e13e1.

Kiger, P. (2015). Climate Change Threatens NASA's Launch Sites. Retrieved from http://news.discovery.com/earth/global-warming/climate-change-threatens-nasas-launch-sites-150923.htm.

Mazzoni, M. (2015). Fortune 500 Companies Pledge to Go 100 Percent Renewable. Retrieved from http://www.triplepundit.com/special/climate-week-nyc-2015/fortune-500-companies-pledge-to-go-100-percent-renewable/.

NRDC. (n.d.). NRDC: The Bush Record - Global Warming. Retrieved from http://www.nrdc.org/bushrecord/airenergy_warming.asp.

Page, S. (2015). Shell Just Broke Up With ALEC Over Climate-Change Denials. Climate Progress. Retrieved from http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2015/08/07/3689364/shell-no-to-alec-yes-to-arctic/

Pandey, A. (2015). Climate Change: 11 House Republicans Call For 'Environmental Stewardship' In A New Resolution. International Business Times. Retrieved from http://www.ibtimes.com/climate-change-11-house-republicans-call-environmental-stewardship-new-resolution-2103277

Schlanger, Z. (2014). Pentagon Report: U.S. Military Considers Climate Change a 'Threat Multiplier' That Could Exacerbate Terrorism. Newsweek. Retrieved from http://www.newsweek.com/pentagon-report-us-military-considers-climate-change-immediate-threat-could-277155.

Shank, M. (2015). Why US and Chinese cities will make or break any global climate deal. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/why-us-and-chinese-cities-will-make-or-break-any-global-climate-deal-47672

Song, L., Banerjee, N., and Hasemyer, D. (2015). Exxon Confirmed Global Warming Consensus in 1982 with In-House Climate Models. Inside Climate News. Retrieved from http://insideclimatenews.org/news/18092015/exxon-confirmed-global-warming-consensus-in-1982-with-in-house-climate-models

van Hoose, N. (2015). Purdue study: Climate change consensus extends beyond climate scientists. Retrieved from http://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/releases/2015/Q3/purdue-study-climate-change-consensus-extends-beyond-climate-scientists.html.

Visser, N. (2014). Hundreds Of Thousands Turn Out For People's Climate March In New York City. The Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/21/peoples-climate-march_n_5857902.html

Waskow, A. (2015). Torah, Pope, & Crisis Inspire 400+ Rabbis to Call for Vigorous Climate Action. Retrieved from https://theshalomcenter.org/torah-pope-crisis-inspire-400-rabbis-call-vigorous-climate-action.


Copyright 2015 Jeremy Taylor, All Rights Reserved
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