6 Compelling Reasons Climate Change Might Be A National Emergency.

Weather and climate disasters.

There is talk of a national emergency declaration. The National Emergencies of 1976 spells out the broad powers and limitations of such an executive declaration. Some argue that activities at the U.S. Southern border pose a grave threat to American lives.  Statements from the Pentagon and other sources offer alternative perspectives on how "dire" things really are at the border. Experts estimate that between 445 and 600 homicides (not multiple thousands as claimed) were killed by undocumented immigrants in 2018. Studies also show that they are not more likely than U.S-born individuals to commit homicide. I will let others debate the reality of the situation at the border, but I do want to make a point. Roughly 500 people were killed in only hurricanes (Harvey, Maria, Irma, Michael, Florence) from 2017 to 2018. The 2018 Camp Fire in California killed at least 85 people. Heat and flooding kills more people in the U.S. annually than any other weather disaster, and the numbers in 2018 were no different. If a precedent is being set for national emergencies, there is a compelling argument for a future leader to consider climate change. Here are six reasons why.

Read the story from Forbes by Marshall Shepherd - “6 Compelling Reasons Climate Change Might Be A National Emergency.”

Governments’ carbon tax progress 'slow and piecemeal': OECD.

Carbon taxes are effective at cutting emissions but are not being set high enough to benefit the environment, a recent Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) report has found.

The OECD has called for more effective carbon taxes and emission pricing schemes.

The report examined specific taxes on energy use from 2012 to 2015 across 42 OECD countries and six sectors, which represented about 80 per cent of global energy use and carbon emissions. It found current taxation schemes were ineffective.

Read the story in today’s Age by Cole Latimer - “Governments’ carbon tax progress 'slow and piecemeal': OECD.”