113 comments on DrumBeat: June 29, 2009
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113 comments on DrumBeat: June 29, 2009
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From the Daily KOS article, "First EIA report under Pres. Obama...":
"Under President Obama the EIA has finally taken a step toward admitting the magnitude of the problem we face; now we need that admission to come out of the fine print of an obscure report and into the state of the union address of a credible (non-Bush) president.
And this time around the change promoted by the government will need to be as radical as the 7-8% we need by 2015. Drive 55 will not be enough"
But it would be a start. This and higher gas taxes are clear no-brainers, yet these simple, immediately implementable measures don't even seem to be on the radar screen. If we can't do these, what hopes do we have of intentionally implementing the much tougher measures needed for the powerdown ahead--rationing, curtailment, outlawing gas guzzlers...??
Yes, any one measure will not get more than a fraction of the way there, but that is no reason to dismiss them. Especially when they are so straightforward and enforceable.
But we instead will embrace hugely complex "cap and trade" schemes that have been shown not to work and will only enrich the corrupt.
Glad to see someone with the authority and integrity of Krugman calling gw denying what it is: "treason against the planet."
Why do you state that "cap and trade schemes have been shown to not work", when they are modeled after the cap-and-trade scheme that was successfully used to reduce SO2 emissions?
My apologies. I meant use for this purpose--to control CO2 emissions. This has not been successful in Europe.
Piked at random from the first batch that came up on a google search of "cap and trade Europe" all of which, whether from left or right, conclude that it hasn't worked:
http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/29/european-summer-school-for-...
You must have missed this one.
Europe poised to meet Kyoto target: European Trading System a success?
Posted 1:10 PM on 1 Jun 2009
by Joseph Romm
Europe made a major commitment under the Kyoto protocol that U.S. conservatives have been telling us for years they would never achieve. It now seems clear Europeans will meet their commitment under the terms of the protocol. It will become increasingly difficult for those who don’t want a U.S. cap-and-trade system to point to the European Trading System ETS) as an obvious failure....
...And just two weeks ago, the European Commission reported that a subset of total EU GHG emissions, the carbon dioxide emissions traded in the European Trading System (ETS), dropped sharply in 2008:
Emissions of greenhouse gases from EU businesses participating in the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) fell 3.06 % in 2008 compared with a year earlier, according to the information provided by Member State registries. With the 6.5% reduction in emission allowances that the Commission has secured for the second trading period, the EU ETS really started to make a difference to emissions in 2008. Last year marked the beginning of the second trading period of the EU ETS, which runs from 2008 to 2012.
Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas said: “The 3 per cent reduction was partly due to businesses taking measures to cut their emissions in response to the strong carbon price that prevailed until the economic downturn started. It confirms that the EU has a well functioning trading system, with a robust cap, a clear price signal and a liquid market, which is helping us to cut emissions cost-effectively. This should encourage other countries in their efforts to set up comparable domestic cap-and-trade systems, which we would like to see linked up with the EU ETS to create a stronger international carbon market.”
http://www.grist.org/article/europe-poised-to-meet-kyoto-target-does-thi...
If the permits to pollute aren't too expensive, I might buy a few and compost them.
Students look to buy air pollution credits
Monday, January 27, 2003, 10:27 AM
By Matt Kelley
Students at a southeast Iowa college are trying to prevent air pollution by raising money to buy what are called pollution permits. Maria Chookolingo, a sophomore at Maharishi University of Management, says the government-issued permits allow businesses to emit a certain limited quantity of pollution into the environment. She says businesses that modernize don't need the permits and sell them. Chookolingo says they're going through a private, non-profit environmental organization called the Clean Air Conservancy. She says they "represent us at these auctions where the companies sell the permits and buy them for us, and retire them permanently so the companies are forced to find other methods." Chookolingo says students at the Fairfield institution raised about three-hundred dollars and have been able to buy and "retire" three permits so far, but they're not cheap. So far, the students have purchased two sulfur dioxide permits at 132-dollars each and one carbon dioxide permit for seven-dollars. Other permits, like nitrogen dioxide permits, run 15-hundred dollars each. Some consider carbon dioxide the main cause of global warming, while surfur dioxide is blamed for acid rain. Chookolingo, a 19-year-old from the island nation Trinidad, says the environmental effort was sparked by one of her instructors who explained what happened. The Clean Air Conservancy website claims an E-P-A report says stopping these pollutants from entering the atmosphere saves millions of dollars in costs to health care and the environment. For more information, surf to "www.cleanairconservancy.org".
http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=6C2A6BEF-59EA-4681-B7EF...
I've seen similar practices done with licenses to sell/dispense alcohol being purchased by churches and other religious groups to prevent bars from opening up in the area. Rather odd, if you ask me in regards to the alcohol permits.
EIA is starting to acknowledge reality. Maybe some other government agency can convince Congressional Idiots that climate change isn't a hoax.
The problem has passed the point of easy solutions, such as gasoline taxes. I would say get rid of all autombiles, but that will take place all by itself without any additional effort.
Eliminating cars, most trucks, relocalizing and concentrating housing and work, using electric for rail transport, more bicycles and eliminating processed and industrial food, there is a fighting chance for the next ten years.
No solutions until the population declines, however. Shouldn't be that hard a sell; everyone gets old soon enough. Cut back on births and the population shrinks all by itself ... there is an upside. Half the population means twice per- capital wealth. Particularly if various robber barons/politicians are burned at the stake.
I hate to say it but the dirty hippies were right.
Looking at population, here is the fertility rates of the worlds countries, with Ethiopia highlighted.
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/21...
I wanted to understand better what happens in countries that have faced famines in the past (the "if everyone has less kids, they will all do better argument") but that does not seem to have lowered the fertility rate.
Russia dropped in fertility when it underwent collapse. It would be interesting to get a demographics expert on TOD to fill us in on how all the different factors relate and what should be our policy to promote a zero population growth society.
It is more informative, I believe, to view TFR as a trend.
Thanks! Where are you getting your dataset?
After world war 2 we saw a 'boomer' increase in birth rates in many countries - so to me it looks like it's the as designed 'survival of the fitest strategy' to see an increase in birth rate after a surge in the death rate for whatever reason.
Logically, the only viable long term strategy for any population is to always be attempting to grow faster than the food/resource supply.
I think there are some serious consequences there in the medium term for the planet let alone humans.
Eventually, we won't be able to grow our food and resources faster than population as we ahave for the last 200 years or so - at that point you will see how nature always achieves zero population growth.
That would release C02 into the atmosphere I think we we should just recycle them...
They might be sequestered in the ocean, after applying concrete overshoes. Or, make the pirates walk the plank with an old CRT TV set strapped to their back. Good for fish food too...
E. Swanson