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Calif. governor signs measure to cap greenhouse gas emissions
Sweeping changes predicted in industries and life in cities
Mark Martin, SF Chronicle
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed legislation Wednesday setting California on course to reduce the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, a major political victory for the governor and a step that environmental and political leaders predict will have worldwide ramifications.
In a ceremony on San Francisco’s Treasure Island with the city’s skyline as a backdrop, Schwarzenegger declared the beginning of “a bold new era of environmental protection in California that will change the course of history” as he approved AB32, which calls for the state to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases by 25 percent by 2020.
The new law, the first of its kind in the nation, could lead to a dizzying array of changes in industry and elsewhere that will be seen in cities, on farms and on freeways.
During the next decade, state regulators could require more public transportation, more densely built housing, a major new investment in projects that tap into the wind and sun to generate electricity, millions of new trees and even new ways for farmers to handle animal waste.
Aides to the governor said he also planned to sign legislation later this week that will prohibit the state’s electric utilities from buying electricity from high-polluting out-of-state power plants, a key step toward cleaning up the state’s power supply
(29 Sept 2006)
Warming Trend Is Hatching a Business
Steven Mufson, Washington Post
U.S. governors, impatient with federal inaction on global warming, are taking matters into their own hands. The result could add impetus to an emerging industry.
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R) yesterday signed legislation to cap greenhouse gas emissions. And seven Northeastern states, which together emit as much greenhouse gas as Germany, have banded together to set rules that would cut their emissions by 10 percent by 2019. Other states may join them.
“There isn’t an actor at the table who wouldn’t prefer a national program, but we can’t afford to wait,” says Franz Litz, climate change coordinator at the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
So the state leaders are modeling their efforts on the European Union, which has turned limits on greenhouse gas emissions into a multibillion-dollar worldwide industry.
Companies are already scrambling to take advantage of the E.U. system,
(28 Sept 2006)
Vancouver mayor feels heat of global warming
Tom Koenninger, The Columbian
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Fresh from three days in Alaska described as “ground zero” for global warming Vancouver Mayor Royce Pollard is embarked on a campaign to counter abusive treatment of planet Earth.
A skeptic no more, Pollard, who says “I’m no tree-hugger,” will seek measures that reduce greenhouse gases and effects of global warming. He joined 35 mayors from 17 states at a conference in Anchorage Sept. 16-18 titled, “Strengthening Our Cities: Mayors Responding to Global Climate Change.”
“We listened to scientists, visited glaciers, and heard from the mayor of a native village that must be relocated from the site it has occupied for 4,000 years.”
The village is Shishmaref, home of native Alaskan Inupiat Eskimos, and its mayor is Stanley Tocktoo, said Susanne Fleek, spokeswoman for conference host city Anchorage.
Shishmaref is threatened by increased severity of storms, and its permafrost is thawing, turning once-frozen ground to mush. Shore ice was a barrier, protecting the village. The ice has vanished and homes are being lost at the village between Kotzebue and Nome, northwest of Anchorage, above the Arctic Circle. The village must move 1,200 to 1,500 people.
Pollard said he saw and was told of many signs of warming, ranging from sharply receding glaciers to underweight salmon that might not be able to reproduce. In the forests, more beetles are attacking trees because weather isn’t cold enough to kill the bugs.
… “The Nez Perce were correct. We need to take better care of our land,” Pollard said. The urgent question: How will you and I respond?
(27 Sept 2006)
WaPo: Heed This Warning
Editorial, Washington Post
The problem of climate change has become a crisis that no responsible politician can ignore.
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BENEATH ITS dry scientific lingo, a new analysis of global climate change by a group of NASA scientists is terrifying. Headed by climate specialist James E. Hansen, the group argues that recent global warming has been quite rapid — about 0.2 degrees Celsius over each of the past three decades — and has largely tracked climate models that predict more dramatic warming in the decades to come.
If the world continues increasing carbon emissions at its current pace, by about 2 percent a year, the authors argue that the resulting warming will cause the extinction of about 60 percent of species around the world and “sea level rise of several meters per century with eventual rise of tens of meters, enough to transform global coastlines.”
The scientists posit an alternative scenario as well, one predicated on dramatic reductions of carbon emissions. In that case, sea levels would still rise substantially and “cause problems for humanity,” and 20 percent of species would still go extinct — but the most catastrophic effects of warming might be averted.
Most distressingly, they contend that humanity doesn’t have long to make up its mind whether to pursue policy changes; another decade without emissions being reduced, they said, would probably make the alternative scenario infeasible.
(28 Sept 2006)
Pretty text, shame about the smears in the same paper. See also this impassioned defence and informative comments on RealClimate.-LJ
