What might our future look like if we fail to address the climate crisis?

Rising Global Temperatures: Staggeringly high temperature rise by 2100, especially over land, of up to a 10°F increase over much of the United States and extreme temperatures of up to 122°F threatening most of the central, southern, and western U.S.  Already the Earth’s ten hottest years ever recorded all have occurred since 1997.

Dramatic Sea Level Rise: Sea level rise of more than 6 feet by 2100, with levels expected to rise faster along the U.S. East Coast than in any other densely populated part of the world. The first 40 inches of rise alone would flood 13,000 square miles of the US, forcing Southern Louisiana and South Florida to be abandoned. (more…)

Over 40 top US labor leaders will travel to the UN Climate Change negotiations in Copenhagen next week.  The US labor delegation will join hundreds of labor leaders from the international community and thousands of representatives from the environmental, business, government and faith communities to urge President Obama and over 100 other world leaders to take bold action on climate change and work toward achieving a fair, ambitious and binding global climate deal.

US workers have a lot to gain in Copenhagen. Passage of a strong deal that reduces global warming pollution worldwide will help put the US on the path to a new clean energy economy that will create millions of American jobs. (more…)

This week, just in time for the Copenhagen climate convention, the annual Global Climate Risk Index was released, telling how vulnerable each country in the world is to the costs of climate change.   Guess who was number one in financial losses from climate change? The United States.

Surprised?  There’s a reason you haven’t heard much about the extent of climate change threat to the US.  Strange bedfellows are trying to conceal the threat posed to the US by global warming.  No, they’re not the crowd that denies global warming even exists, or that it isn’t caused by man-made greenhouse gasses.  They’re people who don’t deny the scientific findings about climate change, but who for political reasons underplay its devastating impact on the US. (more…)

[On Friday LNS co-founder Tim Costello passed away at his home in Cambridge, MA. Tim left us a powerful legacy and was central in shaping LNS's focus and strategy.  He is dearly missed. We are inviting Tim's friends and colleagues to send in their thoughts and memories to the Tim's memorial page, available here: http://laborstrategies.blogs.com.]

Tim’s Obituary

Tim Costello, an architect of innovative strategies for the labor movement and the author of numerous articles and books on labor and globalization, died at home on December 4, 2009.  The cause was pancreatic cancer. (more…)