Shasta College Community Education Course Announcement “Global Warming – Causes, Effects and Solutions” In partnership with North State Climate Action

But what’s the truth about  global warming? Many of us have heard that 97% of climate scientists agree that  global warming is happening, it’s human-caused, and it’s serious. The IPCC 6th Assessment Report released in August concluded that it’s making wildfires, hurricanes, and floods more intense, and that those increasing impacts will have very real safety and economic consequences. But at the same time, some news outlets tell us that it’s a hoax, or it’s real but it’s not serious, or that even if it’s a problem, trying to do anything about it would be way too expensive.

Pete Marsh and Dash Waterbury will address all of these topics and more, with special emphasis on local and regional impacts and actions. Whether you’re very concerned about  global warming, or skeptical, join this class to understand more about what many consider the most critical issue facing humanity.

Global warming is usually thought of as an environmental issue, and yes it is. But it’s even more an economic issue, because it involves the global energy and food sectors, which together are around 20% of global and national GDP. So we’ll discuss the global economic implications also, such as policies that would allow the United States to take action without fear that other countries will not act; and to leverage our low-carbon advantage in the global economy. We’ll highlight the rapidly changing attitudes of businesses and business groups around the country, many of which  have issued official policy statements in the last two years that taking action to combat global warming will cost far *less* than continuing with business as usual. These include the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Business Roundtable, ExxonMobil, the American Petroleum Institute, Google, Microsoft, the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, General Motors, major utilities like Exelon and NextEra, the major reinsurer MunichRe, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the International Monetary Fund, the US Federal Reserve Bank, and many more. These businesses and business groups have formally published statements including:

• “Unchecked, the changing climate poses significant environmental, economic, public health and security threats to countries around the world, including the United States. The consequences of climate change for global prosperity are significant; the world simply cannot afford the costs of inaction.”
• “Climate change poses a systemic threat to the economy.”
• Solving climate change is “the greatest wealth creation opportunity of our time.” (The market agrees: from 2017-2019 (pre-Covid), the iShares Global Clean Energy ETF increased 152% while the Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund, the largest oil and gas ETF, declined 20%.)