Straight Talk with Chukwudi Obi

CLIMATE: According to a recent report, by 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) proposed Clean Power Plan will create nearly 100,000 according to a new report from the Economic Policy Institute, a non-partisan think tank. The new report found that the job impacts of the Clean Power Plan, which limits carbon emissions from power plants, would not last, and would become “almost completely insignificant by 2030.” Recall that recently, G7 leaders agreed to reduce global temperatures by two degrees Celsius ahead of their Climate summit in Paris in December, a move many climate change activists commended. According to the report, coal mining and coal-fired power plants will face the biggest job losses if the Clean Power Plan is implemented, because coal-fired power plants are responsible for 39 percent of the United States’ electricity generation and three-quarters of the sector’s carbon emissions. But other sectors, including renewable energy, scientific res...

Prodded by German Chancellor, Angel Merkel, world leaders at the G7 summit yesterday, agreed to limit the increase in global temperatures. Merkel stated that it was necessary for wealthy country to present a common front at the Climate Summit in Paris in December. While stressing that there was urgent need for concrete action geared towards climate change, Merkel extracted agreement from the world leaders to limit increase  in global temperatures to a maximum of two degrees celsius above pre industrial levels. Working closely with US president and French president, Merkel overcame resistance from their counterparts from Japan and Canada. Though many Climate change activists commended the moves many were of the view that more needs to be done while more countries need to do more to reduce the effects of climate change.