Health, Environment, Politics and Government
September 16, 2020 Leave a comment
This is a highly recommended online two-day seminar on the challenge to post-Covid-19 economic recovery and simultaneously advancing the green agenda in the world.
Look on http://www.project-syndicate.org for the seminar today and tomorrow.
September 4, 2020 Leave a comment
The local canal waterways provide very significant environmental and community benefits along the canal to our residents.
This is especially evidenced along University Blvd in front Doctors Hospital at the corner of Pisano Ave.
The many community benefits of the green areas:
August 28, 2020 Leave a comment
A dense green buffer (shown here in part on the Coral Gables Canal near the University of Miami, abutting the Doctors Hospital parking leased from the City of Coral Gables) provides significant community, environmental and ambient benefits to residents and homeowners in the City of Coral Gables.
The many community benefits of the green area:
The City of Coral Gables is negotiating the sale of the parking lot land to Baptist Health (Doctors Hospital). This could lead to a reduction in the green environmental buffer for the local residents and visual invasion of Doctors Hospital into the quiet neighborhood.
It is hoped that the City of Coral Gables will fortify the residents by setting clear limits on future land use. Otherwise, this raises questions about the sale of the property.
The city should prohibit the construction of structures (buildings, walls..) of any kind on the land and guarantee the future maintenance and sustainability of landscaping just as dense and beneficial as the existing green buffer. A mechanism to regularly review the maintenance and sustainability of the green area should be considered.
May 12, 2014 Leave a comment
The Brookings Institution nicely summarizes the main conclusions of the recently published National Climate Assessment (NCA).
1. Warming has been driven by human activity.
Human activities are the primary cause of warming over the past 50 years. The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has increased by more than 40 percent since the industrial revolution, through the burning of fossil fuels and continued deforestation…
2. Climate change impacts are happening now.
Temperatures in the United States have already increased 1.3 to 1.9 degrees Fahrenheit since 1895 (most of it since 1970) and in most areas of the United States temperatures are projected to rise by another 2 to 4 degrees Fahrenheit over the next few decades…
3. Climate change impacts will continue into the future.
Temperatures across the United States as well as in oceans and freshwater lakes are projected to rise. This will be accompanied by more heavy downpours, severe droughts, and wildfires. Sea levels are projected to rise by another 1 to 4 feet this century.
4. Climate change will adversely affect the economy and quality of life.
These impacts will have negative repercussions for human health, water supply, agriculture, transportation, energy, and coastal areas where nearly 5 million Americans and billions of dollars worth of property are located…
5. Vulnerable regions and sectors will be disproportionately affected.
May 16, 2011 Leave a comment
In low-lying Florida, where 95 percent of the population lives within 35 miles of its 1,200 miles of coastline, a swelling of the tides could cause serious problems. So what is Florida’s Department of Environmental Protection doing about dealing with climate change?
“DEP is not pursuing any programs or projects regarding climate change,” an agency spokeswoman said in an e-mail to the St. Petersburg Times last week.
May 16, 2011 Leave a comment
Local and regional authorities have decided that climate change and global warming are not relevant for public policy. Even Miami and Coral Gables leaders should start thinking about the evident impact on our town.
NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies has released its monthly global temperature data. It reveals that there is no April in the temperature record before 2005 that was warmer than April 2010.
And that’s in spite of the fact that we are still in the tail end of a major La Niña and just coming out of “the deepest solar minimum in nearly a century.” April 2011 is surpassed in warmth only by 2005, 2007, and 2010. It tied with 2002 and just beat 1998.
via NASA: April tied for 4th hottest on record globally « Climate Progress.
February 3, 2011 Leave a comment
ProPublica recently published a report that challenged assertions that natural gas was much cleaner than coal. Reporter Abrahm Lustgarten found out that “gas may be as little as 25 percent cleaner than coal, or perhaps even less.”
via Abrahm Lustgarten Answers the Question, “How Clean Is Natural Gas?” – ProPublica.
Coral Gables Watch 