Industrialized nations' emissions of greenhouse gases edged up to the highest level in more than a decade in 2004 despite curbs such as Kyoto meant to fight global warming. Emissions from 40 industrial nations climbed 1.6 percent since 2003 overall to 17.8 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide -- mainly from power plants, factories and cars. It was always known Kyoto's tepid targets were clearly inadequate to achieve the 60-75% reductions in greenhouse gas emissions necessary to maintain a stable climate. The political system and entwined oil interests are simply not up to the challenge of decarbonizing the global economy. Increasingly other smaller political units, businesses and even individuals and small groups protesting are taking up climate leadership. In the UK protestors are now trying to shut down Europe's largest coal power station [more | more2]. If the world's coal is burned the atmosphere is over.
August 2006 Archives
California will be the first U.S. state to cap greenhouse gas emissions, including those from industrial plants, under a landmark deal reached Wednesday by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats [more | more2]. The bill is designed to cut California's emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases 25% by 2020.
"The bill would require the state's major industries _ such as utility plants, oil and gas refineries, and cement kilns _ to reduce their emissions of the pollutants widely believed to contribute to global warming. The key mechanism driving the reductions would be a market program allowing businesses to buy, sell and trade emission credits with other companies."
This monumental step is great news for efforts to establish mandatory greenhouse gas emission caps globally.
It ends up that some replacement coolants for ozone in air conditioners mandated under the Montreal Protocol to address the ozone layer hole are in fact greenhouse gases themselves and contribute to global warming:
"When more than two dozen countries undertook in 1989 to fix the ozone hole over Antarctica, they began replacing chloroflourocarbons in refrigerators, air conditioners and hair spray. But they had little idea that using other gases that contain chlorine or fluorine instead also would contribute greatly to global warming."
There has also been some reasonably good news in recent weeks that latest measurements indicate the ozone hole will repair itself though taking somewhat longer than previously expected.
Human caused global heating is profoundly a matter of justice and equity (and of course survival). The Chicago Tribune reports on rising seas inundating the island of Malasiga in Papua New Guinea (a country near and dear to my heart as I lived there for many years). Despite there not being a "power line or factory or air conditioner within a day's walk of this village of 400 people" this and other PNG islands and coastal lands are being swamped as salt water inundates villages and farms. It is the poor and/or indigenous peoples by necessity living more closely with nature - including the more publicized plight of Tuvalu's [search] battle with rising seas - that will suffer most from the fossil fuel intensive consumptive and polluting lifestyles of the overdeveloped rich countries. Many are making the case that displaced residents of New Orleans are the first modern large scale climate change refugees [more].
States in the U.S. and Australia are developing carbon trading systems to curb greenhouse gases after the federal governments in both countries refused to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. In Australia starting in 2010 electricity companies in all eight states and territories would have to hold tradable permits to emit greenhouse gases. In the U.S., New York and six other northeastern U.S. states agreed on a plan to begin in 2009 to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 10 percent over 10 years - and California is moving forward with plans to cap and trade greenhouse gases. Timely changes of national government in both countries and their eventual rejoining of the Kyoto process should allow convergence into a single international carbon market whose emission targets can be regularly tightened.
Another U.S. Climate Impact
In recent weeks the United States has witnessed more and intensified wildlires [news search], heatwaves [news search] and droughts [news search] that have been exacerbated by climate change. Time to add another to the list of evident climate change impacts that are occurring right now as the recurrent Pacific ocean "dead zone" off the Oregon coast has returned and is worse than ever. At 70 miles long it is smaller than say the Gulf Coast dead zone [search], yet massive crab and fish die offs are occurring. The causation of these oxygen deprived ocean dead zones [search] is complex and not fully understood. In Oregon unusual weather patterns and warmer oceans caused by climate change appear preeminent.
A new study finds Greenland's ice sheet is now melting three times faster today than it was five years ago [more]. If the ice cap were to completely melt global sea levels would rise by 6.5m (21 feet). These findings yet further strengthen the conclusions of the scientific consensus that global warming is real, has become evident in recent years, and indicate that melting polar ice sheets are pushing sea levels higher.
