Marin/Sonoma CCL Newsletter | | | |
The Climate and Democracy Discussion Group invites you to their next guest lecture
on Wednesday, April 29 at 5 PM PT here.
America's Descent into Competitive Authoritarianism
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Political scientist Lucan Way coined the phrase “competitive authoritarianism” (with Harvard colleague Steven Levitsky). Join us for a presentation and conversation with Professor Way on what competitive authoritarianism is, what we can learn from history, and what we can do to defend democracy.
Professor Way focuses his research and teaching at the University of Toronto on global patterns of democracy and dictatorship. As we have watched the Trump administration threaten democratic institutions and norms, his seminal 2010 book, Competitive Authoritarianism: Hybrid Regimes after the Cold War has been mentioned over and over again to describe this hybrid democratic-authoritarian rule, the kind that just fell in Hungary.
In addition to several books and many articles, he recently published a provocative essay in Foreign Affairs, “The Price of American Authoritarianism, What Can Reverse Democratic Decline?” (with Levitsky and Harvard Professor Daniel Ziblatt).
Professor Way holds a Ph.D. from UC Berkeley, is the Co-Chair of the Editorial Board of The Journal of Democracy, and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the highest Canadian academic accolade.
Tune in here.
[You can also listen to a podcast between democracy advocate Timothy Snyder and Katie Couric here.]
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The Climate and Democracy Discussion Group (CDDG)
hosted its first guest lecture on February 18 with
Dr. Benjamin D. Santer, Ph.D.
Former atmospheric scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, IPCC author, now Professor at East Anglia University in the U.K.
"Year One of Trump Two: What Climate Science has Lost, is Losing and How Climate Advocacy Moves Forward"
Dr. Santer delivered a powerful and personal overview of the damages already incurred and will accrue on the current course.
Watch it here.
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The Marin and Sonoma CCL Chapters invite you to their monthly meeting,
Saturday, May 9 at 9 AM PT here.
We'll discuss the merger of the Marin and Sonoma chapters and the opportunities that creates. We'll update you on how California CCL members are working to support bills in Sacramento intended to reduced our high electricity rates, which impede the transition away from fossil fuels and towards electrification. We'll discuss the new Carbon Pricing Action Team (see below.) There will be time for sharing personal observations about the alarming state of the world and our role as citizens.
Then, at 10 AM PT, join National's monthly meeting here.
The guest speaker will be Shane Londagin, Senior policy advisor for energy and climate for Colorado Senator John Hickenlooper, who says:
“Our forests are burning, our rivers are running dry, and energy prices continue to skyrocket. Yet, this President and Republicans in Congress relentlessly attack science. They’re rolling back our policies that fight pollution, protect our public land, and invest in cleaner, more affordable energy. We united millions of Americans to defeat their efforts to carve up our public land to pay for tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy. We’re ready to mobilize millions of voters, take back Congress, and stop these devastating attacks.”
Should be interesting. Tune in here.
CCL's National conference in DC is July 26-28. Find out about it here.
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Remember Chasing Ice?
This was the movie that was supposed to kick climate action into high gear 14 years ago by documenting the rapid melting of the cryosphere. Surely, we would act...but it hasn't exactly worked out that way. (See below -- The Power of Big Oil to understand why.)
James Balog, CCL advisory panel member, is back with an update, a gorgeously filmed walk forward in time, showing the stunning progression of global warming on the places he last filmed. It was nominated for best documentary short film at the recent Academy Awards.
Here's the 40 minute director's cut.
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‘I’m not a scientist’: Why judges need the climate chapter in the Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence
For over 30 years, the Federal Judicial Center’s Reference Manual on Scientific Evidence has served as a go-to document judges can use when they deal with issues involving scientific testimony. The third edition, produced jointly with the National Research Council, came out in 2011 and covered fields such as forensics, mental health, neuroscience, and toxicology. The fourth edition, published in 2025, expanded its coverage to include chapters on new topics such as computer science, artificial intelligence, and, until a few weeks ago, a chapter on climate science. This chapter, authored by two experts, was removed unilaterally by the Federal Judicial Center after 27 Republican attorneys general sent a letter demanding that it be deleted.
The full document, including the climate science chapter, is still available on the National Research Council website, but this too is at risk, as a subset of these attorneys general have sent a letter demanding its removal and implicitly threatening consequences if this is not done.
The Reference Manual is a crucial, unbiased tool to provide judges with background information about science. Lawyers and judges are not generally known for their proficiency in math and science; law students generally come from the liberal arts and humanities.[1]
Those students become lawyers and some of them become judges. Along the way, their science proficiency does not improve. The Reference Manual is an essential tool to help them do their jobs.
"Ignorance is strength," George Orwell, 1984
Read more about this attack here.
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Carbon Fee, Dividend and Border Adjustment still lives.
This is where CCL started, and it's still the best policy, especially now that the E.U. has imposed a carbon border adjustment, which should prompt the U.S. to enact its own carbon price. Since global heating is partially the result of a huge market failure, ("externalizing" the true social costs of the product -- their enormous environmental damages -- thus distorting normal market functioning), we should listen to the experts in the field, namely, the economists, the professionals who understand markets. See how many of the 3,649 signers you recognize here.
