© 2012 Flickr/Gaffke Photography v2.8 cc by 2.0

David Goldstein, a climate activist who was shocked and angered by Heartland’s bizarre ad campaign, decided to do something about it. He single-handedly launched his own campaign, renting another Clear Channel billboard in Minneapolis for 24 hours and $300. The sign he put up in response to Heartland asks viewers: “Guess who believes in climate change?” and then directs them to the website where they can read about the multitude of scientific academies, military personnel and key influencers worldwide who support climate science. I spoke with him to get the full story.

Just over a week ago you took a stand against climate deniers. Why did you feel compelled to respond to the Heartland Institute’s ad?

The Heartland Institute and similar fossil fuel-funded organizations have actually been doing a pretty effective job generating confusion, controversy and a sense of “non- urgency” in the arena of climate change. They muddy the waters with nonsense science and paint a picture of uncertainty where, in reality, there exists very strong and broad agreement.

I felt that they had made a strategic error with their billboard campaign equating belief in climate change with the craziness or insanity of someone like Ted Kaczynski or Charles Manson. In fact, it is the most credible members of our scientific and military organizations that believe climate change is happening and that human activities are causing it. In so doing, Heartland unintentionally exposed the nonsensical logic behind their entire organizational approach. They got careless. I thought somebody should put up a billboard to take advantage of the situation – to set the record straight. So I did that.

What inspired you to become a climate activist?

I have firsthand experience with avoidance and denial and the consequences. In the past 25 years I’ve experienced two significant diseases, four major surgeries, countless medical procedures and 18 hospitalizations. I’ve received 60% of my youngest brother’s liver (a “live donor” liver transplant — he is now doing fine), contracted extensive cancer of the bile ducts and gall bladder, undergone a dozen liver biopsies, post-surgical septic shock … and so on. For many years, while my personal body systems were being pushed out of balance, I had avoided taking the actions suggested by the medical experts. By my refusal to listen to, much less act upon their prescriptions, I had brought upon myself much unnecessary suffering and had ultimately, and needlessly, placed my own life in jeopardy. I finally learned that avoidance and denial do not prevent suffering, they only make it worse.

In climate change, I see the same thing happening. We are avoiding and denying the “prescriptions” of the scientific experts. We hope it will all just go away or we hope that the scientists are wrong or … we just choose not to think about it. I did all these things myself. It doesn’t work! The first thing we have to do is to decisively get beyond the denial stage. It is time to, at least, put the non-science behind us so that we can get to the very real and very challenging choices that need to be made. That is why I am taking action. That is why I put up the billboard.

Why do you think the deniers seek to make climate science so controversial?

For some it is probably simply about protecting their profits. If there is uncertainty or confusion about the effects of carbon in our atmosphere from fossil fuels, then it is less likely that policies will be enacted to curtail carbon (and methane) emissions. For others, it may align with their political or economic ideologies. For others still, I believe, there is a deep desire to NOT believe that something upon which we have based our entire way of life – plentiful use of fossil fuels – is also inexorably pushing our “home” climate out of a workable balance. This is an extraordinarily “inconvenient” setup; I believe someone has used the term before!

How does the media we consume – from billboards to TV shows – affect our perception of the climate crisis and the urgency for action?

It seems to affect us quite deeply. There is maybe 20% of the population who is already on board with the established science. The media doesn’t affect them much. There is some percentage of the population who is “dead set” against accepting the science. The media also doesn’t affect them much. But there is the 60% or so in the middle who generally understand that there is or, at least, may be a problem, but have not prioritized it as an issue in their lives. This is the crucial group who may be influenced by misleading or lazy headlines or advertisements. Sound science is, of course, essential, but so is getting the message out in an effective manner.

What did you hope to accomplish with the billboard and how is that reality unfolding?

My “pie in the sky” vision is to have it “go viral” as the Heartland billboard did. My website that goes with the billboard provides a list of quotations from every national science academy, the Pentagon, various admirals and generals from all branches of the armed forces supporting urgent policy action on climate change. I want people to see this! I would also love people to read my personal health story of coming full circle from denial to embracing constructive action – however inconvenient! I am hopeful that a personal story of health challenges and healing can “speak to” people in a way that hard science may not be able to. I would love to take my presentation to groups around the world – the clock is certainly ticking.

Thanks to David for infusing the climate community with some enthusiasm. We are indeed inspired by your story and hope to hear more like it!

© 2009 Flickr/US Mission Canada cc by 2.0

The Arctic is rapidly warming because of carbon pollution. New research from McGill University in Canada suggests that the record warmth in the winter of 2010-2011 made it harder for low-income communities in Iqaluit, Nunavut to keep their pantries stocked. Residents said seals were plentiful, but dangerous to hunt because of poor ice conditions. Caribou were harder to find, skinnier and tasted odd. Families who couldn’t afford to supplement their diet with store-bought food relied on soup kitchens or simply went without. And community support networks broke down, with one resident reporting that family members were hiding meat in “freezers in their bedroom”.

The Arctic isn’t the only place where people rely on traditional foods. Seafood from the Gulf of Mexico, for example, routinely appears on kitchen tables in south Louisiana. And while rural Louisianans may not depend entirely on food they catch themselves, seafood is an important safety net (PDF) during tough times. Of course, melting ice isn’t an issue in the Southeast U.S. There, ocean acidification could affect shellfish like oysters, and rising seas threaten coastal wetlands that support one of the most productive fisheries in the nation.

Is climate change affecting your local food supply – either food you buy or harvest yourself? Tell us your story below.

Today, in Washington D.C. and Chicago, dozens of people just like you and me are standing up in front of the Environmental Protection Agency to voice their support for this rule. But they’re not alone. Supporters across the country are speaking out in favor of limiting carbon pollution from future power plants. In just a few short weeks, more than 1.3 million comments in favor of the rule have been submitted to the EPA – the most comments ever for an EPA rule.

