Richard Tafoya
Dec 7th, 2006, 05:31 PM
Climate Progress:
http://climateprogress.org/2006/12/07/the-other-bush-legacy-carbon-emissions-soar/
And by soar, we mean the rate of growth has more than doubled. In 2000, carbon dioxide emissions were rising less than 1% annually. Today they are rising more than 2.5% annually.
The world added 7.9 billion metric tons of carbon in 2005 alone, up from 6.8 billion in 2000. The news comes from an analysis by the Global Carbon Project (http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/) that BBC reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6189600.stm) on.
And while this news may not get the same headlines as the unfolding tragedy in Iraq, it is no less tragic. We need to decrease emissions to far below 2000 levels by 2050, to avoid catastrophic warming. The more we add now, the more we have to cut later–and the less time we have to achieve those cuts.
Just as the Iraq Study Group report makes clear that a “business as usual” or “stay the course” strategy for Iraq is a recipe for failure, the same is true of our climate policy.
The Energy Department’s latest report projects (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html) America’s carbon dioxide emissions will increase by one third from 2005 to 2030 (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/news/sbnews.cfm?id=11716). This does, however, assume we continue Bush administration policies for the next quarter-century (which, fortunately, seems unlikely).
Still, the pro-carbon domestic and international policies of Bush have left us a legacy of dirty power plants and inefficient cars at home and abroad. And the effects of this legacy will endure long past the time Iraq no longer makes headlines.
http://climateprogress.org/2006/12/07/the-other-bush-legacy-carbon-emissions-soar/
And by soar, we mean the rate of growth has more than doubled. In 2000, carbon dioxide emissions were rising less than 1% annually. Today they are rising more than 2.5% annually.
The world added 7.9 billion metric tons of carbon in 2005 alone, up from 6.8 billion in 2000. The news comes from an analysis by the Global Carbon Project (http://www.globalcarbonproject.org/) that BBC reported (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/6189600.stm) on.
And while this news may not get the same headlines as the unfolding tragedy in Iraq, it is no less tragic. We need to decrease emissions to far below 2000 levels by 2050, to avoid catastrophic warming. The more we add now, the more we have to cut later–and the less time we have to achieve those cuts.
Just as the Iraq Study Group report makes clear that a “business as usual” or “stay the course” strategy for Iraq is a recipe for failure, the same is true of our climate policy.
The Energy Department’s latest report projects (http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/index.html) America’s carbon dioxide emissions will increase by one third from 2005 to 2030 (http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/news/sbnews.cfm?id=11716). This does, however, assume we continue Bush administration policies for the next quarter-century (which, fortunately, seems unlikely).
Still, the pro-carbon domestic and international policies of Bush have left us a legacy of dirty power plants and inefficient cars at home and abroad. And the effects of this legacy will endure long past the time Iraq no longer makes headlines.