“At only this decade’s halfway point, extreme weather events of all sizes have devastated Americans’ lives and their wallets to the tune of more than $227 billion—a sum that dwarfs the roughly $90 billion in resilience spending that the president’s budget proposal [FY 2016] calls for in order to protect and fortify the nation’s future.”
from The Center for American Progress report,
“Extreme Weather on the Rise” by Miranda Peterson
& Alexander Fields, April 2, 2015
“’We recognize that delaying action on climate change will be costly in economic and human terms,’ the pledge states.”
“81 Major Corporations–Including Google, Facebook, Coca Cola, General Motors–Sign WH Pledge to Back Global Climate Change Deal,” by Mairead McArdle, cnsnews.com, October 20, 2015
Read about the Minnesota connection.
“A set of assumptions and practices in economics has led economists both to underestimate the economic impact of many climate risks and to miss some of them entirely.”
“Climate Change Will Cost US Even More than We Think” by Naomi Oreskes and Nicholas Stern, New York Times, October 23, 2019
“New research shows that if present trends continue, the total cost of global warming will be as high as 3.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Four global warming impacts alone—hurricane damage, real estate losses, energy costs, and water costs—will come with a price tag of 1.8 percent of U.S. GDP, or almost $1.9 trillion annually (in today’s dollars) by 2100.”
“The Cost of Climate Change: What We’ll Pay
if Global Warming Continues Unchecked.” National
Resources Defense Council study May 2008
www.nrdc.org/globalwarming/cost/cost.pdf (Note: This is a large PDF file)
“The costs of climate action are much less than the costs of climate inaction. Projected costs for 2100, $20 trillion in damages vs $10 trillion in damages plus policy costs.”
“The Solutions are within reach,” The Consensus Project
“John D Rockefeller, the founder of Standard Oil, moved America out of whale oil and into petroleum,” Stephen Heintz, president of the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, said in a statement. “We are quite convinced that if he were alive today, as an astute businessman looking out to the future, he would be moving out of fossil fuels and investing in clean, renewable energy.”
From the text of the Sept. 22 press release by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund announcing divestment from fossil fuels investments. Text of the Press Release (Note: This is a PDF file.)
“The United States produces nearly $330 billion per year in agricultural commodities. This productivity is vulnerable to direct impacts on crops and livestock from changing climate conditions and extreme weather events and indirect impacts through increasing pressures from pests and pathogens…”
from the Overview, Third National Climate Assessment
“According to an analysis of 13 independent reports and studies of the clean energy industry by UC Berkeley’s Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory (RAEL), renewable energy technologies create more jobs per average megawatt (MW) of power generated, and per dollar invested in construction, manufacturing, and installation when compared to coal or natural gas.”
from “Renewable Energy Development Creates More
Jobs than Fossil Fuels: A summary of recent research”,
by Aaron Lehmer, for Green For All and
the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights
“This study presents roadmaps for each of the 50 United States to convert their all-purpose energy infrastructure… to ones derived entirely from wind, water, and solar (WWS) power generating electricity and electrolytic hydrogen after energy efficiency measures are accounted for…Over the U.S. as a whole, converting would require 5.1 million 40-year construction jobs and 2.6 million 40-year operation jobs for the energy facilities alone. It would also, decrease ~59,000 (18,000-109,000) air pollution premature mortalities/year, and avoid $534 (166-980) billion/year in health costs, or 3.3 (1-6.1) percent of the U.S. 2012 gross domestic product, along with $730 billion/year in global climate change costs.”
from the Abstract, “100% Wind, Water, Sunlight (WWS)
All-Sector Energy Plans for the 50 United States”,
DRAFT – February 11, 2014 (Note: This is a large PDF file),
by Mark Z. Jacobson, Guillaume Bazouin,
Zack Bauer et al., Stanford University
For the plan for Minnesota, see The Solutions Project: Minnesota
“… the idea of using Cap-and-Trade to tackle climate change has spread across the globe, maturing and adjusting to diverse national and local circumstances. Today, there are 17 emissions trading systems (ETS) in force across four continents, covering 35 countries, 12 states or provinces, and seven cities. Together, these jurisdictions produce about 40 % of global GDP.”
from the Foreward, Emissions Trading Worldwide:
International Carbon Action Partnership (ICAP)
Status Report 2015”,
(Note: This is a large PDF file)
Billionaire Warren Buffet and his business are already spending $15 billion on wind and solar in the U.S. and he’s now looking to double that.
“Buffett Ready to Double $15 Billion Solar, Wind Bet,” Bloomberg Businessweek, June 10, 2014.