Monday, March 17, 2014

R.I. lawmaker, Brown University students craft bill on climate change

R.I. lawmaker, Brown University students craft bill on climate change - Rhode Island

"Both [Timmons Roberts, who runs Brown’s Climate and Development Lab and is an environmental studies and sociology professor] and the students knew [Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston] and had backed his legislative efforts at the General Assembly. They had also previously worked on legislation creating the Rhode Island Climate Change Commission.
The financial support that [Brown President Christina Paxson] offered (Roberts declined to specify how much) allowed the group to hire student interns and consultants to help Handy fashion a new bill.
The group brought aboard Ken Payne, who once worked in the state’s Energy Resources office, to craft the bill. Meg Kerr, an alumna and environmental scientist, was hired to help organize discussions with groups of environmentalists, state regulators and municipal officials."

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

An appropriate legislative motion would read like this:

Whereas, Extent of global sea ice is at or above historical averages;

Whereas, Populations of polar bears are generally growing;

Whereas, Sea levels have been slowly rising at the same rate since the Little Ice Age ended 150 years ago;

Whereas, Oceans will not become acidic due to buffering from extensive mineral deposits and marine life is well adapted to pH fluctuations that do occur;

Whereas, Extreme weather events have not increased in recent decades and such events are more associated to periods of cooling rather than warming;

Whereas, Cold spells, not heat waves, are the greater threat to human life and prosperity;

Therefore, This chamber agrees that climate is variable and prudent public officials should plan for future periods both colder and warmer than the present. Two principle objectives will be robust infrastructure and cheap, reliable energy.