Climate on the Ballot: While the fate of Obama’s climate legacy hangs in the balance of the presidential election, there are several important climate and energy initiatives on various state ballots today. Voters in Florida may be confused by Amendment 1, which claims to be pro-solar but is funded by utilities looking to limit rooftop solar, while Amendment 71 in Colorado is backed by the oil industry to halt future grassroots environmental action. Meanwhile, the Koch Brothers and other oil and gas interests have thrown their weight behind the hotly-debated carbon tax proposal in Washington state in the last days of the campaign to encourage a “no” vote. (Presidential Election: Bloomberg, ThinkProgress, Guardian, Deutsche Welle, NPR, Wall Street Journal $, Independent. Ballot Initiatives: ThinkProgress, Atlantic, TIME, Washington Post $, Slate, Morning Consult, Seattle Times, KIRO 7, Science, E&E News $. Commentary: Vox, David Roberts column; CNBC, John Berger op-ed; Washington Post, James Downie column;ThinkProgress, Joe Romm column; Fusion, Ari Phillips column; Forbes, Kevin Anderton op-ed; Colorado Independent, Christine Berg op-ed; The Conversation, David Holmes op-ed; Tampa Bay Times editorial; Atlantic, Peter Johnson analysis; Thomson Reuters Foundation, Samantha Adler & Jeffrey Barbee op-ed; TIME, Jonathan Granoff op-ed)
Study Warns of Fastest Sea Level Rise in Human History: Without the emissions cuts laid out in the Paris Agreement, global temperatures could reach 2°C as early as 2040 and cause the fastest acceleration in sea level rise in human history, according to a new study. Sea levels could rise up to a foot in the most vulnerable cities by mid-century, with the rate of sea level rise reaching 6 millimeters per year by 2040 and more than 10 millimeters a year by the end of the century. The current rate of sea level rise is estimated to be around 3.4 millimeters a year. (Washington Post $, Mashable)
Tax Meat, Cut Emissions: Instituting a tax on meat and milk along with subsidies for healthier food could help avoid one billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions in the year 2020 while saving half a million lives. A new global study finds that a 40 percent tax on beef and a 20 percent tax on milk would offset damages done by climate change (cattle production is the largest source of food sector emissions) and lead to a significant drop in consumption. This would help to decrease food-related health issues like obesity. The study recommends pairing this theoretical tax with subsidies for plant-based foods. (Guardian, Thomson Reuters Foundation, The Times $)
