Since I first moved to Portland, 32 years ago, I have noticed changes in the climate. Summers are getting hotter, and winters are getting colder. Three out of the last four years have set records for both summer heat and winter cold. The changes have been subtle, but they have been clear. We need to stop strangling the planet, before the planet strangles us. Instead we are setting records in the emission of greenhouse gasses.
The global output of heat-trapping carbon dioxide has jumped by a record amount, according to the US department of energy, a sign of how feeble the world’s efforts are at slowing man-made global warming.
The figures for 2010 mean that levels of greenhouse gases are higher than the worst case scenario outlined by climate experts just four years ago.
"The more we talk about the need to control emissions, the more they are growing," said John Reilly, the co-director of MIT’s Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change.
The world pumped about 564m more tons (512m metric tons) of carbon into the air in 2010 than it did in 2009, an increase of 6%. That amount of extra pollution eclipses the individual emissions of all but three countries, China, the US and India, the world’s top producers of greenhouse gases.
It is a "monster" increase that is unheard of, said Gregg Marland, a professor of geology at Appalachian State University, who has helped calculate department of energy figures in the past.
Extra pollution in China and the US account for more than half the increase in emissions last year, Marland said… [emphasis added]
Inserted from <Common Dreams>
I’m more worried about India and the US than I am about China. The Chinese are forging ahead of the rest of the world in green energy technology. India seems unwilling to cooperate. The Obama administration tried to make inroads, but was blocked by Republican filibusters in the Senate. Now the Obama administration seems more interested in the jobs that the production of dirty energy can create than protecting the planet. Even worse, Republicans are doing their best to emasculate the EPA.
We need to institute a carbon control program. Personally, I prefer a carbon tax to cap and trade, because the proceeds can be invested in green energy R&D. In addition, we need to move the subsidies, currently wasted on big oil, gas, and coal, to support green energy.
Of course some will argue that it does no good for us to clean up our carbon, unless other major polluters do too, but if enough nations agree to both reduce their carbon emissions and embargo the goods and services of those nations who refuse to do so, other nations will fall into line.
I would also see more research directed at developing fusion. It is clean, and once we reach the threshold, where we get more energy out than we put in, we will have a virtually limitless supply of clean energy.
5 Responses to “Strangling the Planet”
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I heard a report on today’s news that in the last 4 years, CO2 emmissions have significantly risen despite efforts to reduce emmissions, and China is responsible for over 50% of that rise. They may be doing a fair amount in green technology, but they are still relying significantly on fossil fuel when it comes to heavy manufacturing. Does everybody remember the Bejing Olympic Games and the heavy smog? It was so heavy that they had to stop driving to reduce the emmissions and clear the air for the games.
And what about the earth’s natural CO2 scrubbers — forests. We are loosing forests around the world, yet these forests clear the air by taking in CO2 and expelling O2.
The there is the Kyoto Protocol which I know Canada signed on to. But even that, we are failing. I don’t know how others who have ratified the Protocol are doing. I know that Canada’s Ballard Energy is working in hydrogen fuel cell development as a clean source of energy.
In BC, as well as other parts of Canada, we have carbon taxes as well as carbon offsets. Of course there is a push for rapid transit but that is big money, and in some areas is a NIMBY issue. Vancouver has a goal of being the greenest city in the world and promotes biking to work with bike lanes in several areas of the downtown core, as well as in various areas of Metro Vancouver.
TomCat said “Of course some will argue that it does no good for us to clean up our carbon, unless other major polluters do too, but if enough nations agree to both reduce their carbon emissions and embargo the goods and services of those nations who refuse to do so, other nations will fall into line.”
It has to start somewhere. Why not lead by example because it is the right thing to do. The old adage ‘a watched pot never boils’ applies here. Let’s not play a game of ecological and political chicken because of fear of being the first. Celebrate being the first. Too much time is wasted in inactivity.
The human race has gone to the moon and has an international space station. The Berlin Wall is down, a wall that divided too many people. The Cold War is over. It is time to add another accomplishment to the list, an accomplishment of international coöeration and survival.
Lynn, I do try to do that. My carbon footprint is so small that chili night is a big spike.
Only after the last tree has been cut down, Only after the last river has been
poisoned, Only after the last fish has been caught, Only then will you find
money cannot be eaten.
~ Cree Prophecy
When will our leaders obtain wisdom?
I think– all we have the power to do- is our best to control what we do as individuals ; in other words our start is in our own homes and our own lives.
I agree with you both. See my reply to Lynn.