Reversing global climate change daunting but 'doable'
Wednesday, February 21, 2007
By Nancy Taylor
When asked for hopeful signs that the U.S. and the world are capable of
dealing with global climate change, Glenn Prickett, executive director
of Conservation International’s Center for Environmental Leadership and
Business, cites the grassroots efforts across the country.
Included in that grassroots movement are the 402 mayors who have signed
the Mayor’s Climate Protection Agreement, committing their communities
to reducing their emissions of carbon dioxide. Jackson Mayor Mark
Barron is one of those 402.
The mayor’s Green Team and Energy Efficiency Board are working on
initiatives for economic sustainability and environmental stewardship
for Jackson. Already the town’s switch from incandescent to fluorescent
light bulbs has kept 64,000 pounds of CO2 out of the atmosphere, and
will save taxpayers $4,000 a year.
On Sunday evening, Barron partnered with Prickett to present a program titled “Taking Action on Climate Change.”
While Barron shared the good news of what Teton County has done — both
historically and in more recent days — to preserve the environment and
decrease its carbon footprint, Prickett’s portion of the evening was
more sobering.
He first led the 70 or so audience members through a quick tutorial
about global climate change. Based on air bubbles trapped in ice core
samples in the Arctic, scientists such as Thomas Stocker of the
University of Bern, Switzerland, have concluded that current CO2 levels
are about 30 percent higher than at any other time before now.
Prickett also referred to the “Stabilization Triangle” developed by a
pair of researchers at Princeton University, which suggests that we
already have the technology to solve our emissions problems, but we do
not have the infrastructure, laws or funding in place to implement them.
Globally, CO2 emissions total 7 billion tons per year. That number is expected to double in the next 50 years.
For existing technologies to make a difference, we will need 2 million
windmills, cars will need to get 30 to 60 miles to the gallon, and
natural gas energy plants will need to replace coal-fired plants.
So far, the United States has not shown the political will to address global warming, but Prickett thinks that is changing.
He is hopeful that we will see some sort of legislation coming out of
the U.S. House of Representatives that will mandate emission caps and
create a system for trading emissions, as the European Union has.
“Whether the President signs that legislation is another matter,” he said.
Conservation International (CI) is not waiting for legislation to take effect.
CI is working in the poorer countries where the nonprofit sector has
been addressing deforestation and biodiversity issues for years.
Now that global climate change is a hot issue, CI is forming
partnerships with industry to “jump-start the creation of a robust,
global market for multiple-benefit land based projects and their
associated carbon offsets,” Prickett said.
Among recent triumphs are the Climate, Community & Biodiversity
Alliance (CCBA), comprised of five of the world’s leading companies —
including British Petroleum, Weyerhaeuser and Intel — and five
non-governmental organizations — including Conservation International,
the Nature Conservancy and the Wildlife Conservation Society.
To enter the global carbon offset market, CCBA is setting standards called the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Standards.
Projects must meet 15 criteria to qualify as an investment for a business that needs to offset its emissions.
CCBA’s innovative approach of including biodiversity, protection of
local communities along with addressing deforestation may prove to be a
popular way for industry to address global climate change.
The British Stern Report predicts that global warming will impact
poorer nations more severely, and the World Economic Forum says that
global warming could cause $250 billion in economic losses over the
next 10 years.
Prickett pointed out, however, that all of the big movements in the
United States — from abolition to civil rights — started at the
grassroots level. Given that, Jackson Hole’s initiatives show true
leadership.
If Jackson Hole wants to continue to lead, Prickett recommends we
pursue Green Building — not only for the reduced emissions and savings,
but for the added bonus of increased worker productivity — and become
carbon neutral, increasing efficiency and buying offsets to bring
emissions to zero.
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Reversing global climate change daunting but 'doable' | Planet JH News Article: General Environment
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