Posted on 11/21/2006 6:09:56 AM PST by presidio9
There are signs that key U.S. officials are ready to take on global warming, even as much of the world community failed to show its will to deal with the impending threat at a recent global conference.
Despite intense calls for new and radical actions, last week delegates at the UN-sponsored meeting in Kenya agreed on many outstanding issues, but not on further cuts in greenhouse gas emissions.
Environmental groups widely described the outcome as a failure, but not all were expressing despair. Though equally unhappy with the results, some believe that meaningful global action on climate change is not a distant possibility.
Come January, those in the world who are concerned about the slow pace of climate action could see the global response get a boost with the United States becoming a significant part of it, according to an environmental group that is part of the global campaign for a swift response to global warming.
"With Democrats in control of both houses of Congress, changes in the federal policy are to be expected," said Gary Cook, director of the Climate Action Network, an umbrella organization representing over 350 environmental organizations worldwide.
Cook and his colleagues hope that with environmentally conscious Democratic lawmakers holding key positions in the Senate, the United States will soon be making real progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions, as well as moving the global agenda on climate change forward.
The 1997 Kyoto treaty requires as many as 35 industrialized countries to cut emissions by an average of 5 percent below 1990 levels by 2012. The United States is not obligated to abide by the treaty because the George W. Bush administration does not recognize it.
The Bush administration rejected Kyoto in 2001, arguing that it would harm the U.S. economy and that it should have also required reductions by poor but fast growing economies, such as India and China. Bush also repeatedly has said that more research was needed into the science of climate change.
The United States is responsible for about 25 percent of the world's greenhouse gas emissions, although its share in the global population is just 5 percent.
Recent statements from Democratic Party leaders regarding appointments of lawmakers in the House and Senate bodies suggest that the analysis by environmentalists such as Cook could prove correct.
Last week, for example, three Democratic senators who are likely to head committees dealing with environmental issues wrote to Bush urging him to push for mandatory federal limits on greenhouse gases.
"The recent elections have signaled a need to change direction in many areas including global warming," they said in a letter telling the U.S. president that voters want the government to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Those who signed the letter included Barbara Boxer of California, Jeff Bingaman of New Mexico, and Joe Lieberman of Connecticut. The three are likely to head the Senate's environment, energy, and homeland security bodies, respectively, when Democrats assume leadership positions in January.
Boxer, who has introduced legislation that would mandate an 80-percent cut in U.S. emissions by 2050, has publicly declared that her committee's first hearing will be focused on global warming.
Like Boxer, Bingaman is considered a staunch supporter of action on climate change. In fact, he was the only member of Congress to attend last year's UN climate negotiations in Montreal.
"We pledge to work to pass an effective system of mandatory limits on greenhouses gases," Boxer and her colleagues told Bush in their letter. "We urge you to work with us...to signal to the world that global warming legislation is on the way."
Supporters for action on climate change say that since the November 7 elections new opportunities have arisen for Democratic politicians to take effective actions on the state level, and that in many areas, indications are that they are willing to do so.
While the most populous state of California has already embraced a climate action plan, Massachusetts' Democratic governor-elect Duval Patrick has expressed his willingness to align his state with a regional greenhouse gas initiative comprising seven other northeastern U.S. states.
Moreover, in recent polls, voters in Washington state joined more than 20 other pro-alternative energy states by approving a ballot initiative requiring 15 percent of the state's electricity to come from renewable sources.
In Nairobi, while delegates failed to set a deadline for concluding international negotiations on further cuts in emissions beyond 2012, they did agree to continue their discussions in the future.
As the next round of international talks takes place in Bali, Indonesia, in 2008, proponents of strong action against global warming say they hope that by then the United States may be in position to play an effective role in taking the world in a more positive direction.
On the domestic front, when the new Congress assumes its responsibility in January, it will have to deal with a number of ambitious bills to support alternative energy production and limit greenhouse gas emissions that were introduced this year.
