Participants in the Serve to Preserve summit on global warming convened by Gov. Charlie Crist in Miami have been throwing around a lot of scary statistics about the environment. In the interest of helping everyone feel as terrified about the environment as I do, here are some stats to start your day:

• There is a 90 percent chance that heat-trapping pollution is the main factor in warming since 1950.
• The earth will warm an additional 4-11 degrees F during the 21st century if energy production remains fossil-fuel intensive (best estimate is 7 degrees).
• The earth will warm an additional 3-8 degrees F during this century if emissions follow a mid-range forecast (best estimate 5 degrees)
• Sea levels will rise seven to 23 inches during the 21st century, assuming no acceleration of ice flow in Greenland and Antarctica, but could rise 20 to 55 inches in this century if other bad stuff happens
• Greenland and Antarctica are discharging 90 cubic miles of water per year
• We have released a trillion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the past 150 years; if we don’t change our ways, we’ll put another trillion tons of carbon into the atmosphere in the next 20 years

Happy Friday!

In a rousing and wide-ranging luncheon address at the Florida Summit on Global Climate Change in Miami, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reminded those of us old enough to remember his father and brother how much we miss those masters of the public address. Speaking without notes or a teleprompter, Kennedy fired up the audience with the power of his intellect and the depth of his passion — and drove a dozen or so conservative Republicans from the room.

Kennedy began by saying that environmental activism should not be a partisan issue, noting that Republicans like Theodore Roosevelt and Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger have been strong proponents of environmental policy. “The worse thing that could happen to this issue,” he said, “is for it to become the provenance of one party.”

But he also noted that some Republicans have “taken the ‘conserve’ out of ‘conservatism.'”

Kennedy noted that the U.S. government has been the principal obstacle to change in environmental policy. He cited the $17 billion in direct subsidies and $834 billion in indirect subsidies the oil industry receives annually. He also pointed out that the Bush administration has rolled back every major piece of environmental legislation passed in the last 30 years.

“It is almost impossible to talk about the environment today without criticizing President Bush and his administration,” he said. “This is the worst environmental record of any presidential administration ever. They have put polluters in charge of every critical agency.”

Between subsidies and loading the administration with cronies and representatives of the worst of the polluters, the Bush administration has cheated Americans out of their birthrights to clean air and water, said Kennedy. But, he said, the solution is to end government subsidies and let the free market take care of the environment.

“I believe the free market is the best way to guarantee a clean environment,” he said. “A free market would free us to behave in a way that preserves the environment.

“Show me a polluter and I will show you a subsidy,” said Kennedy. “I’ll show you a fat cat who is abusing the environment at the expense of the public.”

Kennedy noted that the concept of the public trust — that we all share equal access to our natural resources — was encoded in the Magna Carta and is at the core of our national heritage and identity. And it is that public trust that polluters violate. “We’re not protecting the environment for the animals, fish and birds, we’re protecting it because it enriches us economically and spiritually,” he said. “When we destroy nature, we impoverish ourselves and deprive our children of their inheritance.

“My father used to say to me that our country was the first country in the world that was founded on an idea,” said Kennedy. “The current administration simply does not understand that idea.”

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist cuts the green ribbon

Via live blogging from the conference.

[…]

The air is thick with politics here at the Inter-Continental Hotel in Miami. Agendas are everywhere. Programs are being discussed, plans made and laid. And, appropriately, they have recycling bins in the press room.

Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist has been in office exactly six months and 11 days, and he has already set forth an environmental agenda that makes Jeb Bush look like the piker he was. Working with the state legislature, Crist has signed sweeping legislation that is set to fix problems with Lake Okeechobee and major rivers across Florida, as well as supporting the lagging Everglades restoration project.

And, as was reported yesterday, he plans to sign executive orders tomorrow that will make Florida’s emissions standards look a lot like California’s. Of course, we thought that word of the executive order was released early to gin up attention for this conference, but, as Crist explained at a press conference this morning, because of Florida’s so-called “Sunshine Law,” it’s virtually impossible to keep a secret in Tallahassee, and word of the orders leaked yesterday.

Crist seemed genuinely disappointed, because he admittedly lost some of the potential media impact of the order due to the premature announcement.

Crist says he expects that a lot of the grass-roots work on the environmental front in Florida will be performed by volunteers — “children, adults and retirees,” he said. “Volunteers are a precious resource of renewable energy and enthusiasm,” he said. Hmmmm, sounds like, well, pie in the ozone layer.

More than 600 people — over 200 of them journalists — are attending the summit. When asked at the conference why no Bush administration officials were in attendance, Crist quipped, “I don’t know and I’m not sure why not. But we’re here.”

Asked whether such global matters as climate change might not be better served by working on a national level, Crist replied, “I’m governor of Florida. My opportunity, given to me by the people of Florida, is to try and make a difference in Florida.”

Crist lauded the state legislature and the Public Service Commission for their support of his environmental initiatives: “Somebody [Florida Power & Light] wanted to put a coal plant next to the Everglades — that’s just incredible. The Public Service Commission stepped in and stopped that.”

Crist seems to be sincere and committed and serious about this stuff. But then again, he is a Republican, so we remain skeptical, and like the man from Missouri, we say, Show me!

Today and tomorrow I will be posting “live” from “Serve to Preserve,” Florida’s summit on global climate change. Although typically, Fla. Gov. Charlie Crist has already announced that he is going to announce far-reaching emissions goals for the state tomorrow, we’re here to see what else is going on on the climate change scene and whether the Republicans can really hijack this issue.

Participants in this summit include Crist, Calif. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Robert Kennedy Jr., Teddy Roosevelt IV and a bunch of other suits. Conspiracy theorists, hold your breath …

Here are links to our complete coverage:

• Live From Miami, It’s the Global Climate Change Summit
• Crist Seems Sincere, But Don’t They All?
• Scenes from the Serve to Preserve Conference
• Robert Kennedy Jr.: Free Market Can Save the Environment
• Depressing Global Warming Stats — Happy Friday the 13th!
• We All Need to Pay to Support Green Energy Production
• Bike Guy Has a Global Warming Solution
• Celebrity Dirt Goes Green
• Vinod Khosla on Climate Change: Encourage Innovation, Think the Unthinkable
• Schwarzenegger: Environmental Cheerleader