tagged w/ Kyoto Protocol
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The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new climate change pact, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Sunday.
Ban, addressing diplomats and officials at a ceremony for the 20th anniversary of the U.N. climate panel, said countries negotiating a successor deal to the Kyoto Protocol should aim for a meaningful breakthrough in Poznan, Poland, in December.
Delaying major advances until the end of 2009, when a Copenhagen summit will aim to finalize an accord to tackle rising global temperatures, may be ill-advised, Ban told the event in Geneva.
"We must fight the urge to postpone everything until Copenhagen. Surely we can make concrete progress on some issues," the U.N. chief said, adding that the Poland meeting should serve as "a very successful bridge" for Copenhagen.
"I would emphasize the need to make the most of the upcoming opportunity in Poznan," he said. "It is my sincere hope that by the end of this year in Poznan parties to the climate change convention will have achieved a better understanding of a shared vision for long-term cooperative action."
The Kyoto Protocol binds 37 developed nations to curb emissions of global warming greenhouse gases until 2012. Neither the United States nor China, the top two greenhouse gas emitters, have imposed limits under Kyoto.
Negotiations last week in Ghana, in which countries made commitments to help save tropical forests, were the latest of a series of international meetings meant to culminate in a new accord to counter the effects of climate change.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), formed in 1988, has warned global warming will cause rising seas, big storms, heatwaves and droughts. That U.N. panel shared the Nobel Peace Prize with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore last year.
U.S. President George W. Bush, who has opposed the Kyoto accord, will leave office in January. But the slowing global economy may make it difficult for Washington and others to accept a climate change accord that could add to energy costs.
Ban said it was imperative for the new U.S. government to play a leadership role in climate change for the international community to agree on strong emission cut targets.
"Whoever may be elected as president of the United States, they may be in a better position to address and to lead this process," the U.N. chief told journalists at the Geneva event.
The world should not wait until next year to cobble together a new climate change... more
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Between 1990 and 2006 Sweden cut its carbon emissions by 9%, significantly exceeding the target set by the Kyoto Protocol, while enjoying economic growth of 44% in fixed prices.
Sweden achieved this by instituting a lot of sensible ideas, such as having district heating in every city (like we have in New York City) where hot water is piped to buildings within a neighborhood.
Previously, these had been coal-fired but now the water is heated using forestry waste. Sweden switched to direct electric heating in the '80s and, increasingly over recent years, has used heat pumps, which take two-thirds less electricity to heat.
But Sweden's most bizarre secret? biogas, which can be made by any combination of stomach-churning garbage ingredients.
Hang onto your hat: Blood, innards (and other unusable slaughterhouse waste), human sewage, animal waste, and even confiscated liquor goes into a tasty brew heated to 70 degrees Celsius for anaerobic bacteria to feast on for a month. Although certifiably cradle-to-cradle, sustainable, and plain old waste-not-want-not frugal, this solution is undeniably revolting.
Amazingly though, the final product is squeaky clean. It's virtually odorless, creates a nutrient-rich residue that can be used as soil or construction materials, and slashes vehicle carbon emissions an astounding 95%.
SvenskBiogas produces, distributes and sells biogas for transportation in eastern Sweden. Each year the company takes 50,000 tons of this mess and turns it into virtually carbon-neutral biogas. “Before, this just went to a landfill and would lay there and rot and create methane seepage,” says Svenk's marketing boss, Peter Undén. “So it’s a good thing to use this energy in a positive way.” In the fifth largest city Linköping, every bus and garbage truck, some of the taxis and the train pictured above all run on biogas. The city of Gotenborg has a network of pipelines pumping its purified biogas to specialized filling stations, where it is pressurized for delivery to vehicles.
We too could be generating huge amounts of fuel from sewage by producing biogas, and in California we have cows operating power stations on the side. It can be easily produced by fermenting any of these ingredients and we have them all. Any of the new vehicles being developed to run on natural gas, as for the T. Boone Pickens plan, can run on biogas as well. And that's good news, because we will have peak natural gas some day, sorry T. Boone...
But peak poop, I don't think so. Between 1990 and 2006 Sweden cut its carbon emissions by 9%, significantly exceeding... more
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"In December 2009, the capital of Denmark will host the 15th meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, better known as the UN climate change summit... The Kyoto Protocol, which now commits nearly every developed nation except the U.S. to specific cutbacks in greenhouse gas emissions, expires in 2012... If a year or two should pass without a clear international cap on CO2 emissions, both government and industry might lose the incentive to invest in greener technology."
