A Novel Tactic in Climate Fight Gains Some Traction

NY Times ^ | November 8, 2010 | JOHN M. BRODER

[neverdem]

WASHINGTON — With energy legislation shelved in the United States and little hope for a global climate change agreement this year, some policy experts are proposing a novel approach to curbing global warming: including greenhouse gases under an existing and highly successful international treaty ratified more than 20 years ago.

The treaty, the Montreal Protocol, was adopted in 1987 for a completely different purpose, to eliminate aerosols and other chemicals that were blowing a hole in the Earth’s protective ozone layer.

But as the signers of the protocol convened the 22nd annual meeting in Bangkok on Monday, negotiators are considering a proposed expansion in the ozone treaty to phase out the production and use of the industrial chemicals known as hydrofluorocarbons or HFCs. The chemicals have thousands of times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.

HFCs are used as refrigerants in air-conditioners and cooling systems. They are manufactured mostly in China and India, but appliances containing the substance are in use in every corner of the world. HFCs replaced even more dangerous ozone-depleting chemicals known as HCFCs, themselves a substitute for the chlorofluorocarbons that were the first big target of the Montreal process.

“Eliminating HFCs under the Montreal Protocol is the single biggest chunk of climate protection we can get in the next few years,” said Durwood Zaelke, president of the Institute for Governance and Sustainable Development, a nongovernment organization based in Washington. He noted that the ozone protection effort had begun under former President Ronald Reagan and continues to enjoy bipartisan support.

The United States has thrown its support behind the proposal and negotiators said there was a strong current of support for the move at the meeting on Monday. All the signatories to the Montreal Protocol would have to agree to the...

[Jabba the Nutt]

Yeah, they twist the words with pretzel logic, but with this dude, that's not the point. It's the excitement with which he's reporting on this idea. I think the excitement is unmistakable: "...some policy experts are proposing a novel approach to curbing global warming: including greenhouse gases under an existing and highly successful international treaty ratified more than 20 years ago."

Wow, isn't this great? We don't have to wait for the rubes to get on board with the settled science. This is too sophisticated for them to understand anyways and we need to save planet. It's about the planet boys and girls and we can't afford to wait. By whatever means necessary to save the environment.

How the wackos 'think'.

[steelyourfaith]

Thanx tubebender & neverdem !

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[maddogtiger]

Dupont lost its patent protection just as this ozone hole started growing; coincidentally they had another proprietary formulation ready to market.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[capt. norm]

There is so much money (grant $$$) involved and so many scientists whose gravy trains are tied to it...this beast will still be twitching long after its death.

[PATRIOT1876]

*The chemicals have thousands of times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide, the most prevalent greenhouse gas.*

In other words, “Co2 doesn't really have any significant impact if the other chemicals have “thousands of times the global warming potential.” So then, if CO2 will cause the Earth's temperature to rise 1 or 2 degrees, then these other chemicals will raise the Earth's temperature 1000 or 2000 degrees? Why wasn't the Earth's temperature several thousand degrees when these chemicals were unregulated?

They got a lot of ‘splainin’ to do!

[PATRIOT1876]

“The chemicals have thousands of times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide’

Why not “Billions of times” then they could sound like Carl Sagan?

Why not “zillions of times” as long as they are making things up?

[PATRIOT1876]

*There is so much money (grant $$$) involved and so many scientists whose gravy trains are tied to it...this beast will still be twitching long after its death.*

I predict they will make a break-though that turns lead into gold and water into gasoline.....if only you will give them more grant money and more power to the government.

You can trust them, really. They claim to be scientists. Scientists never alter any data just because the government tells them too or because their paychecks depend upon it. Do they? Come on! Can anyone, anywhere site a single example where a government EVER uttered any misleading information?

“Well, as you know, I am working on a drug that will cure depression.

Go on.

I really don't have my notes with me.
Apparently I do have my notes with me.
The results have been very positive.

Is it ready?

Um, well—

If it's not ready—

It's not that it isn't ready, sir.
It's that we have so much more testing to do.

Dr. Cooper...

Is it ready or not?”

~Brain Candy

[SunkenCiv]

The treaty, the Montreal Protocol, was adopted in 1987 for a completely different purpose, to eliminate aerosols and other chemicals that were blowing a hole in the Earth's protective ozone layer.

There's zero direct evidence that this is the case. The Aqua-net vs the Ozone campaign was an earlier salvo in the current war on the people by the environazis. Thanks neverdem.

[Ole Okie]

we might have to revert to ammonia

Ah, I well remember the choking smell of ammonia around the commercial ice houses back in the distant past.

Vinnie is correct. Functionally, propane is an excellent refrigerant. Unfortunately, it has some drawbacks, like being flammable when (not if) a leak develops.