Tuesday, August 30, 2016

The Vexing Problem of Global Warming: Can We Pay For It?




Thursday, September 22nd, 7:00 p.m.


Despite misinformation spread by contrarians, man-made climate change is very real, very evident and looming very large.  But the situation isn’t hopeless and we’re still very much in the driver’s seat, should we decide to take control.  Robert Haw, an engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will illustrate current manifestations of climate change in easily understood terms, such as sea level rise, ocean acidification, flooding and droughts, a changing balance among plants and animals, and the ways in which these changes affect everyone.  These accumulating climate stresses especially hurt those less fortunate, both here and around the world, and our children.

Moreover, Haw will show that on the economics side of climate change, if we take control now, the transition to a clean-energy economy is not only affordable, it’s also a job-creator and a GDP-booster.  This plan is called Carbon Fee and Dividend.  Find out more about this proposal and how it might help preserve a safe operating space on Earth for humanity on Thursday, September 22nd at Crowell Public Library. A question and answer period will follow the presentation, including a discussion of follow-up actions that you can take. 

A physicist by training and a graduate of Stanford University, Robert Haw has been employed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory for 25 years as a navigation engineer on exploration missions across the solar system. He's currently working on SMAP, an Earth-orbiting spacecraft designed to monitor soil moisture levels around the planet.  In 2012 Robert co-founded the Pasadena Foothills chapter of the Citizens Climate Lobby, an organization exclusively devoted to building the political will for a livable planet.  He has spoken frequently in Congressional offices to elected representatives and to public audiences in the Foothill communities about a practical and non-partisan solution to the climate crisis.  The crisis is already too big for individual actions alone to make any difference in solving it.  So how shall we respond, collectively?  

Come learn how to pay for the clean-energy transition and pay ourselves at the same time!