Activists say they want the new Congress to adopt these and other aggressive measures on climate change proposals without any delay.
"That is the way the U.S. can begin to make real progress in reducing its emissions," said Cook.
25 below today. It was up to 15 below yesterday. Weatherman says 5 to 35 below tonight, which isn't a real tight prediction IMHO.
What happened to global cooling back in the 70's. I guess its not as much of a money maker anymore.
Um, no.
We could nuke a few strategic places in the middle east, create the dust cloud, and cool the climate a few degrees for a few years. Sorta like killing two birds with one stone. :)
"Next week, next month, next year, it's not a question of if, only when. One day you'll wake up -- or you won't wake up, rather -- buried beneath nine stories of snow. It's all part of a dependable, predictable cycle, a natural cycle that returns like clockwork every 11,500 years."
. . . And since the last ice age ended almost exactly 11,500 years ago . .
That's the real reason Fairbanksans like trucks with V-10s. The six-cylinder standard motor doesn't put out enough heat to keep a husky dog warm.
What question was this answer in response to?
Yes, I've heard of this site a few times. Interesting idea. Not enough basis in actual data and observations for me to be concerned about it.
anthropo-who-what?
anthropogenic forcing component = human activities are implicated as part of the cause of the current warming trend
There are some signs that an era of cooling, perhaps as minor as the one from the 1930s - 1970s, or as major as the Little Ice Age, may be beginning. That would really suck.
and thanks to 'global warming' it's now so hot out that I no longer need a lighter for my cigarettes, I just take one outo f package and it's already lit- I'm helping the environment by reucing the fuel consumption from lighters, not releasing carbon into the air, and reducing heat from the lighter. Although I more than offset 9it by cranking my airconditioner to high and leaving it on all day while not even being in the house.
Utterly no coincidence that the start of human activity appears to have been enabled by unusually good climate conditions, as opposed to say, the normal icy, dusty, cold cruel existence that tends to occupy most of the record ...
I disagree. There is insufficient statistical skill for you to make such a statement into anything other than bloviation.
Only one component, or many? I'll answer the question for you, it's many. Now, what are some of the many?
Provide the statement and then describe the statistical test that you could utilize for statistical evaluation of it.
it is so insignificantly low that it isn't even a concideration I'm afraid. it's about 2.3% over the entire' industrial age' If I got my facts right- natural cuases such as methane gas from poopin cows, volcanos, undersea emissions from natural vents etc make up the rest- 98% - so, unless we can stop the 98% natural causes, we aint gonna do squat to 'reverse the trend', but yet it will cost us many hundreds of billions of dollars tackling the 'human element'- AND we don't even know what kind of effects it will have should we actually be able to despite insurmaountable odds against it- should the earth cool down again it will wipe out so many species that have adapted to life in the warm lane, that we'll be responsible for mass genocide- The environuts will ALWAYS have somethign to complain about in regards to evil man and his selfish desire to flourish until the return of the Lord
Your statement indicates that you have not looked at the site and checked the links or read Felix's book. There is plenty of data to look at. The problem with global warming believers like yourself is that they want to discount any information that runs contrary to their preconceived notions of what is happening.
Renowned Scientist Defects From Belief in Global Warming – Caps Year of Vindication for Skeptics
SENATOR JAMES INHOFE CHAIRMAN, SENATE ENVIRONMENT AND PUBLIC WORKS COMMITTEE
You don't have your facts right. The primary cause of the increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration since the mid-1800s is human activities (this is easily verifiable via multiple methods). This increasing atmospheric CO2 will affect Earth's radiative balance, and altering Earth's radiative balance will affect climate. Though there are possible feedback scenarios that could cause a cooling trend, there is no indication that such feedbacks are operation to counter the warming trend that is caused by the alteration of Earth's radiative balance caused by increasing atmospheric CO2.
How much of the recent CO2 increase is due to human activities?
How do we know that recent CO2 increases are due to human activities?
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