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WSJ, January 17, 2019
Global climate change is a serious problem calling for immediate national action. Guided by sound economic principles, we are united in the following policy recommendations.
I. A carbon tax offers the most cost-effective lever to reduce carbon emissions at the scale and speed that is necessary. By correcting a well-known market failure, a carbon tax will send a powerful price signal that harnesses the invisible hand of the marketplace to steer economic actors towards a low-carbon future.
II. A carbon tax should increase every year until emissions reductions goals are met and be revenue neutral to avoid debates over the size of government. A consistently rising carbon price will encourage technological innovation and large-scale infrastructure development. It will also accelerate the diffusion of carbon-efficient goods and services.
III. A sufficiently robust and gradually rising carbon tax will replace the need for various carbon regulations that are less efficient. Substituting a price signal for cumbersome regulations will promote economic growth and provide the regulatory certainty companies need for long- term investment in clean-energy alternatives.
IV. To prevent carbon leakage and to protect U.S. competitiveness, a border carbon adjustment system should be established. This system would enhance the competitiveness of American firms that are more energy-efficient than their global competitors. It would also create an incentive for other nations to adopt similar carbon pricing.
V. To maximize the fairness and political viability of a rising carbon tax, all the revenue should be returned directly to U.S. citizens through equal lump-sum rebates. The majority of American families, including the most vulnerable, will benefit financially by receiving more in “carbon dividends” than they pay in increased energy prices. [Emphasis added]
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Now that you've read what the experts recommend, here again is Marin CCL's Jonathan Marshall's summary of why a carbon fee and dividend can get the job done. Download it here.
Those wishing to get more involved can join the new Carbon Pricing Action Team on Community. Next meeting, May 27 at 10 AM PT here.
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Political Will for a Livable World
by John Gage, CCL New Hampshire state coordinator
Green Energy Times, April 2026
Worldwide, carbon pricing has been spreading and prices have been rising for decades. The U.S. is now the only developed country without a national carbon price. Political will to price carbon in the U.S. has been lacking, so Congress hasn’t done it.
Nearly 70% of Americans support charging fossil fuel producers a carbon fee, according to polling from Yale Climate Communications. Support rises by another 10% if the money collected is returned to all households in equal shares. This cash-back dividend option supports a strong carbon price, and it is popular because most people get more cash back than they pay in trickle-down higher prices. Those with the smallest carbon footprints benefit the most.
Continue reading about how to create the necessary political will for carbon pricing here.
| And for you wonks out there, or those who think there's nothing good going on, here's a detailed summary of current carbon pricing bills in Congress. | | |
Our National Academies of science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) have come through!
In a direct rebuttal of the scandalous report issued by the DOE last summer, which was ostensibly to be used as the excuse for EPA to repeal the "endangerment finding," the legal basis for federal efforts to curb GHG emissions, the NAS created their own consensus report. It found that the science showing harm to Americans from GHG's was even stronger than it was in 2009. Here's the bottem line:
Effects of Human-Caused Greenhouse Gas Emissions on U.S. Climate, Health, and Welfare
Overarching Conclusion: EPA’s 2009 finding that the human-caused emissions of greenhouse gases threaten human health and welfare was accurate, has stood the test of time, and is now reinforced by even stronger evidence. Today, many of EPA’s conclusions are further supported by longer observational records and multiple new lines of evidence. Moreover, research has uncovered additional risks that were not apparent in 2009.
In summary, the committee concludes that the evidence for current and future harm to human health and welfare created by human-caused GHGs is beyond scientific dispute. Much of the understanding of climate change that was uncertain or tentative in 2009 is now resolved, and new threats have been identified. These new threats and the areas of remaining uncertainty are under intensive investigation by the scientific community. The United States faces a future in which climate-induced harm continues to worsen and today’s extremes become tomorrow’s norms.
Read the report here.
But wait!
Not content to let our National Academy do its work:
Fossil-Fuel Funded GOP Leaders Claim a Renowned Scientific Institution Has ‘Potential Conflicts of Interest'
Inside Climate News
Republican allies of the oil and gas industry question the objectivity of an independent report from the nation’s top science advisers on the harms of human-caused climate change. It's a case study in hypocrisy and harassment.
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Do Not Miss This Series!
If you're wondering why so little progress has been made weaning civilization off of fossil fuels despite the evidence of their dangers, watch this series. If you've already done so, watch it again, imagining what it might look like if these energy sources weren't so profitable because their emissions paid a price commensurate with their true costs to society. Then scroll back up and read the Economists' Statement again to see what a reasonable solution might look like.
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You're invited, but...
This is how one behaves inside The Capitol:
Make an appointment. Business attire recommended. Bring nothing that even looks like a weapon.
Long live democracy.
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Earth
Prepared by Peter G. Joseph, M.D.
Peter.Joseph@cclvolunteer.org
Apologies for cross postings.
If you know someone who would like to be added to this distribution list, please suggest they join Marin or Sonoma CCL, or if not in this area, contact me.
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