"[T]here may be no country in the world better prepared than Denmark to play host to a climate summit that could — just maybe — decide the fate of the world. As you leave Copenhagen's airport, you see soaring wind turbines along the side of the road, spinning in the nearly always present breeze. Get used to the sight — Denmark is a world leader in wind energy, and produces more than 10% of its power from turbines. That's meant cleaner air and greener jobs."
"Of course, if Denmark really were running international climate negotiations, the world would be in much better — and cooler — shape. But ultimately, the road to a new climate deal runs through one city: Washington.""In December 2009, the capital of Denmark will host the 15th meeting of the... more
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SDLN
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added this
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3 years ago
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In a report released Friday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China has stepped into first place as the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, edging ahead of the United States. China's supernova economy contributed to an eight percent rise in its domestic emissions, which in turn makes up two-thirds of the global growth of emissions last year. That trend is likely to continue due to China's massive use of coal-fired energy and its huge cement industry.
The U.S. still maintains the highest per person CO2 emissions (19.4 tons), followed by Russian (11.8 tons), and Western Europe (8.6 tons) compared to China's 5.2 tons per inhabitant. But China now releases 24% global GHG emissions compared to the US' 21%.
What's unfortunate is that with one year to go until UN-sponsored talks in Copenhagen try to cobble together a Kyoto Protocol replacement treaty, the world's leaders aren't coming up with the kind of innovative ideas needed to creatively reduce everybody's emissions. As Yvo de Boer, executive secretary for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change puts it:
"With a little more than a year to go to Copenhagen, the challenge to come to that agreement remains daunting."
Article by: April StreeterIn a report released Friday by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, China... more
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The international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when the Senate is to debate a bill that could cut total U.S. global warming emissions by 66 percent by 2050.
Environmentalists are supportive but want more in the legislation, the business community questions the economic impact, and the politicians who have shepherded it seem gratified that it has managed to get this far -- even though it is unlikely to become law this year.
"I look upon this piece of legislation as a great big train in the station and we're trying to get it out," Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who co-sponsored the bill, said after an updated version of the measure was released. Senate debate is set for June 2. Sen. Joe Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, is the bill's other chief sponsor.
The Bush administration, now in its last months, has consistently opposed an across-the-board cap-and-trade program for carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas emitted by fossil-fueled vehicles and coal-fired industries, as well as by natural sources including human breath.
The United States is the only major industrialized nation outside the carbon-capping Kyoto Protocol.
[Credit: Deborah Zabarenko, Reuters; Photo: ZMEscience.comThe international fight to control climate change heads to a new arena in June when... more
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Last year, Radiohead bucked tradition by debuting their new album via web-only download, saving on paper and plastic. Last week, Thom Yorke and his Oxford band mates appeared on Conan's "green" show from home, saving as much CO2 as a car produces in a year, Yorke said. (But it's probably more than that, especially if Radiohead zip around in their own jet.) Yorke, who has been campaigning for bigger, binding carbon cuts in the EU, dedicates the song, "House of Cards," with its "denial, denial" chorus, to that "tw-t who walked away from the Kyoto agreement. What was his name again? He's history anyway." Ouch.
Of course, this isn't the future of live concerts -- and it's about time the band emerged from the basement. But for late night talk shows, where musical acts are shot for a TV audience anyway, Radiohead is on to something.
Billboard just put the band in the no. 8 spot on its "Green Ten" list, behind Dave Matthews (on whose label Radiohead now appears), and Jack Johnson Last year, Radiohead bucked tradition by debuting their new album via web-only... more
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In Al Gore's brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents evidence that the pace of climate change may be even worse than scientists were recently predicting, and challenges us to act with a sense of "generational mission" -- the kind of feeling that brought forth the civil rights movement -- to set it right. Gore's stirring presentation is followed by a brief Q&A in which he is asked for his verdict on the current political candidates' climate policies and on what role he himself might play in future.In Al Gore's brand-new slideshow (premiering exclusively on TED.com), he presents... more
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lfm
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4 years ago
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So now there will sit the U.S. in Bali, all alone and isolated.... again. Nice to see that some do actually uphold their campaign promises.So now there will sit the U.S. in Bali, all alone and isolated.... again. Nice to see... more
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World governments are meeting for a key UN climate summit that will attempt to reach a deal on what should replace the Kyoto Protocol, which ends in 2012. Talks will centre on whether binding targets are needed to cut emissions.
It is the first such meeting since the IPCC, a panel of leading scientists, concluded that climate change was "very likely" caused by human activity. The two-week gathering in Bali, Indonesia, will also debate how to help poor nations cope in a warming world.
World governments are meeting for a key UN climate summit that will attempt to reach a... more
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