Global Warming News Headlines

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Global Warming News for the past week - updated June 19, 2007

U.S. MAYORS TAKE ACTION AGAINST GLOBAL WARMING
President George W. Bush’s opposition in ratifying the international Kyoto treaty on emissions has undoubtedly caused many to question the nation’s stance on global warming; however, other elected officials within major U.S. cities have taken their own initiative in response to increased environmental concern.

In 2005, Seattle’s Mayor Greg Nickels initiated the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging to take action to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2012. More than 525 mayors have signed on with the intent to encourage energy conservation through local law and regulation.

Agendas that are being pushed forward from city to city include reducing gas emissions, pushing for use of alternative energy means, stepping up recycling efforts, mandating efficiency standards for new construction and enforcing standards for older homes when they are sold.

The most recent city gearing up to seriously fight global warming is Denver, Colorado. Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper has made a “climate action plan” a major focus of his second term in office. Mayor Hickenlooper hopes to make his city a national leader in reducing gas emissions with an ambitious goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 4.4 million metric tons by the year 2020, which is the equivalent of eliminating 500,000 cars from the road and two small coal-fired power plants.

The city plans to provide incentives for car-pooling and the use of hybrids or other low-polluting vehicles. These incentives may include priority parking within city limits and ensuring that auto insurance companies reward policyholders with low use vehicles.

Other points within Denver’s proposal include charging heavy users of electricity and natural gas, in addition to charging households or businesses with excessive bags of trash. Landfills contribute greatly to global warming due to their release of methane gas. The Denver plan will be considered by city council this summer.

GOING UNDERGROUND TO SAVE THE PLANET

Solar power and hybrid cars have quickly become popular symbols of green technology but Stanford researchers are exploring another method of cutting the emission of carbon dioxide. Carbon capture and storage will trap carbon dioxide after it is produced and dispose of the product by injecting it underground. This will prevent the gas from ever entering the atmosphere and stave off the threat of global warming.

Experts believe that this pathway will help save the environment as society gradually learns to wean itself from our dependency on fossil fuels. Carbon sequestration could quickly transform heavy carbon producers; coal power plants for instance, into something relatively clean that doesn’t negatively impact the environment.

Power plants and cement factories, which burn large quantities of fossil fuels, are definite candidates for this technology and there is potential to reduce more than 90 percent on one individual plants carbon emissions.

The process of trapping carbon dioxide from moving sources like cars is a bit more difficult but power plants comprise of nearly 40 percent of the world’s carbon emissions. The earth shows a tremendous capacity to store tons of carbon dioxide but there are a few concerns that must first be addressed.

Some analysts believe that the earth only has the capacity to store about 100 years of fossil fuels and there is the potential for leakage or contamination of drinking water. These concerns are being examined but the general consensus is carbon sequestration is one of a family of solutions, along with energy efficiency and renewable power, in effectively addressing the greenhouse gas issue in the years to come.

STARING AT THE SUN
Scientists from Colorado State University are currently studying the reduction of solar ultraviolet radiation by atmospheric particles. Their goal is to learn how the burning of fossil fuel and other pollutants affect the atmospheric chemistry and air quality. This technique will be used along with data retrieval from satellites throughout the world to study the influence of pollution on global warming and climate change.

The motivation behind the study is a strong belief that this technique could be applied to a vast global network of major cities to provide some intriguing data on human-induced climate change.

G8 COMES TO CLIMATE AGREEMENT
Leaders meeting in Germany on June 7th came to an agreement to pursue substantial reductions in global warming pollution. The language of the agreement falls short of key objectives needed to truly contain the problem but nonetheless is still a victory to some extent. It shows that worldwide leaders, particularly the Bush administration, are finally paying attention to solid scientific reason suggesting man-made global warming and recognize that they can no longer stall meaningful action.

Mounting pressure for action has finally proved to be too strong for President Bush to ignore as he has the previous six years. It is important for the United States to take action in stabilizing their emissions. The other G8 countries, including rapidly developing emitters like China, could then look at the United States as a positive influence when it comes to climate control rather than an obstacle standing in the way of progress.

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global warming

i will do my best to help and i will encourage others

#1 - katrina - 04/04/2008 - 04:23


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