Bush Wants Action on Global Warming Emissions (Sort of)
I saw it for myself: President Bush directed the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), along with the departments of energy, transportation, and agriculture to come up with a plan to cut global warming emissions by the year 2008. As for the details…well, they get pretty vague.
Bush spoke a lot about fuel consumption, again alluding to our nation’s addiction to oil, but never called for a specific increase in vehicle efficiency standards. He repeated his State of the Union proposal to replace 20 percent of the nation’s gasoline with alternative fuels in the next 10 years. He summed up his plan:
“When it comes to the environment and energy, the American people expect common sense, and they expect action.”
But apparently not too much action: The Washington Post reports that U.S. negotiators are attempting to weaken a climate change declaration set to be unveiled at next month’s G-8 summit of the world’s top industrial nations. Specifically, U.S. officials want to strike a sentence about energy efficiency,
“Therefore we will increase the energy efficiency of our economies so that energy consumption by 2020 will be at least 30 percent lower compared to a business-as-usual scenario”
and language to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions to 50 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Furthermore, the U.S. proposed striking an opening line that declares
“…tackling climate change is an imperative, not a choice. We firmly agree that resolute and concerted international action is urgently needed in order to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions and sustain our common basis of living.”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, outgoing British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and newly elected French President Nicolas Sarkozy are all pushing for a strong statement on global warming solutions.
The heads of the U.S. departments called on by President Bush to come up with a plan said a draft should be available by this fall. But will it be real action? While the President is calling for change, his representatives at the UN are doing everything they can to stall it. We know political rhetoric when we see it, Mr. Bush. Fool us once…
May 15th, 2007 at 1:47 pm
The warming climate is not a direct result of the government, and that is how we end up with “policies” shown above. We have desires, and we have made choices on those desires.
There are many ways to save on burning fossil fuels, many of which are listed below. These will also same money, too. I have attempted to associate a cost with each item, and they are listed in order of cost. Any savings is up to your usage and not included in these estimates.
1) $0 For “A/C” in the summer, open the windows at night and close them during the day
2) $0 buy recycled products if you can find them- support recycling;
3) $0 buy local products & produce- if they are not transported, that saves gasoline and also supports the local producer;
4) $0 composting turns garbage into fertilizer and prevents formation of methane, which is 23 times worse than carbon dioxide in terms of climate effect;
5) $20 use a rake instead of a leaf blower: they are quieter and provide exercise too;
6) $20 use a clothesline instead of the dryer- many benefits: cleaner clothes, clothes last longer, don’t get wrinkled, and each load saves 5 kWh off of your electric bill;
7) $40 replace incandescents with CFLs- saves on A/C costs in summer too;
8) $80 use a REEL lawnmower, which you push to cut the
grass and requires no gasoline;
9) $280/ton if you have a wood burning stove, try biobricks- pellets for a wood burning stove- these burn more cleanly with less ash and are easy to start
(available in New England and NY) ;
10) $2.45/Gal. try to use
biodiesel
heating oil (B10 or B20) for your furnace/boiler
11) ~$100/month rent a
solar-electric
system for your home if you cannot buy a system;
12) $3-4000 get a solar hot water heater- fastest payback of all renewables;
13) $10,000 replace drafty windows, if you can. If you cannot, use plastic ($10) or close the curtains at night ($0) during the winter;
14) $15,000 trade in the SUV for a car or even a hybrid vehicle, if you need a car
Start out with something small- try to unplug all of the adapters and Standby electronics when they are not being used: adapters all consume the same amount of power, whether the item is being used or not.
There are many possibilities, and they may seem overwhelming. Some ideas are more effective than others: #1 will work if your house is shaded…. but it depends on what you are willing to do. Start with the smaller items, and as you see how it works for you, move to larger items.
My family has done all of it (#3 and #6 are happening this spring, #10 will happen when I can find some in my area, and #11 starts next year). In doing all of these things, our electric bill is only 200-400 kWh/month, and our
carbon footprint is less than half of the average American’s use.
May 15th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Current incompetent stories regarding CO2 Causing Climate Change are a fraud.
Junk science is infesting the media, the Internet and public schools, affecting public health, squandering your tax dollars, poisoning sick people and miseducating our children.
Pseudoscientific claptrap abounds. Quackery is now found everywhere.
Consensus is NOT science. Educate, inform yourself, take a 9th grade science class.
Additional information http://www.InteliOrg.com/co2_climate_change.html
Stop listening to folks that have a financial interest in the subject. Unfortunately, many have learned to spin information, thusly have become intellectually and academically dishonest.
Unfortunately, we can no longer trust most of the media for information, as they no longer assign “Reporters” that investigate then report on a subject, most just parrot or reinterpret the information to fit their bias, thusly we have a world of disinformation and junk science.
Information Vetting: I have no financial interest in this subject.
May 16th, 2007 at 3:30 am
excellent post, post this at hugg.com please, thanks,
David