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

Make a Rhino, Save a Species

Sharing this on behalf of Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya and Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic.

	#makearhino
	The recent death of a northern white rhino in Dvůr Králové Zoo, Czech Republic has left just four of this subspecies in existence – three females and one male. None are capable of natural reproduction, and the extinction of the northern white rhino is a very real and very imminent probability – unless a technique for rhino IVF and embryo transfer can be funded, developed, tested and implemented in time. Three of the last northern white rhino (including the last male northern white in existence) reside in Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya, who are partnering with Dvůr Králové Zoo and other organisations to try and develop a way to safely remove egg cells from remaining females, fertilize these with semen collected from northern white males, and use a female southern white rhino as a surrogate. This has never been done before, and does not come without risks. What’s more, if the remaining females die before this method has been developed, one of the last chances to save the northern white rhinos will vanish. The estimated cost of IVF and embryo transfer – from the development of the method, to trials and implantation is estimated at approximately £0.5m ($0.8m). Yet this is the only hope for preserving an entire subspecies. Ol Pejeta and Dvůr Králové Zoo have launched a Gofundme campaign entitled ‘Make a Rhino’ to try and raise the money needed to save the northern white rhino before it’s too late. All funds raised on the online platform go directly to the IVF initiative, and they are appealing to supporters around the globe to donate to the cause. www.gofundme.com/makearhino

 

Two week update

Well, I am 2 weeks into my fundraiser to raise money for rhinos in honor of my upcoming 40th birthday. So far I have raised $300 of my (perhaps too lofty) goal of $10,000 - who wants to help me reach this goal? My campaign has been covered by The Dodo (http://www.thedodo.com/man-donates-birthday-rhinos-1176446967.html) and Africa Geographic (http://africageographic.com/blog/a-40th-birthday-in-honour-of-a-40-year-old-rhino/) and has been shared and tweeted by many. If you are on Twitter, follow me (https://twitter.com/jeremyjtaylor) and help me spread the word! You can also follow me on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/jeremyjtaylor) and share it there as well! Every little bit helps, and the rhinos need all the help they can get! 

View my campaign and donate at http://www.crowdrise.com/jeremysrhinowish and help me make a difference as I turn 40!

 

Jeremy's Rhino Wish

I will be turning 40 in July, and I want this momentous occasion to do some good! Sure, I could ask for money to help pay for my week in Maine this summer, or for the new camera I want to get, but this birthday, I want to help save rhinos! These magnificent creatures are facing extinction within my lifetime if something is not done, and I don't want to think of a world without rhinos. There were an estimated 500,000 rhinos across Africa and Asia at the beginning of the 20th century, and now there are believed to be less than 30,000 left. Over 1200 were poached in South Africa alone last year... There are many organizations working to help prevent the global extinction of rhinos, and for my 40th birthday, I am asking you to please help me to help them! I already support a few of these organizations, including a small monthly donation towards the care of Sudan, the last male Northern white rhino in existence. I work 2 jobs to help make ends meet, and give a portion of every paycheck to wildlife and conservation organizations, but the little bit I am able to give on my own just isn't enough. PLEASE help me make a greater impact and save these magnificent creatures! All money raised will be donated to one or more of the organizations working so hard to save these animals.

Some of you might be wondering, why rhinos? Isn't Jeremy a bird person? Yes, I am, but rhinos are something I have been strongly interested in for many years. I had my first real encounter with them many years ago while working at Disney's Animal Kingdom. I was a birdkeeper, but during one of the open houses other teams sometimes held, I was able to get up close to some of the white rhinos, including petting one. It was an amazing experience being so close to them, and I have been very interested in them ever since! I am a bird person, but more than that, I am an animal person, a nature person, an environmental person. I am doing this to try and help raise money for those who are working on the front lines to keep rhinos from going extinct. Organizations like The Ol Pejeta Conservancy, Helping Rhinos, International Rhino Foundation, Save the Rhino International, Forever Wild - Save the Rhino, Thula Thula Rhino Orphanage, Saving The Survivors, Lewa Wildlife Conservancy, African Wildlife Foundation, Northern Rangelands Trust, Black Mamba Anti-Poaching Unit, and others. There are too many organizations for me to support them all, but the more I raise, the more I will be able to help! As I mentioned, I already have "adopted" Sudan #LastMaleStanding at Ol Pejeta, through a small monthly donation, but I want to do more! Won't you please help me make this birthday make a difference and help save these amazing animals?! #Stars4theLastMaleStanding #SaveRhinosNow #rhinos #WildinfeinCrisis #iam4rhinos #savetherhino

Jeremy's Rhino Wish | jeremysrhinowish 

				Jeremy's Rhino Wish | jeremysrhinowish Help me celebrate my 40th birthday by helping save rhinos!
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