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How to cut the carbon pie
Wallace Broecker, Science & Development Network
If we are ever to succeed in capping the buildup of the atmosphere’s CO2 content, we must make a first-order change in the way we view the problem. Most policies that have been discussed, including cap-and-trade systems and the Kyoto treaty, have treated the problem exclusively in terms of incremental reductions in CO2 emissions. These, however, will not stabilize atmospheric CO2 levels; they only slow the rate of increase. Instead, to actually stop the increase, we must develop the concept of what might be called a “carbon pie.” ..
Once the size of pie has been established, each of the world’s nations would be allocated a slice. In an ideal world, the size of these slices would be based on population. In this case, the world’s rich countries would get only about 20% of the pie. If the limit agreed upon were 560 ppm, then the rich nations’ share would be about 150 Gt.
As these countries together currently consume about 6 Gt of fossil carbon per year, if they continued at this pace, their allotment would be consumed in just 25 years. Faced with this limit, each of these rich nations would be forced to rapidly reduce its emissions (see figure). Poor nations would be able to sell portions of their pie slice to the rich countries and still have enough left to permit them to industrialize. ..
(9 Mar 2007)
Follow link at bottom of SciDev page to full article in Science, doesn’t seem to work directly; hat-tip to Worldchanging.org
BA green scheme fails to take off
Staff, BBC
British Airways has been accused of failing to properly market a scheme to “offset” emissions by planting trees.
The scheme has saved just 1,600 tonnes of CO2 since September 2005, equivalent to four return flights to New York on a Boeing 777, MPs were told. Tim Yeo, chairman of the Commons environmental audit committee, said this was “little short of scandalous”. BA admitted take-up was “disappointing” but said marketing had been put on hold after air passenger duty rises. ..
“The best way to achieve a proper offset is through an organised emissions trading scheme that would cover an entire flight,” he said. “Voluntary offsetting has a place in this and is a bridge towards it, but I don’t think it is the absolute solution to the problem” [said BA company secretary Alan Buchanan]. ..
Carbon offsetting schemes have been criticised by some environmental scientists because they do not reduce emissions and their effects on climate change are difficult to verify. Last month, the government announced a voluntary code of conduct to bring “greater clarity” to the industry. But the environmental audit committee is looking at whether there should be new laws to clean up the industry.
During an earlier evidence session, forestry campaigner Jutta Kill said offsetting was worse than doing nothing about the environment as it gave firms a licence to pollute elsewhere.
(13 Mar 2007)
English village spearheads carbon neutral drive
Agency France Presse
“Today, about 40 villages and cities such as Manchester, Abu Dhabi and Rotterdam have contacted us for advice on what to do,” he added, also citing interest from Australia, New Zealand and the United States.
The village is set amid the rolling hills of Cheshire, northwestern England, a short drive from the well-to-do city of Chester and not far from the Welsh border.
Charnock first had the idea of spearheading a carbon-cutting drive after going to a debate on climate change at a literary festival in Wales. His first act was to ditch his high-powered BMW for a less gas-guzzling, compact car.
Today, the most visible signs of his campaign can be seen in the village primary school and the pub, which he and others who have joined the bandwagon describe as the “lungs” of the community.
“They influence our community, the school is an excellent catalyst. And the children involve their parents,” said Tracey Todhunter, another member of the 40-strong project team…
(12 Mar 2007)
Dimwits: Why ‘green’ lightbulbs aren’t the answer to global warming
Christopher Booker, Daily Mail UK
They have to be left on all the time, they’re made from banned toxins and they won’t work in half your household fittings. Yet Europe (and Gordon Brown) says ‘green’ lightbulbs must replace all our old ones.
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So what are the disadvantages of CFLs over the traditional bulbs we will no longer be allowed to buy? Quite apart from the fact that the CFLs are larger, much heavier and mostly much uglier than familiar bulbs – and up to 20 times more expensive – the vast majority of them give off a harsher, less pleasant light.
Because they do not produce light in a steady stream, like an incandescent bulb, but flicker 50 times a second, some who use them for reading eventually find their eyes beginning to swim – and they can make fast-moving machine parts look stationary, posing a serious safety problem.
Fluorescent CFLs cannot be used with dimmer switches or electronically-triggered security lights, so these will become a thing of the past. They cannot be used in microwaves, ovens or freezers, because these are either too hot or too cold for them to function (at any temperature above 60C degrees or lower than -20C they don’t work),
More seriously, because CFLs need much more ventilation than a standard bulb, they cannot be used in any enclosed light fitting which is not open at both bottom and top – the implications of which for homeowners are horrendous. ..
(13 Mar 2007)
Contributor Norman Church writes: Clobal climate change, if it is caused by mankind and if it actually exists needs all the world to take action, not just the UK or Europe. This sort of proposed action brings governments and politicians into disrepute and makes them even more of a laughing stock than they already are.
