​CBS News: ‘Should your turkey be taxed for climate change?’

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/should-your-turkey-be-taxed-for-climate-change/

As Americans prepare for their Thanksgiving Day feasts, there’s an issue on the horizon that could make that turkey more expensive: taxing meat to reduce climate change.

Livestock is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, adding about the same amount of emissions as that of all the world’s vehicles, according to a new report from the U.K. policy institute Chatham House. But many consumers aren’t aware of the link between their dinner plates and climate change, the report notes.

At the same time, meat consumption is forecast to increase by 76 percent over the next several decades, thanks to rising incomes in developing countries that will boost demand for animal protein. Taking some policy steps — such as a meat tax — to make animal protein less appealing would help curtail demand and lower the impact on the environment, the researchers recommended. But wouldn’t that backfire, given how much people love their burgers?

Not so, according to surveys carried out by Chatham House researchers, who found that consumers in countries including the U.S. and Brazil were more receptive to the idea than one might suspect.

Respondents thought that a backlash against a meat tax “would be short-lived, particularly if people understood the policy rationale,” the report notes.…

Emails Suggest Dem Sen. Whitehouse Is Behind The Effort To Prosecute Global Warming Skeptics

Scientists calling for the Justice Department to prosecute global warming skeptics may have had some help from a prominent Democratic senator, according to email records obtained by a free market think tank.

Emails obtained by the Competitive Enterprise Institute and independently verified by The Daily Caller News Foundation suggest Rhode Island Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse consulted with a group of scientists who later sent a pointed letter to the White House and Department of Justice. The letter demanded the feds launch a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, or RICO, investigation into “the fossil fuel industry and their supporters.”…

GLOBAL WARMING? NASA says Antarctic has been COOLING for past SIX years

http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/622043/GLOBAL-WARMING-NASA-Antarctic-COOLING-six-years-Arctic-north-pole-climate-change

An intensive scientific study of both Earth’s poles has found that from 2009 to 2016 overall temperature has dropped in the southern polar region.

NASA’s Operation IceBridge is an airborne survey of polar ice and has finalised two overlapping research campaigns at both the poles.

In the last few weeks NASA has revealed the overall amount of ice has increased at the Antarctic and the amount of sea ice has also extended.…

World facing ‘grave environmental crisis’, pope warns

http://news.yahoo.com/world-facing-grave-environmental-crisis-pope-warns-164127302.html;_ylt=AwrC1C565VVWrgwARUfQtDMD;_ylu=X3oDMTByOHZyb21tBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg–

 

The pontiff also drew a “clear link” between climate concerns and social justice.

“In effect, there is a clear link between the protection of nature and the building of a just and equitable social order,” he said. “There can be no renewal of our relationship with nature, without a renewal of humanity itself.”…

Hollywood upset: Actor Mark Ruffalo: Obama ‘is almost worse than climate-change deniers’

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mark-ruffalo-produce-documentary-challenging-843791

The Spotlight star, in the midst of kicking off an awards campaign, has signed on to narrate and executive produce the documentary Dear President Obama, a film about the administration’s energy and climate change policies due out next year. The movie’s director is Jon Bowermaster, who’s helmed films documenting his own eco-adventures for National Geographic and whose most recent project, After The Spill, focuses on post-Katrina Louisiana.…