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Bush administration praises record level of global warming emissions mongabay.com April 17, 2007
"The Bush Administration's unparalleled financial, international and domestic commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions is delivering real results," said EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson. "As America's economy continues to grow, our aggressive yet practical strategy is putting us on track to reach President Bush's goal to reduce our nation's greenhouse gas intensity 18 percent by 2012." Environmentalists thought otherwise.
"The climate system doesn't respond to emission intensity. It's a red herring," the A.P. quoted Ben Dunham, an attorney for U.S. PIRG, an environmental advocacy group, as saying. Total emissions of the six main greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons, and sulfur hexafluoride) in 2005 were equivalent to 7,260 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, up from 7,204 million metric tons in 2004 and 6,242 million metric tons in 1990. The EPA shows indicates that overall emissions have grown by 16 percent from 1990 to 2005, while the U.S. economy has grown by 55 percent over the same period. The United States is the world's largest emitter of carbon dioixde, accounting for about 24 percent of global anthropogenic emissions, but China is fast gaining--some project that it will pass the U.S. in emissions as early as this year. From an economic standpoint, the U.S. accounts for 28 percent of world GDP, indicating that it is slightly more carbon efficient that the global average.  Beyond high food prices, little to show for $11B/yr in biofuel support, says OECD report (7/17/2008) Government support of biofuel production in rich countries is squandering vast amounts of amounts of money while exacerbating the global food crisis and failing to meaningfully curb greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security, alleges a new report from the OECD, the club of industrialized nations. Gore launches second campaign... for Earth (7/17/2008) In a speech Thursday, Al Gore challenged the U.S. to generate 100 percent of its electricity from zero carbon emission sources within 10 years. Speaking at Washington's Constitution Hall, Gore said America's security, environmental and economic crises are all related, and that measures to rein in greenhouse gas emissions will make the U.S. stronger, safer, and cleaner. "The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk," Gore said. "I don't remember a time in our country when so many things seemed to be going so wrong simultaneously." First carbon map of America released by NASA (7/15/2008) For the first time, one can have a whole view of America's carbon output: region by region, city by city. The Vulcan Project has undertaken a holistic inventory—including electricity, heat, transportation, and industry—of local carbon emissions across the nation to create the first carbon map of America. Texas leads the fifty states, and the county of Harris, Texas (encompassing Houston) records the nation's largest emissions by county. Although Texas is second in population after California, its massive industry puts it over the top. Some grasslands resilient against climate change, according to 13 year study (7/7/2008) In Buxton, England--a spa town lying in the county of Derbyshire--scientists have spent 13 years subjecting grasslands to temperature increases and precipitation shifts consistent with climate change predictions. Considered one of the longest studies of climate change on natural ecosystems, the grasslands of Buxton proved surprisingly resilient to most of the effects of climate change. CO2 emissions could doom fishing industry (7/3/2008) Aside from warming climate, rising carbon dioxide emissions are contributing to ocean acidification, threatening sea live, warn researchers writing in the journal Science. This trend makes it all the more important to reduce emissions, argue the authors. Comments? News options News index | RSS | Add to MyYahoo!
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