September 29th, 2007

September Green News–And Just a Little Ranting

Posted by Jason Pelletier, Low Impact Living

Well, the big story this month is the same as many past - global warming. The biggest news was the dueling global warming conferences held at the UN General Assembly on September 24 and the US State Department several days later. Why two events, you might reasonably ask? The UN meeting, held the day before the UN General Assembly Meeting in New York, was intended to boost support for a global fight against climate change and specifically to rally support for the next round of global climate change talks scheduled for Bali in December 2007. The overall goal is to put in place a binding set of caps on greenhouse gas emissions that will reduce overall emission levels to pre-1990 levels. Perhaps the biggest US news from the event was who wasn’t there (President Bush) and who was representing US initiatives: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

So, why was a second set of talks in Washington necessary? Well, the US along with Australia were the only two countries not to sign on to the previous round of climate commitments, put in place as the Kyoto Protocol of 1997. The primary resistance from the current administration focuses on the fact that developing countries with large emissions such as China and India are not covered under the old framework, and also that any reductions should not come at the expense of any economic growth. And, it’s not clear that there’s much to this concern: the UK economy continues to flourish even though the UK is in track to cut its greenhouse gas emissions by 16% compared to 1990; the US, on the other hand, will emit 25% higher levels of greenhouse gases in three years than it did in 1990. Rather than agreeing to meet binding caps, the Bush administration proposes that all strive for “long-term goals” - a much less stringent standard. Democratic US Representative Edward Markey from Massachusetts stated it this way: “My fear is that the president has set aspirational goals that are really procrastinational.”

We see any delay as a missed opportunity - a missed opportunity for our planet, and a missed opportunity for the US economy. Would General Motors be in the same trouble it is today if it had taken its electric vehicle leadership from the EV-1 program and leveraged it to produce hybrid vehicles well before the launch of the Prius? Would Germany be seen as the leading solar economy in the world had the US not scrapped the ambitious solar programs started in the late 1970s and early 80s? And, there’s the simple moral issue, spelled out eloquently in Vaclav Havel’s recent editorial in the NY Times: is it fair to leave problems of our own creation to future generations to solve?

In other green news:

More on the climate front: There was more open water in the Arctic Ocean this summer due to ice melting than at any time since we have been keeping track - for the first time a Northwest Passage from Europe to Asia was open to boating travel. For those that are data-inclined, see a chart of sea ice coverage over the past 30 years.

Scientists optimistic: Despite all of the bad news related to global warming, many eminent scientists hold out hope that we are reaching a tipping point and will respond in enough time to stave off the most dire consequences. We certainly hope so … still we all have a lot of work to do!

Threats to endangered species increase: According to the World Conservation Union, animals and plants around the world continued to disappear at an alarming rate in 2007. The causes? Habitat loss and degradation, invasive species and pollution among the tops.

Last but not least, I came across this interesting post on the Weather Channel’s blog. It’s quite technical, but if you’re a weather junkie like me it’s an interesting read that provides still more evidence (and from a previous climate change skeptic) that something’s going on in the blue skies over our heads.

That’s all for now - please come back Tuesday to learn about what you can do to eliminate the annoyance and environmental waste of junk mail from your life!