Want to add your voice to the millions demanding solutions to the climate crisis? Please sign our petition now. It only takes one click to support the EPA’s historic proposal.

Click here to sign the petition in support of the EPA Carbon Pollution Standard.

The coal industry plans to spend $40 million this year trying to convince you that coal is good for the country. One thing they’ll tell you is that coal is clean. But we said it before, and we’ll say it now: There is no such thing as “clean” coal. Annual carbon pollution from a single coal plant is equal to the annual emissions from more than 650,000 cars.

Each year almost 12,000 people are hospitalized because of pollution from coal plants. If pollution from coal plants remains unchecked it could add an astonishing $100 billion to our annual healthcare bill. Does this sound clean to you?

This week, we took over their billboard to show that human influence on our climate isn’t a belief or an opinion; it has been scientifically proven by every major national science academy in the world.

But why should it matter that a privately funded group with ties to big oil and tobacco doesn’t believe in the science of climate change? Because, as we showed you earlier this year the Heartland Institute wants to influence the way climate change is taught in America’s schools.

Despite what Heartland says, we know that climate change is a reality. Join our fight to support a national limit on carbon pollution and help solve the climate crisis.

© 2011 Flickr/Steven DePolo cc by 2.0

The world’s largest auto companies, including Ford, General Motors, Honda and Nissan, are already making electric vehicles. And many more will be offering all-electric cars in the next few years. Last year, BMW announced plans for its first all-electric car and hopes to have it on the market by 2013. Mitsubishi recently unveiled plans for an electric car as climate change prompted the company to turn to an electric vehicle. Even Ferrari – yes, the Ferrari – is going to launch a hybrid car later this year.

Not enough charging stations? They’re popping up everywhere. Cities all over the country are installing them left and right. Some companies are even getting in on the act. New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colorado is even letting customers use its new charging stations for free.

The results are in: EVs are here to stay. Unfortunately, so are high gas prices. I’ll be the first one to admit that as much as I’d love to, I just can’t afford a new electric car, but there is good news. Thanks to aggressive new clean car standards, cars across the board will increasingly do more with less fuel. So next time you hear somebody complaining about high gas prices, remind them that there is an alternative – that there can be a world where not everything runs on gas.

So in advance of the Heartland Institute’s annual conference next week, we’re putting our own ad in its place. We’re also putting up eight other billboards nearby — so that Chicagoans and everyone at the conference will see our response.

Of course it’s more than just every major national academy of science in the world that understands the science and the threat we all face from the climate crisis. It’s also businesses large and small, doctors and nurses, religious leaders, military leaders, governments and concerned citizens everywhere. So the next time someone tries to tell you climate change is a hoax, remember you’ve got reality (and just about everyone else) on your side.

Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

The Next Generation Science Standards lay out core ideas K-12 students should understand about the basics of science – from biology, to physics and chemistry, to earth science. The last national standards were released back in 1996, and manmade climate change wasn’t mentioned. However, the new standards recognize that students need to know human activities are changing our climate. They also recognize that schools are training the next generation of engineers and scientists who can help solve the problem.

In the standards for middle school, for example, one of the core ideas is that “human activities, such as the release of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels, are major factors in the current rise in Earth’s mean surface temperature (‘global warming’).” The standards for high school note that “changes in the atmosphere due to human activity have increased carbon dioxide concentrations and thus affect climate.”

This is welcome news after a disheartening couple of months in the science education world. In February, news broke about the industry-funded Heartland Institute’s plans to push misinformation about climate change into schools. (Yes, the same Heartland Institute that compared people who believe in climate change science to mass murderers. Many schools already avoid teaching about climate change because some teachers (and parents) view the topic as too controversial. (Of course, there’s nothing controversial about the underlying science.)

The standards are now out for public comment and will be finalized late this year or early next. States can choose to adopt part or all of the standards … or not. But at least they’ll have something better than the so-called “science” curriculum from the Heartland Institute. They can choose the new fact-based standards, which address the reality of the climate crisis – and which just might inspire a new generation of science and engineering superstars to solve it.

It only takes one click of the mouse to support a historic proposal that will help solve the climate crisis. Please sign our petition now.

A few weeks ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the first-ever national limit on dangerous carbon pollution. Specifically, it would address the largest source of carbon pollution in the United States: Electric power plants that run on coal.

The EPA’s proposal applies to any new power plant built in the future. Specifically, it would prevent new power plants from emitting more than 1,000 pounds of carbon pollution per megawatt-hour. An average coal plant emits about 1,800 pounds of carbon pollution per megawatt-hour.

This means that if the industry wants to build a new power plant, it will have to prove that the coal it is using is “clean.” And here’s a secret: there’s no such thing as “clean” coal.

Coal plants are responsible for fully one-third of the carbon pollution the U.S. spews into the atmosphere each year. I firmly believe this rule is an important first step in our transition to cleaner, renewable sources of energy. And I’m not alone: Nearly three-quarters of voters support the EPA’s carbon pollution standard.

As we experience record-breaking heat in every corner of the country and extreme weather all over the world, it’s clear we need this limit on carbon pollution more than ever. Temperature records are being shattered from Death Valley to Washington D.C., and the U.S just experienced its warmest 12-month period in 117 years.

This rule is not perfect. We still need to stop carbon pollution from existing power plants, not just new ones built in the future. But this is an important first step. And with your help, we’ll be back to demand our leaders do more.

It only takes one click of the mouse to send a message to our leaders that we know the problem is real – now we have the opportunity to achieve meaningful solutions. Add your voice and sign our petition now.