Class notes/September 30

Fossil Fuels

• U.S. is responsible for half of the worlds CO2 emissions
• Transportation
• Coal Powered Power Plants
• Deforestation
• Electricity
  

What's the Evidence?

• 1988: Shrinking Glaciers
• 1998 global warming a likelihood

Stern Report UK 2006

• Cost 1% of the world GDP a year (currently %350 billion)
• Failing to act would cut the world GDP by 5% to 20% a year
• Calls for a carbon tax
• Stern Report: The world must cut greenhouse gas emissions by 80% by 2100
• 550ppm is all C02 the world will be able to sustain

Climate Change CO2 Emissions
US CO2 emissions fell by 1% in 2006 from 2005 but they were up i17.9% from 1990
China overtook the US as the leading emitter of c02

Global Warming Threats

• Rise of 1.8 degrees F on average since 1900
• Glaciers moving faster
• rise in sea level
• coastal flooding and ice melts
• in 21C temps could rise by 2-10 degrees

Effects

• Increase in ocean temperatures, more frequent and violent storms: see hurricanes
• More open water means earth absorbs more heat, less ice (white) to deflect rays
• Droughts
• Cut off of Gulf Stream current to Europe
• as Greenland melts and fresh water dilutes to sale sea water
• Invasive species; moving north in US

What do we do?

• Kyoto Agreement: UN Framework Convention on Climate Change

Solutions

• Real pricing
• 2007 Supreme Court Ruling: EPA can regulate emissions of GHGs
• Why is a tax better than a Cap and Trade System
• Cap and trade system is more efficient
• allows the consumer to decide what they are going to do
• inspire innovation
• tax
• pass the cost to consumers
• sometimes too low
• organizational issue
  
• money goes into government
• Prevent and prepare, and repair
• get farms to reduce the use of ammonium nitrate which breaks

• California Passed a law in 2004 to cut greenhouse gases from cars and trucks
• Starting in 2009 carmarkets must reduce CO2 by 30% on they 2016 models
• 2006Cal and 9 Northeastern States setting up a cap and trade system for CO2
• Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

Pay someone (The Conservation Fund ) to plant trees to offeset your emissions
Set carbon emissions standards
US Supreme Court case June 2006: 12 states sued EPA to limit CO2 emissions from motor vehicles

• 100 million a year and growing
• planting trees is a good offset
• but an unregulated industry
• carban neutral is hip
• average US resident generates more than 20 tons of CO2 a year
• Lifestyle changes

Get Indians and Chinese to install scrubbers on coal fired
sunset the US coal fired plants from pre1970
invest in renewable energy
invest in mass transit
plant trees
approve no sprawl, require mixed use developments; growth boundaries; ban on site septic

China and cars
6 million in 2000, 20 million in 2006
10,000 miles of highway in 2001, 23,000 in 2006
Goal is 53,000 miles of freeways by 2030

James Lovelock: the Gaia Hypothesis
The earth is a single organism
Kenneth Boulding: spaceship earth
Recall the first law of ecologyL Everything is connected to evverything else
Cornucopians and energy companies; denial